Sarah Rosenberg-Jansen

Dr Sarah Rosenberg-Jansen

Independent Scholar Fellow 2022-23

Darkness and Disorder: Refugees, Humanitarian Agencies, and the Struggle to Provide Sustainable Energy Access in Refugee Camps

Within refugee camps, energy has been neglected by both humanitarian organisations and academic research. This Fellowship aims to change that by developing an ethnography of the humanitarian energy world and telling the stories of refugees in their own words. The research will produce a book titled ‘Voices in the dark: Energy Access and the Politics of Living in Refugee Camps’ to demonstrate how energy is used by refugees. Berghahn books have already expressed interest in publishing the book through their Forced Migration series.

More information

Research outcomes

Rosenberg-Jansen, S. (2024).

Voices in the Dark: The Energy Lives of Refugees. Berghahn Books.

Rosenberg-Jansen, S. (2022).

The emerging world of humanitarian energy: A conceptual research review. Energy Research & Social Science, 92, 102779.

Blog posts

How refugee entrepreneurs are supplying sustainable energy to the camps they live in

Refugees are providing energy within camps home to millions of displaced people around the world, establishing shops, phone charging stations, even cinemas.

Areas of interest

Sustainability Energy Politics Humanitarianism Global South Renewable Energy Refugees Forced Displacement

Cohort

ISF8

Biography

Dr Sarah Rosenberg-Jansen is a Senior Research Fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Oxford and a visiting research associate with the University of Oxford. She is the co-founder of the Global Platform for Action for Sustainable Energy Solutions in Situations of Displacement (GPA) and led the GPA research programme between 2017 and 2024. Sarah is an expert adviser on humanitarian energy, with experience leading sustainable energy work with displaced communities in several countries including Rwanda, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Jordan, India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Her research interests focus on climate and energy solutions in refugee camps, the energy lives of displaced people, and understanding how humanitarian systems can provide inclusive and ethical opportunities for vulnerable communities.

Biographical details correct as of 19.08.25