Stefanie Horian, PhD candidate at TU Delft, holds a degree in Economic Geography from the Universities in Heidelberg and Tübingen in Germany. During her MSc thesis project, she collaborated with the Fraunhofer Institute* on an EU-funded project. Her work was well received and she was invited to continue, marking the beginning of her professional career.
Stefanie’s interest in the energy transition emerged already during her BSc thesis and continued to develop throughout both her BSc and MSc research projects. Over time, she refined her interest towards renewable resource efficiency, and the energy transition in the built environment.
Building on this foundation of her previous professional work experience, Stefanie was up for an early-career opportunity in European research and policy environments. She applied for an EU traineeship and was accepted as an environmental scientist at the Joint Research Centre in Petten, the Netherlands. During this traineeship, she further strengthened her interest in working in an international environment and prepared for the next step in her career: being appointed to a PhD project at the Faculty of Architecture at TU Delft. Reflecting on her decision to pursue an academic career, she says, “Facts and feelings came together.”
Nowadays, Stefanie is in her fourth year of her PhD project, ALIGN4Energy. In this project, she is studying the intersection of energy, housing and decision-making. Her research is part of the 4TU.Built Environment - Energy Transition.
Stefanie is an active member of various housing networks, including the Urban Energy Institute at TU Delft, the European Network of Housing Research (ENHR), and the SHAPE-EU network. She is also a mentor on the 4TU.Energy Deloitte’s Future of Energy Business Course.
Developing theory to help explain stubborn realities
Stefanie studies the hidden organisational barriers that arise during housing renovation projects. While such projects may seem straightforward in planning, their implementation often proves far more complex. Renovations face significant challenges in practice, primarily due to the involvement of diverse stakeholders, each with unique interests and agendas. Human behaviour plays a critical role in shaping governance processes, leading to unseen coordination challenges, transaction costs among stakeholders and behavioural influences on decision-making.
Stefanie says, “For example, I look at what happens when a renovation process gets slowed down. And I’m particularly interested in project management and behaviour where I prioritise clarity over complexity. The technical solutions for renovation are there, but it’s an organisational, behavioural and social challenge to conduct a renovation project on time and within budget.”
An affordable and just energy transition in the built environment
Stefanie studies in particular house renovation processes for social housing, at an EU level and at a Dutch level. She explains, “Where homeowners may be able to adopt energy-efficient solutions themselves, supported by bank loans or private investors, people who rent their homes may be more vulnerable and have fewer opportunities to adapt to energy-efficient solutions. For tenants in social housing, housing associations play an important role in taking up the effort towards the energy transition. This raises the question, when energy prices are high, how are people who are experiencing energy poverty actually being supported?”
The European Union has set itself the legally binding objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. This makes decarbonising the building sector particularly important, given that buildings account for around 40% of the EU’s energy consumption and 36% of its energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. This includes emissions from residential and social housing, making this is an ambitious goal for the latter too.
In this context, affordable housing projects are aimed at improving energy sustainability by improving insulation, transitioning to sustainable heating, installing solar panels, and other measures, including renewable energy sources. Stefanie finds it important to look at these types of projects because vulnerable households are involved, and therefore more care should be taken to get them through the energy transition in housing renovation.
Futuristic thinking and collaboration are key in the energy transition
Project management plays an important role in Stefanie’s perspective on social housing and the energy transition. This focus has led Stefanie to take up a role as a mentor in the 4TU.Energy and Deloitte’s Future of Energy Business Course.
Stefanie says, “This course is a great initiative, bringing together students, researchers and young professionals and addressing real-life energy transition issues. It combines critical thinking and creativity with new technological developments. Take, for example, the latest developments in energy storage and batteries. The course is all about sustainable challenges, where students are being introduced to business thinking for implementing strategies. Students and trainees learn that it’s not only about innovations but also about solutions that investors are interested in.”
Stefanie took it upon herself to bring in the scientific perspective to the students, helping them to shape ideas, challenge their assumptions, and think creatively beyond the obvious. Her team was successful, winning an award at the end of the course in 2025.
The energy transition – fundamentally a collaborative challenge
Regarding the energy transition, Stefanie comments, “We underestimate the importance of governance, public acceptance, and behaviour. To illustrate this, we can see it in grid development and energy exchange. Project management is required to bring the various stakeholders together.”
Stefanie acknowledges that she benefits from a growing professional network, too. “I recognise the need for continuous learning and development are essential. To translate research into the real-world practice, one must understand the needs of professional organizations and the institutional frameworks within which they operate. You need to get yourself familiar with their challenges – they are as real as real as broader societal challenges.”
4TU.Energy provides an environment in which Stefanie can grow her professional network. As a PhD candidate, she believes it is important to familiarise herself with other disciplines and perspectives, and to exchange ideas. Stefanie says, “I receive a lot of support from 4TU.Energy and from TU Delft to help me thrive and to build a network. It’s important to me to know the experts around me, and I would recommend this to other PhD candidates too. 4TU.Energy plays an important role in that respect.”
Contact Stefanie Horian
Stefanie Horian’s web profile at TU Delft.
*Stefanie has worked at the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, where she was researcher in Energy Policy and Energy Markets.