Berger, Thomas | Austria

Thomas Berger, born in 1982, studied sociology at Karl-Franzens-University Graz. From 2007 to 2010 he worked as freelance researcher for the Research Center for Crisis and Disaster Research incorporated into the institute for sociology at the University of Graz. In 2008 he won the junior researcher award at the Fourth Austrian Development Conference in Innsbruck. Since 2010 he is a research associate at the Spectro gemeinnützige Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Forschung GmbH. His research at Spectro also focuses on fuel poverty.

 

Project at IAS-STS: Fuel poverty: a sociological case study in Styria

 My research at IAS-STS will consist in the approach to theorise fuel poverty in Austria from a sociological perspective. The first step will be a critical review of already existing definitions and theoretical concepts concerning fuel poverty. There has been a lot of policy oriented research in the United Kingdom and other Western European countries. Secondly I will conduct an empirical case study in Styria consisting of expert interviews and a survey on fuel poor private households. The aim of my research fellowship is to constitute a sociological definition and characterisation of fuel poverty that fits the Austrian context.