Graduate Students Call for Papers: Virtual LASA Preconference, May 25, 2026

Noticias de 18.12.2025

Organised by Javiera Barandiarán (UCSB), Julio Postigo (UIndiana) & Bettina Schorr (FU Berlin)

Unjust Energy Transitions? Research Directions and Needs in Latin America

The Energy transition is prolonging the traditional role of Latin America as a provider of raw materials to the global economy through the region’s salience as a provider of minerals such as lithium, copper, and nickel, and its recent role in the emergent global green hydrogen supply chain. The expansion and intensification of mining for the energy transition (MET) and new massive infrastructure projects related to green hydrogen (GH2) in the region reframes questions about justice, equity, and sustainability. Governments and communities struggle to hold mining companies accountable, reap the benefits, distribute revenue, and mitigate the harms. Likewise, governments across the region promote GH2 projects, with uncertain economic outcomes and socio-environmental consequences. In the meantime, domestic energy transitions are hardly a subject in public discourses in the region.

Lithium, copper, and nickel are critical metals for producing the clean energy applications needed to bring climate mitigation within reach (e.g., batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage). Analyzing MET and GH2 cases as well as domestic ET efforts throughout the region (e.g., Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and Mexico) would enable a comprehensive understanding of the challenging dynamics between the current global energy transitions, including mining and GH2 production, and social-ecological systems. This pre-conference workshop brings together scholars from different disciplines to discuss research advances and needs regarding global energy transitions, MET and GH2, environmental and climate justice, and sustainability in the region. Participants will discuss how research can inform debates about Global Energy Transitions at different scales, support organizing efforts and communities facing mining projects, and how to contribute to knowledge about environmental and climate justice, just transitions, restorative environmental work, degrowth, and other frameworks for reconfiguring nature-society relations. This workshop is taking place at a pivotal moment when MET exploration and exploitation are intensifying and diversifying, with vast consequences, while governance systems struggle to keep up and meet social demands for growth, environmental protection, and equity.)

This pre-conference workshop brings together scholars from diverse disciplines to discuss research advances and needs related to energy transitions in Latin America. The workshop will have two components: 1) a virtual morning graduate student paper workshop, where they receive in-depth feedback and comments from specialized senior researchers; 2) In-person afternoon roundtable discussions (in the Hotel Marriott Rive Gauche, as part of the 2026 LASA Conference in Paris), where participants will discuss how research can inform debates about the challenges of global energy transitions in the region.

Graduate students are eligible to apply for participation in the virtual paper workshop. Take the opportunity and get in touch with the research community!

The workshop is open to all enrolled Master's and Doctoral Students as well as early Postdoctoral Researchers.

Paper requirements:

Topics: Global Energy Transitions in Latin America, Mining, Green Hydrogen

Region: Latin America

Must be a graduate student (M.A., M.S., or Ph.D.)

Any Discipline from the Social Sciences (incl. Economics) or Methodology

Language: English, Spanish, or Portuguese

Paper Length: 5,000 – 10,000 words including citations

Costs: None

Important Dates:

Abstract submission deadline: 30.1.2026

Acceptance notification: 15.2.2026