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Portrait Tom Hawxwell. Photo: Emma Lord.
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Tom Hawxwell

Postdoctoral fellow

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Portrait Tom Hawxwell. Photo: Emma Lord.
Contact details
  • Email: tom [dot] hawxwell [at] soc [dot] lu [dot] se
Organisation
  • Department of Sociology
  • Service point: 31
Webpage
Other affiliations
  • Postdoc
    CIRCLE

Main research areas

  • Environmental governance
  • Transitions
  • Socio-technical Systems  

Current research

I am a postdoctoral researcher working as part of the ENDINGS project (ERC). The project takes as a starting point that large investments have focused on researching and promoting (technological) novelties—yet they often fail to displace established production and consumption systems. To focus on ENDINGS is an attempt to move beyond this innovation bias by studying how socio-technical systems decline or persist, since existing systems are more likely to endure than to disappear and we still know surprisingly little about how endings unfold. My research focuses on processes of destabilisation, maintenance, and reproduction of socio-technical systems of provision, with a particular interest in transportation systems.

Teaching

  • Sociology: Sociological Perspectives on Sustainability Transitions (SOCN10)
  • Development Studies: Development Cooperation in Practice (UTVC25)

Academic background

I completed my PhD (rer. pol.) as part of the DFG Research Training Group Urban Future Making (German Research Foundation) at the HafenCity University Hamburg. I hold a Bachelor of International Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in Geography, Environment, and Population from the University of Adelaide, as well as a Master of Science in Environmental Governance from the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. I have also worked at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering (IAO) in Stuttgart, focusing on applied research on urban governance, sustainability, and climate change adaptation.

Ongoing research projects

Research environments

Publications

Displaying of publications. Sorted by year, then title.

Last updated: 11 Nov 2025