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Dr Shanil Samarakoon

Dr Shanil Samarakoon

Research Associate
  • BCom (Monash University)
  • MCom (UNSW)
  • PhD (UNSW)
Engineering
Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering

Dr Samarakoon is a human geographer with a research background in issues of energy justice in Australia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Pacific. He also draws on over 15 years of field experience as a practitioner through his work on remote off-grid renewable energy projects in Malawi and Sri Lanka.

He is currently a Research Associate at UNW that is engaged in social research that examines the experiences of a range of stakeholder as they shape and navigate the transition to renewable energy technologies. In Australia, this involves trends in renewable energy procurement and household energy practices. In Southern Africa and the Pacific, this involves working in partnership with communities critically examining issues of solar maintenance, repair and e-waste and supporting interventions to address them.  He is an investigator on an ARC Linkage project titled “Solar E-Waste in Africa: facilitating the right to repair” (2024-2027) and a DFAT-funded project titled “Facilitating off-grid solar maintenance, repair, and entrepreneurship in Vanuatu” (2024-2026).  

He also has over a decade of experience in learning and teaching, having taught and convened undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the areas of international development, ethics and sustainability at the Centre for Social Impact, UNSW Business School, and the School of Humanities and Languages (UNSW).

 

 

 
E-mail
s.samarakoon@unsw.edu.au
  • Book Chapters | 2022
    Munro P; Jacome V; Samarakoon S, 2022, 'Off-Grid Enterprise: A Critical History of Small-Scale Off-Grid Solar in Sub-Saharan Africa', in Ojong N (ed.), Off-Grid Solar Electrification in Africa: A Critical Perspective, Palgrave MacMillan, Cham, pp. 25 - 64, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13825-6_2
    Book Chapters | 2022
    Samarakoon S; Zalengera C, 2022, 'Framing Energy Justice: Perspectives from Malawi’s Off-Grid Solar Market', in Energy, Climate and the Environment, Springer International Publishing, pp. 167 - 196, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13825-6_6
    Book Chapters | 2019
    Jenkins K; Samarakoon S; Munro P, 2019, 'Energy economics as an energy justice dilemma', in Routledge Handbook of Energy Economics, Routledge, pp. 317 - 327, http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315459653-21
    Book Chapters | 2019
    Jenkins K; Samarakoon S; Munro P, 2019, 'Energy economics as an energy justice dilemma: Case studies of normative trade-offs in Malawi, Mexico and Germany', in Soytaş U; Sarı R (ed.), Routledge Handbook of Energy Economics, Routledge, London, pp. 317 - 328, http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315459653
  • Journal articles | 2023
    Munro PG; Samarakoon S; Kearnes M; Paisley C, 2023, 'The right to repairable energy: A political ecology off-grid solar repair in Zambia', Political Geography, 106, pp. 102962, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2023.102962
    Journal articles | 2022
    Manwaring K; Kearnes M; Morgan B; Munro P; Pala R; Samarakoon S, 2022, 'What does a right to repair tell us about our relationship with technology?', Alternative Law Journal, 47, pp. 179 - 179, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1037969X221108557
    Journal articles | 2022
    Munro P; Samarakoon S, 2022, 'Off-Grid Electrical Urbanism: Emerging Solar Energy Geographies in Ordinary Cities', Journal of Urban Technology, 30, pp. 127 - 149, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10630732.2022.2068939
    Journal articles | 2022
    Munro PG; Samarakoon S; Hansen UE; Kearnes M; Bruce A; Cross J; Walker S; Zalengera C, 2022, 'Towards a repair research agenda for off-grid solar e-waste in the Global South', Nature Energy, 8, pp. 1 - 6, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41560-022-01103-9
    Journal articles | 2022
    Samarakoon S; Munro P; Zalengera C; Kearnes M, 2022, 'The afterlives of off-grid solar: The dynamics of repair and e-waste in Malawi', Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 42, pp. 317 - 330, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2022.01.009
    Journal articles | 2021
    Samarakoon S; Bartlett A; Munro P, 2021, 'Somewhat original: energy ethics in Malawi’s off-grid solar market', Environmental Sociology, 7, pp. 164 - 175, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23251042.2021.1893428
    Journal articles | 2020
    Munro PG; Samarakoon S; van der Horst GA, 2020, 'African energy poverty: A moving target', Environmental Research Letters, 15, pp. 104059, http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abaf1a
    Journal articles | 2020
    Samarakoon S, 2020, 'The troubled path to ending darkness: Energy injustice encounters in Malawi's off-grid solar market', Energy Research and Social Science, 69, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101712
    Journal articles | 2019
    Samarakoon S, 2019, 'A justice and wellbeing centered framework for analysing energy poverty in the Global South', Ecological Economics, 165, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.106385
    Journal articles | 2017
    Samarakoon S; Christiansen A; Munro PG, 2017, 'Equitable and Quality Education for All of Africa? The Challenges of Using ICT in Education', Perspectives on Global Development and Technology, 16, pp. 645 - 665, http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15691497-12341454
  • Reports | 2023
    Munro P; Samarakoon S; Ngwenya T; Kanyanga K; Keane J; McCloskey J; Mwale F, 2023, Off-Grid Solar Repair in Africa: from burden to opportunity, SolarAid, London, http://dx.doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/28653
    Reports | 2023
    Roberts M; Adams S; Samarakoon S; Kallmier E; Dillon M; Szczepaniak R; Passey R; Bruce A; Macgill I; Egan R; Kuch D, 2023, Energy resilience in bushfires and extreme weather events: Final report of the ESKIES project, https://energy-resilience.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/ESKIES-Report-2023-08-17.pdf
    Recorded / Rendered Creative Works | 2021
    Munro P; Samarakoon S, 2021, The Afterlife of Solar, UNSW, Published: 15 June 2021, Duration: 00"08"53, Recorded / Rendered Creative Works, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nzn2drTtA4
    Reports | 2021
    Yildiz B; Adams S; Samarakoon S; Stringer N; Bruce A; Macgill I, 2021, Curtailment and Network Voltage Analysis Study (CANVAS) Project Report, CRC RACE for 2030, https://www.racefor2030.com.au/publications/
    Conference Papers | 2021
    Yildiz B; Stringer N; Adams S; Samarakoon S; Bruce A; Macgill I; Sproul AB, 2021, 'Curtailment and network voltage analysis study', in 2021 IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies - Asia, ISGT Asia 2021, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), AUSTRALIA, Brisbane, pp. 1 - 5, presented at 2021 IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies - Asia (ISGT Asia), AUSTRALIA, Brisbane, 05 December 2021 - 08 December 2021, http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ISGTASIA49270.2021.9715652

  • ARC Linkage - “Solar E-Waste in Africa: facilitating the right to repair” (2024-2027) - Partner Investigator 
     
  • Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - "Facilitating off-grid solar maintenance, repair, and entrepreneurship in Vanuatu” (2024-2026) - Co-Lead
     
  • Digital Grid Future Institute - 'Energy Poverty in the Pacific: developing a Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion analytical approach' - Investigator

  • Dean's Research Award for Exceptional HDR Social Engagement with Global Impact - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, UNSW —2019