Ingrid Foss Ballo is a Visiting Research Fellow with the Program on Science, Technology & Society (STS) at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a PhD candidate in Environmental Geography at the University of Bergen. Her current research focuses on public reasoning and sociotechnical imaginaries of new and emerging energy technologies, and the coproduction of “smart grid” technology and the “smart” energy society. During her time at Harvard she will study interactions between imaginaries of “smart” energy futures at different scales. She will also participate in a European research project on smart meters and social acceptability and in an international research group working on Smart Grids & Smart Cities.

Ingrid’s research focus and public activities are dedicated to ideas about, and analyses of, public reasoning and publicness, currently in relation to emerging large-scale energy infrastructures. This includes studying the sites, procedures or forms of expertise that are available to public intervention and public reasoning about “smart” electricity grids, and more generally in energy transitions. “Smart” energy infrastructures cut across previous physical and digital boundaries, connecting and integrating expertise from different domains, such as law, politics, science or industry in new ways.

Prior to her current position, she was an STS researcher at the Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities at the University of Bergen, associated with two EU (FP7) collaborative research projects. Ingrid received a B.A. in Geography from the University of Bergen in 2010 and an M.A. in Environmental Geography from the University of Bergen in 2013. Her master’s research was anchored in STS and focused on social aspects such as privacy and security, related to the introduction of smart energy infrastructure. She has experience from different positions in academic institutions, such as the University Board at the University of Bergen (2009-2010) and the Board of the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT, 2011-2013), and she teaches Theory and Philosophy of Science.

PUBLICATIONS

Ballo, Ingrid Foss (2015): “Imagining energy futures: Sociotechnical imaginaries of the future Smart Grid in Norway.” Energy Research & Social Science, 9: 9-20