Dr. B.J. (BinBin) Pearce

Dr. B.J. (BinBin) Pearce

Profile

Awards

ETH Zürich Key Innovations in Teaching (KITE) Award 2020

Expertise

  • Energy citizenship and the energy transition
  • Process design for joint problem framing
  • Design thinking for systems transformation
  • Transdisciplinary methodology and tools for co-design and co-creation 

Projects

Horizon 2020 Energy Citizens for Inclusive Decarbonization (2021-2024), coordinator and PI

Biography

BinBin is an assistant professor for policy analysis and design. She is the coordinator of the Horizon 2020 project Energy Citizens for Inclusive Decarbonization (ENCLUDE). This project aims to operationalise the concept of energy citizenship in order to contribute to the goals of the energy transition. Connecting various scales of quantitative modelling approaches (ABM, IAM) to map out decarbonization pathways, as well as developing on-the-ground approaches that seek to engage marginalized and vulnerable communities on these topics through an ENCLUDE Academy, ENCLUDE makes use of a transdisciplinary approach to research and co-create approaches to societal challenges.

Previously, she was a senior researcher at the Transdisciplinarity Lab in the Institute of Environmental Decisions at ETH Zürich. She conducted research on joint problem framing processes, eliciting cognitive maps and developed a framework for understanding the role of insight discovery in complex problem solving on topics related to sustainable development. Research findings contributed to and benefited from developing a problem-based learning curriculum for Bachelors, Masters and continuing education, based on a design thinking for systems transformation approach. Before this, she received her PhD focused on urban metabolism and sustainable organic waste management in Singapore at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. 

She was trained as an environmental engineer at Stanford University. She was born in China and grew up in California. She just got the hang of German after her time in Switzerland, but is now fully engaged in trying to learn Dutch. Flute playing and exploring her new neighborhood in Rotterdam are activities she looks forward to.

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Publications

Prizes