Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Prof. Dr. Rob Raven is an interdisciplinary scholar, professor of sustainability transitions and deputy director (research) at Monash Sustainable Development Institute. He is also a visiting professor at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University. His interest is in understanding the dynamics and governance of sustainability transitions and socio-technical innovation. Originally trained as an electrical engineer, he has turned his gaze to the social, institutional, political, and spatial factors that influence successful innovation and transitions towards sustainable development. Rob has made major contributions to multi-level theories of transformative change, socio-technical experimentation, and strategic niche management. His empirical work has covered urban, energy and mobility transition processes in Europe, Asia and Australia. In 2010, he co-designed a practitioner-oriented training program in the EU Climate-KIC’s program ‘Pioneers into Practice’. In 2012 Rob co-founded the global Sustainability Transitions Research Network and won the EASST Chris Freeman award for a significant collective contribution to the interaction of science and technology studies with the study of innovation. From 2019 onwards, he was selected into the Lifetime Achievement Leaderboard of The Australian – Australia’s top 40 researchers – and 1 of 5 top-performing Australian social scientists, and as a Field Leader in Business, Economics & Management. From 2022 onwards, Rob was included in Elsevier’s top 2% of the most influential researchers in the world in all scientific disciplines, with recognized impact in three fields: Energy, Business and Economics, and Enabling & Strategic Technologies. In 2023 he was elected into the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers list. He has co-hosted the 13th International Sustainability Transitions conference, which is the annual global gathering of sustainability transitions researchers, together with Stellenbosch University and Georgetown University. Rob holds several editorial positions, including Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, Global Sustainability, Nature Urban Sustainability, Technological Forecasting and Social Change and Routledge Studies in Energy Transitions. He has published over 130 articles, 3 books and 8 special issues. He has won the equivalent of more than AUD$ 18M research funds. His research has been funded by national research councils in Australia, the Netherlands, the UK and Denmark, by the European Union’s Horizon program, as well as by governments and industry for contract-based and applied research. His current research agenda is focused on the analysis of transformative change in urban contexts such as smart, sustainable, and net-zero cities and precincts. A key question is how actors, place-based experimentation, institutional change and incumbency in socio-technical regimes shape the governance of sustainable city futures in line with the Sustainable Development Goals and the climate urgency?
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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RACE 2030 ENERGY UPGRADES FOR AUSTRALIAN HOMES - Theme H2: Enhancing home thermal efficiency
Raven, R. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Smith, L. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Hadfield, P. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Milligan, B. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Northrop, E. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Holley, C. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Morgan, B. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Langham, E. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Wilmot, K. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Thomas, L. E. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Niklas, S. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Beloria, N. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Chen, D. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Ambrose, M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), James, M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Sadeghi, M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Susilawati, C. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Drogemuller, R. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Mishra, Y. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Hoang, V. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Omrani, S. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Abdulrahman , M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Rajagopalan, P. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Lau, C. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Thai, V. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Ahsan, K. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Chowdhury , P. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Shahparvari , S. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Yadlapalli , A. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Xing, K. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Barros, A. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Coffey, V. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Volz, K. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Taylor, H. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Riedy, C. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Whelan, B. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Nakimichi, N. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Hyne, J. (Partner Investigator (PI)) & Vines, K. (Partner Investigator (PI))
University of New South Wales (UNSW), University of Technology (UTS) Sydney, University of South Australia, RMIT University, CSIRO - Building, Construction & Engineering (Victoria), Climate-KIC, Knauf Insulation Pty Ltd, Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
1/06/23 → 30/05/26
Project: Research
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Building CapaCITY/É for Sustainable Transportation
Beck, B. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Winters, M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Pettit, C. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Skouteris, H. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Raven, R. (Chief Investigator (CI)), de Leeuw, E. J. J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Harris, P. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Ayton, D. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Lee, B. (Chief Investigator (CI)) & Harris, M. (Chief Investigator (CI))
1/01/23 → 31/12/27
Project: Research
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Tracing the impact of urban experimentation in water and energy domains
Farrelly, M. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)) & Raven, R. (Chief Investigator (CI))
16/12/21 → 16/12/25
Project: Research
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Net Zero Precincts: an interdisciplinary approach to decarbonising cities
Raven, R. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Pink, S. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Webb, G. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Farrelly, M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Liebman, A. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Coxon, S. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Graham, P. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Quillinan, A. (Partner Investigator (PI)) & Cailes, D. (Partner Investigator (PI))
1/09/21 → 31/08/26
Project: Research
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NESP2 Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub
Sahajwalla, V., Raven, R., Innes, L., Rogers, B., Wong, B. & Harriden, K.
1/07/21 → 30/06/25
Project: Research
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Behaviours and practices in socio-technical systems and sustainability transitions: editorial to the virtual special issue
Upham, P., Kaufman, S., Bögel, P. M. & Raven, R., 15 Jun 2025, In: Journal of Cleaner Production. 511, 8 p., 145674.Research output: Contribution to journal › Editorial › Other › peer-review
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Entry points for driving systemic change toward a more sustainable future
Moallemi, E. A., Miller, M., Szetey, K., Chakori, S., Conti, C., Hammond, P., Palmer, J., Battaglia, M., Bryan, B. A., Gao, L., Hall, A., Leith, P., Raven, R. & Reed, P. M., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: One Earth. 20 p., 101287.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access -
Framing of innovation in urban Australian municipal climate policy
Rodgerson, G., Farrelly, M., Raven, R. & Sharp, D., Aug 2025, In: Environmental Science and Policy. 170, 9 p., 104094.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Friends, family and the circulation of used goods: overlooked sustainability practices
Lindsay, J., Lane, R., Arunachalam, D. & Raven, R., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: Environmental Sociology. 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access -
Governing University Living Labs for sustainability transformations: insights from 18 international case studies
Hadfield, P., Sharp, D., Pigeon, J. & Raven, R., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: Sustainability Science. 22 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access
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International Conference On Sustainability Transitions 2024
Sharp, D. (Speaker), Quilty, E. (Speaker), Tuckwell, D. (Speaker), Rye, S. (Speaker), Pink, S. (Speaker), Farrelly, M. (Speaker) & Raven, R. (Speaker)
17 Jun 2024Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to conference
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International Conference On Sustainability Transitions 2023
Sharp, D. (Speaker), Quilty, E. (Speaker), Raven, R. (Speaker), Pink, S. (Speaker) & Farrelly, M. (Speaker)
31 Aug 2023Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to conference
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Festival of Future Urbanism
Raven, R. (Session chair), Sharp, D. (Invited speaker), Pink, S. (Invited speaker), Delafoulhouze, M. (Invited speaker) & McGee, T. (Invited speaker)
12 Sept 2022Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to conference
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International Conference On Sustainability Transitions 2022
Stefan Kaufman (Organiser) & Rob Raven (Member of programme committee)
22 Nov 2022Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to conference
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International Workshop on Household Innovation and Agency in Sustainability Transitions
Lane, R. (Organiser), Raven, R. (Organiser) & Lindsay, J. (Organiser)
26 Oct 2022 → 28 Oct 2022Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to conference
Press/Media
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Living River: A Pathway to Revitalise the Citarum River
Prescott, M., Hadfield, P., Sumartojo, S., Lechner, A., Widita, A., Marthanty, D. R., Suwarso, R., Kirana, K. H., Astuti, N., Khikmah, F., Taufik, F. D., Aditya, B., Hakim, R., Oktariani, A. E., Ramirez, D., Wong, T., Holden, J., Maheshwari, T., Jimenez Redal, R., Tanumihardja, D., Raven, R., Ningrum, D., Pratama, M. A., Priadi, C., Ombasta, O., Endyana, C., Hardesty, B. D., Skidmore, M. A., Zurbruegg, C., Sutasurya, D., Rakhman, Y., Ismanto, R., Pasman, R., Marvin, P., Saptarini, I., Bagustantyo, B. & Putri M, A. A.
5/12/23
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Other
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Households find low waste living challenging. Here's what needs to change
Raven, R., Reynolds, D. O., Lindsay, J. & Lane, R.
23/02/23 → 26/02/23
2 Media contributions
Press/Media: Article/Feature
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What motivates landlords to retrofit rental properties for energy efficiency?
Lang, M., Raven, R. & Lane, R.
18/08/22
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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A Sustainable Future
Lane, R., Farrelly, M., Raven, R. & Nash, C.
8/10/20
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Profile/Interview