Senior Research Fellow, Department of Social Anthropology
Biography
Sean is the Director of Policy at the Centre for Energy Ethics and a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Social Anthropology.
Sean’s work explores issues of sustainability, energy, finance, ethics, climate change, sustainability, resource extraction, and transition. Since late-2018, Sean’s Energy Ethics research has focused on how financial professionals evaluate energy. This ethnographic work explores the calculation of risks, the performance of financial expertise, the valuation of energy resources, and the integration of ESG into energy investment practices. Funded by the European Research Council, this work forms a key part of the larger Energy Ethics research project led by Dr Mette High. It follows on his SSHRC-funded PhD research on the financialisation of agricultural commodity markets and global supply chains. Currently, Sean leads the Financial Pathways branch of the Scottish Research Alliance for Energy, Homes and Livelihoods, funded by the Scottish Funding Council.
Sean regularly contributes to local, national, and international discussions of energy, energy finance, and energy policy. His interviews, analysis and commentary have been featured by BBC Radio, The Associated Press, The Courier newspaper, The Sunday National newspaper, The Xinhua News Agency and have been reprinted by agencies such as The Washington Post.
He is co-founder and co-organizer of the Energy Café, and the founder of the Energy and Climate Finance Network. He is also a member of the Centre for Responsible Banking & Finance.
A detailed list of Sean’s activities and publications can be found on his University Pure Profile.
Teaching
At the University of St Andrews, Sean has co-convened the Anthropology of Energy (SA4064) module, which was awarded a Golden Dandelion Prize for excellence in teaching environmental sustainability, and the Environmental Ethics at Work Vertically Integrated Project. He has also been a contributing lecturer to the Ethnographic Encounters (SA2002) module. Prior to arriving at St Andrews, he convened undergraduate modules in Economic Geography, Energy and Society, Business and Industrial Geography, Human Resources Management, Applied Ethics, and Research Methods, as well as a postgraduate module in the Economics of Social Policy.
Supervision
Heather Cameron. 2023-24 (co-supervision). “Net Zero: Values, imaginations and experiences among the Scottish Financial Industry.” MRes Social Anthropology, University of St Andrews.
Gabriel Wigny. 2024-25 (co-supervision). “Climate Finance: how to fix the hurdles that prevent funds from reaching net-zero housing projects in Scotland?” Laidlaw Fellowship, Department of Economics and Finance, University of St Andrews.
Frederick (Freddie) Ludvig Medintsev. 2023 (co-supervision). “Forecasting the Price of Benchmark Crudes: An Alternative to Counting Barrels Using Time Series Methods and Deep Learning”. MSc Applied Statistics and Datamining, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews.
Thomas Bunting. 2022. “An analysis of institutional investor priorities in the global energy sector: Case Study on The University Superannuation Scheme”. St Andrews Research Internship Scheme, Department of Social Anthropology, University of St Andrews.
Yu Hsuan Amy Yang. 2018 (co-supervision). “Precision Agriculture in Taiwan: Barriers and Strategies for Technology Development and Adoption”. MSc Sustainability Management, School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto.
Selected publications
Field S. 2024. Carbonous Concealment: Governing ‘Wild’ Substances and Subterranean Storage in an Era of Climate Change. Antipode. (online first: https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.13026)
Nikolaeva R, Field, S, & Tskhay A. 2024. Decarbonizing an energy-hungry world: The dilemma of investing in fossil fuels. Management Decision. (online first: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/MD-03-2022-0314/full/html)
Field S. 2023. Value as ethics – climate change, crisis, and the struggle for the future. Economic Anthropology 10(2): 177-185; available from: https://doi.org/10.1002/sea2.12286.
Field S. 2022. Carbon Capital: The financial lexicon and allegories of the US oil and gas sector. Economy and Society 52(1): 235-258 ; available from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03085147.2022.2030606.
Field S. 2022. Risk and Responsibility: Private Equity Financiers and the US Shale Revolution. Economic Anthropology 9(1): 47-59 ; available from: https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/sea2.12221.
Field S. 2021. Power and precariousness in the expert hierarchies of the US hydrocarbon industry, Critique of Anthropology 41(3): 303-319 ; available from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0308275X211038608.
Field S. 2017. Examining the Influence of Intellectuals on Commodity Speculation. Geoforum 83 (July): 71-79 ; available from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016718517301094.
Field S. 2016. The financialization of food and the 2008–2011 food price spikes. Environment and Planning A 48 (11): 2272-2290; ; available from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308518X16658476.
Find a full list of Sean’s publications here.
Find a full list of Sean’s publications here.
Governmental & Policy Submissions
Field S, High MM, Shipton Z, Dickie J, Thomason K. (submitted 2024). Consultation Feedback on The Scottish Government’s Proposals for a Heat in Buildings Bill. Scottish Government; available from: https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/files/300145799/SG_HeatInBuildings_Final.pdf.
Field S, Finch AA, Gardiner NJ, High MM, Hogan J, Jagadamma LK & Skrzypek E. 2023. Written Comments (ANON JDU2 DSGY C): Scottish Government’s Draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan. Energy and Climate Change Directorate; available from: https://consult.gov.scot/energy-and-climate-change-directorate/energy-strategy-and-just-transition-plan/.
Field S, High MM, Skrzypek E & Ulph D. 2022. Written evidence: Inquiry on Energy pricing and the future of the Energy Market. UK Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee; available from: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/1698/energy-pricing-and-the-future-of-the-energy-market/publications/written-evidence/.
Field S, High MM & Skrzypek E. 2022. Written evidence (CCE0053): Mobilising action on climate change and environment: behaviour change. The House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee; available from: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/1621/mobilising-action-on-climate-change-and-environment-behaviour-change/publications/.
Selected Other Publications
Field S. 2024. Lowering UK electricity prices to achieve net zero? The Energy Blog; available from: https://energyethics.st-andrews.ac.uk/blog/lowering-uk-electricity-prices-to-achieve-net-zero/.
Field S. 2023. Book Review: Uncertainty by design. American Ethnologist 52(2):334-335; available from: https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/amet.13157.
Field S. 2022. Natural Gas in the UK, Part 2: Potential Winter Blackouts and the Grid. The Energy Blog; available from: https://energyethics.st-andrews.ac.uk/blog/natural-gas-in-the-uk-part-2-potential-winter-blackouts-and-the-grid/.
Field S. 2022. Book Review: The Current Economy – Electricity Markets and Techno-economics. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 28(2): 710-711; available from: https://rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9655.13743.
Field S. 2022. Book Review: Norms and Illegality – Intimate Ethnographies and Politics. American Ethnologist 49(1): 134-135; available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/amet.13055.
Field S. 2021. Book Review: Financialization: Relational Approaches. Anthropological Notebooks 27(1); available from: http://notebooks.drustvo-antropologov.si/Notebooks/issue/view/57.
Field S. 2021. Natural Gas in the UK, Part 1: Infrastructures & Geopolitics. The Energy Blog; available from: https://energyethics.st-andrews.ac.uk/blog/natural-gas-in-the-uk-part-1-infrastructures-geopolitics/.
Field S & High MM. 2021. Oil, Oil, Who wants some oil? Part 5: Betting on the Future. The Energy Blog; available from: https://energyethics.st-andrews.ac.uk/blog/oil-oil-who-wants-some-oil-part-5-betting-on-the-future/.
Field S. 2021. Book Review: Poverty as Ideology: Rescuing Social Justice from Global Development Agendas. Studies in Social Justice 15(1); available from: https://journals.library.brocku.ca/index.php/SSJ/article/view/2437.
Field S & High MM. 2020. Oil, Oil, Who wants some oil? Part 4: The Brent Crude Complex. The Energy Blog; available from: https://energyethics.st-andrews.ac.uk/blog/oil-oil-who-wants-some-oil-part-4-the-brent-crude-complex/.
Field S & High MM. 2020. Oil, Oil, Who wants some oil? Part 3: Anticipating the future and financializing oil. The Energy Blog; available from: https://energyethics.st-andrews.ac.uk/blog/oil-oil-who-wants-some-oil-part-3-anticipating-the-future-and-financializing-oil/.
High MM & Field S. 2020. Oil, Oil, Who wants some oil? Part 2: Pipelines and Oil Prices. The Energy Blog; available from: https://energyethics.st-andrews.ac.uk/blog/oil-oil-who-wants-some-oil-part-2-pipelines-and-oil-prices/.
High MM & Field S. 2020. Oil, Oil, Who wants some oil? Part 1: Reflections on Oil Infrastructures at a Time of Negative Oil Prices. The Energy Blog; available from: https://energyethics.st-andrews.ac.uk/blog/oil-oil-who-wants-some-oil-reflections-on-oil-infrastructures-at-a-time-of-negative-oil-price/.
