CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: FELLOW, 'FAST AND FAIR' ENERGY SYSTEM INNOVATION
Deadline to apply: Friday, October 3, 2025
Start date: Between October 20, 2025, and January 5, 2026
The Cascade Institute seeks a Fellow to contribute to our Scale Up & Acceleration research stream. The Fellow will identify pathways to accelerated energy system innovation that simultaneously promote justice, equity, and reconciliation—that, in other words, reconcile fast innovation with fair innovation. The fellow will grapple with the most difficult trade-offs between advancing energy transitions sufficient to meet the challenges of climate disruption and ensuring the wellbeing of the people and ecosystems most impacted by transition strategies.
The role is a two-year position with the possibility of renewal depending on performance and funding. The Fellow will have the option of working in-person at our offices on Royal Roads University campus or fully remotely.
Cascade Institute Fellows are not conventional postdoc positions (see our Team page to get to know some of our other fellows). Fellows conduct solution-oriented research and analysis to help governments, communities, industry, and frontline actors trigger a rapid shift in humanity’s trajectory towards a healthy, just, and resilient world. We value team members that are adaptable, intensely curious, and driven by impact.
Within the broad framework of “fast but fair” energy system innovation, we welcome diverse forms of expertise, research approaches, and potential entry points into this topic. Examples of possible entry points include:
- Regulatory streamlining (e.g., Can we speed approvals in some areas to create more time for community participation?)
- Industrial policy (e.g., How do we make R&D faster and more participatory, equitable, etc.? Are certain energy technologies more scalable than others? More aligned with energy justice than others?)
- Participatory democracy—but quick (e.g., Are there strategies to streamline community participation in decision making without cutting corners?)
- Greener and fairer supply chains (e.g., How do we clean up energy technology supply chains without compromising speed and cost-competitiveness?)
- Legal levers (e.g., What legal levers exist to strike a better balance between fairness and speed?)
- Financial mechanisms (e.g., How can financial instruments, incentives, and funding mechanisms accelerate innovation?)
- Other pinch points (e.g., How do we address the hurdles to clean energy innovation created by fossil fuel companies and other entrenched interests?)
Primary Position Outcomes
Development of research and analysis products
- Works both independently and with other members of the research team(s) to collect data, conduct analysis, and write high-quality deliverables (academic and non-academic papers, reports, briefings, system mapping tools)
- Collaborates with other members of their research team(s) to scan the knowledge frontier for high-impact research and analysis opportunities
- Contributes to the development and execution of new strategies and projects in collaboration with the research team(s)
- Builds new, and expands current, national and international networks of experts and changemakers to shape and sometimes co-develop research and analysis
Knowledge mobilization
- Collaborates with other members of their research team(s), as well as the Communications and Impact team to mobilize knowledge, findings, and recommendations to maximize their impact
Teamwork and project management
- Provides regular progress updates to the Research Director, project team, and various advisory teams/boards
- Contributes to the tracking of project evaluation metrics and helps to fulfill project reporting requirements
- Integrates inclusion, diversity and accessibility in processes, activities, and resources
Job Requirements
Required Qualifications:
- A doctorate in a relevant discipline (e.g., public policy, political science, human geography, economics, environmental science, engineering, quantitative social science, qualitative social science). Applicants with a master’s degree and significant professional research/analysis experience will also be considered.
- Demonstrated expertise (e.g., writing, publications, other research/analysis outputs) in two or more of the following areas:
- Energy policy and regulation
- Energy justice
- Indigenous reconciliation
- Industrial policy
- Legal dimensions of energy systems
- Participatory democracy
- Technology innovation and diffusion
- Socio-technical transitions
- Green finance
- Experience working on collaborative/team projects
- Experience working on interdisciplinary projects
- Demonstrated ability to write with exceptional analytical clarity
- Demonstrated ability to effectively tailor outputs for different types of readers
- Experience communicating research/analysis findings beyond journal articles and academic conferences
- Demonstrated ability to present research/analysis findings orally in a clear and compelling manner—and to engage critically and constructively with other experts in a meeting/workshop/webinar setting
- Demonstrated ability to build broad networks of other experts and practitioners
- Demonstrated ability to leverage networks to improve the quality of research/analysis outputs and maximize the impact of knowledge mobilization
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience working at a research institute, think tank, or research-focused NGO
- Experience managing complex projects
