Dr Sean Field

Dr Sean Field

Director of Policy

Researcher profile

Phone
+44 (0)1334 46 2986
Email
sf95@st-andrews.ac.uk

 

Teaching

Sean currently convenes the Energy Markets and Finance (GD 5112) module for the Energy Policy and Finance MSc at the University of St Andrews. This module provides students with a strong understanding of energy markets and equips them with the analytical skills used by industry and government analysts in day-to-day financial analysis and practice. 

At the University of St Andrews, Sean also co-convened the Anthropology of Energy (SA4064) module, which was awarded a Golden Dandelion Prize for excellence in teaching environmental sustainability, and he co-convened the Environmental Ethics at Work Vertically Integrated Project. He is also a contributing lecturer to the SciencesPo: Exécutive Master Trajectoires Dirigeants Promotion in the Business School, and has been a contributing lecturer to the Ethnographic Encounters (SA2002) module.

Prior to arriving at St Andrews, he convened undergraduate modules in Economic Geography, Energy and Society, Business and Industrial Geography, Human Resources Management, Applied Ethics, and Research Methods, as well as a postgraduate module in the Economics of Social Policy.   

Supervision

Sebastien Mazur. 2025. The paradox of leadership: Addressing the disconnect between U.S. global emissions leadership and insufficient domestic climate action. Graduate School for Interdisciplinary Studies, MSc Energy Markets and Finance.

Benjamin Smith. 2025. Will AI Aid or Hinder Climate Goals? Graduate School for Interdisciplinary Studies, MSc Energy Markets and Finance.

Luke O'Driscoll-Downes. 2025. Grid Infrastructure and energy markets - Offshore Energy Projects in the North Sea. Graduate School for Interdisciplinary Studies, MSc Energy Markets and Finance.

Kelly Davies. 2025. Encouraging investment in diverse renewables deployment: the impact of Contracts for Difference and regulation structuring on the attractiveness of the UK marine energy projects for international investors. Graduate School for Interdisciplinary Studies, MSc Energy Markets and Finance.

Wibbien Marseille. 2025. How to measure and compare the potential impact of different investment opportunities. Graduate School for Interdisciplinary Studies, MSc Energy Markets and Finance.

Heather Cameron. 2023-24 (co-supervision). “Net Zero: Values, imaginations and experiences among the Scottish Financial Industry.” MRes Social Anthropology, University of St Andrews.

Gabriel Wigny. 2024-25 (co-supervision). “Climate Finance: how to fix the hurdles that prevent funds from reaching net-zero housing projects in Scotland?” Laidlaw Fellowship, Department of Economics and Finance, University of St Andrews.

Frederick (Freddie) Ludvig Medintsev. 2023 (co-supervision). “Forecasting the Price of Benchmark Crudes: An Alternative to Counting Barrels Using Time Series Methods and Deep Learning”. MSc Applied Statistics and Datamining, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews.

Thomas Bunting. 2022. “An analysis of institutional investor priorities in the global energy sector: Case Study on The University Superannuation Scheme”. St Andrews Research Internship Scheme, Department of Social Anthropology, University of St Andrews.

Yu Hsuan Amy Yang. 2018 (co-supervision). “Precision Agriculture in Taiwan: Barriers and Strategies for Technology Development and Adoption”. MSc Sustainability Management, School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto.

Research areas

Sean is the Director of Policy at the Centre for Energy Ethics and a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Social Anthropology. Currently, he is on secondment with the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

His first book is Carbon Capital: Climate Change and the Ethics of Oil Investing, published by New York University Press.

Sean’s work explores issues of sustainability, energy, finance, ethics, climate change, sustainability, resource extraction, and transition. Since late-2018, Sean’s European Research Council funded Energy Ethics research has focused on how financial professionals evaluate energy. This ethnographic work explores the calculation of risks, the performance of financial expertise, the valuation of energy resources, and the integration of ESG into energy investment practices. It follows on his SSHRC-funded PhD research on the financialisation of agricultural commodity markets and global food supply chains.

Currently, Sean leads the Financial Pathways branch of the Scottish Research Alliance for Energy, Homes and Livelihoods, funded by the Scottish Funding Council. This work engages with local authorities, financial institutions, government, and civil society organisations to explore how meeting Scotland’s goal of reaching net zero by 2045 might be achieved and how. 

Sean regularly contributes to local, national, and international discussions of energy, energy finance, and energy policy. His interviews, analysis and commentary have been featured by BBC Radio, The Associated Press, The Courier newspaper, The Sunday National newspaper, The Xinhua News Agency and have been reprinted by agencies such as The Washington Post.

He is co-founder and co-organizer of the Energy Café, and the founder of the Energy and Climate Finance Network. He is also a member of the Centre for Responsible Banking & Finance.

Selected publications

 

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