Augusto Heras is a PhD candidate in the Governance and Inclusive Development (GID) programme group of the AISSR. He holds a MA in international relations and diplomatic affairs and a BA in Political, Social and International Sciences from the University of Bologna (Italy), with study and research experience in France, Spain and Argentina, including participation in UN ECLAC's Programme of Advanced Studies in Latin American Economies 2021. His previous research has focused on labour income inequality in Italy (BA thesis) and on the process of deindustrialization in Argentina and its impacts on inequality (MA thesis).

He will focus on the challenges and opportunities for an energy transition with a focus on phasing out fossil fuels in low and middle income countries such as Uganda, Mozambique, Ghana, and Kenya and the dilemmas they face in leaving fossil fuels underground (LFFU). This PhD is part of a larger project which will address the role of big investors in LFFU, the North-South implications of LFFU, and the necessary measures to be adopted to equitably allocate and accelerate the responsibilities of shareholders and stakeholders in energy transformation. Applying a comparative and transdisciplinary case study approach, the project team will combine institutional analysis with an innovative theoretical model for inclusive development.

His PhD project is part of the European Research Council’s Advanced Grant to Joyeeta Gupta for the project CLIFF (Climate Change and Fossil Fuel) which has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (contract number 101020082).

Expertise and research fields

• Climate change and fossil fuels
• Energy transitions
• International relations
• Inequality
• Political economy of development
• Latin America
• Global Political Economy/International Political Economy
• Gramsci

Other links

• Governance and Inclusive Development Research Group
• Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR)

Research methods 

• Quantitative multivariate analysis
• STATA
• Interviews
• Content analysis

Current research projects 

Climate Change and Fossil Fuels (CLIFF): The project investigates the role of big investors in leaving fossil fuels underground (LFFU), the North-South implications of LFFU, and the measures to be adopted to equitably allocate and accelerate the responsibilities of shareholders and stakeholders in energy transformation for inclusive development.

Heras, A. (2021): “The EU-LAC partnership for a green recovery: challenges and opportunities to build forward better” in Opportunities for the bi-regional strategic partnership in shaping a greener recovery. II EU-LAC Essay Contest on the Bi-Regional Partnership, EU-LAC Foundation, Hamburg, November 2021