Timothy Ravis, whose research focuses on uncovering the social, political, and economic impediments to a green energy transition in Indonesia, is the first RANA Prize winner at Cornell.
The $10,000 Ronny Adhikarya Niche Award (RANA) recognizes Global Development graduate students pursuing innovative thinking in their studies and careers. Ravis, a Ph.D. student in development studies, envisions a carbon-neutral world which, through reforms to the energy transition process, is more just, equitable, and peaceful.
Ravis lived in Indonesia from 2015-2018 where he was a Fulbright scholar, World Bank consultant, and a summer fellow with the Pulse Lab Jakarta, a joint data innovation facility of the United Nations and Government of Indonesia. He researched the governance of growing megacities and how to address the needs of vulnerable populations. With World Bank he contributed to safeguard frameworks which internalized environmental protection and social equity into regional development plans.
Ravis said the RANA Prize will support research to untangle the political-economic forces, sociopolitical institutions, and individual personalities that combine to hinder a just and sustainable energy transition in Indonesia.
“The first step to dismantling the fossil fuel political-energy regime is learning more about it, especially in nationally-specific permutations which have not gotten enough attention from researchers,” Ravis said.
“The RANA Prize rewards innovative thinking and those who are eager to explore the unexplored in their intellectual pursuits,” said Lori Leonard, professor and chair of the Department of Global Development. “We are thrilled to recognize Tim Ravis with this award and are thankful for Ronny Adhikarya and Mee-Ching for establishing this visionary prize in Global Development.”
“The first step to dismantling the fossil fuel political-energy regime is learning more about it, especially in nationally-specific permutations which have not gotten enough attention from researchers." - Timothy Ravis
At Cornell, Ravis is exploring how technological change affects the relationships between state, society, and nature, through the specific history and geography of Indonesia. Drawing on novel approaches in political ecology and geography, his research looks to analyze the social forces and structures which hinder the large-scale development of renewable energy sources, such as geothermal, in Indonesia.
Ravis is not interested in research that remains confined to academic conversations. “I look forward to working with organizations and institutions in Indonesia with whom the knowledge we produce can be put to work changing the status quo,” he said.
