Guste Gurcinaite

Planning for a Just Transition: the Politics and Governance of Justice in the European Union's Energy Policy 

Gustė Gurčinaitė is a DPhil student in the Environmental Change Institute and the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment and a Rhodes Scholar. Gustė's DPhil research bridges the environmental, energy, and social sciences. Focusing on energy transition policy in the European Union, her work analyzes how to achieve a 'Just Transition' to clean energy futures.

Using qualitative, participatory, systems thinking, and action research methodologies, Gustė analyzes how European policy stakeholders interpret and mobilize just transition principles in energy policy practice and addresses governance challenges associated with designing equitable and fair energy transition policies.

Gustė also serves as the EU's Young Energy Ambassador, contributing youth perspectives to clean energy policy discussions under the Energy Directorate-General and the European Climate, Infrastructure, and Environment Executive Agency.

Gustė holds an MSc in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford, where she graduated with Distinction. Her Master's thesis, developed in partnership with Vilnius City Municipality in Lithuania, investigated social justice risks within the city's planned clean energy transition policy. She also earned a BA in Political Science from New York University Abu Dhabi, graduating with a summa cum laude.