dr. SM (Sol Maria) Halleck Vega

Sol Maria Halleck Vega is Associate Professor and Research Coordinator at the Urban Economics group at WUR. She holds a Ph.D. (nominated among top 3 by Graduate School) and Research Master (cum laude) from the Department of Economics, Econometrics & Finance, University of Groningen.

Her research focuses on the socio-spatial and economic dimensions of energy transition technologies, practices and policies such as renewable energy adoption and diffusion, the role of energy communities in decentralized energy systems, and energy and transport poverty. She also does research related to climate and economic resilient cities and regions. With growing challenges vis-à-vis the climate crisis and social inequalities, it is crucial to enhance our understanding and identify solutions for transitioning towards more sustainable and inclusive societies. Together with a group of MSc students, PhDs and postdoctoral researcher, various methods are used to study these societal challenges including (spatial) econometrics, survey research, simulation approaches, input-output and network analysis.

Dr. Halleck Vega is currently a core team member in three interdisciplinary projects: NWO-funded MultiGreen on multifunctional urban green space planning, FlexECs on coupling e-mobility and energy communities, and an EWUU Urban-Rural Circularity project. She also coordinates courses on spatial economics and energy transition at WUR.

She has previously been involved in other international and interdisciplinary projects on climate change actions and sustainable development, with a focus on green technology diffusion and positive energy districts (e.g., Horizon 2020 Green-Win and Marie Curie Smart-BEEjs projects). She has worked in France, the Netherlands, the UK, and the USA, and was also visiting scholar at the Department of Economics, University of Bologna, and the Stockholm Resilience Centre.

Prior to joining WUR, she was a Research Fellow at the Land, Environment, Economics & Policy Institute and the Paris School of Economics/Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.