Background
Vincent Edache Idoko is a PhD student in the Environment and Resources program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He holds an MS in Sustainable Communities from Michigan Technological University and an MA in Philosophy from Lagos State University, training that provides a foundation for his interdisciplinary research. His current work involves participation in team science to promote climate resilience and community-engaged risk governance.
Current Projects
Vincent is currently working on two related projects. In the C-CHARM project, Vincent is working to produce deliverables resulting from the co-production of knowledge that has occurred throughout the project that can provide useful information to our community partners. In the NSF-funded RAISE: Confronting Coastal Hazards for Rural and Indigenous Communities in the Great Lakes Region (CCHRIC) project, part of the Confronting Hazards, Impacts, and Risks for a Resilient Planet (CHIRRP) program, Vincent will be leading social science research and stakeholder engagement efforts to bridge community concerns and priorities, climate modeling, and spatial decision support tools. The CCHRIC project focuses on advancing Earth systems-based approaches to understanding and addressing climate-related coastal hazards in the Great Lakes region by engaging communities to better understand their priorities, needs, and concerns. Vincent’s role centers on the social science dimensions of the work, including community engagement, a resident photovoice project, and the co-production of actionable resilience strategies with rural and Indigenous partners.
His contributions to these projects support team science efforts to integrate community priorities into hazard assessment, resilience planning, and identification of adaptation pathways, ensuring that scientific insights translate into policy-relevant and locally meaningful solutions.
Achievements/Contributions
While completing his MA and MS degrees, Vincent contributed to multiple interdisciplinary research initiatives focused on energy transitions, clean energy policy, and community engagement. His work has supported NSF- and DOE-funded projects examining virtual power plants, peer-to-peer energy trading, electric vehicle policy, and equitable electrification.
Across these efforts, he has contributed to: comparative analyses of decentralized energy system models and governance frameworks, development of community engagement strategies for energy infrastructure planning, policy analysis focused on affordability, access, and energy justice, and collaborative research supporting peer-reviewed publications and grant proposals. These experiences provided a strong foundation in translating justice-oriented theory into applied research to provide policy-relevant insights, which now informs his work on climate resilience and hazard governance.
Publications (Selected)
- On the Road to Equity? Michigan’s Electric Vehicle (EV) Policies and Energy Justice (under review)
- Virtual Power Plants and Energy Justice: A Systematic Review (under review)
- An Earth-Eco Socialist Approach Towards Sustainable E-Waste Management in Lagos State (African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology)
Vincent has also published scholarly work in philosophy, ethics, and environmental thought, reflecting his interdisciplinary background and long-standing engagement with questions of energy and environmental justice, technology, and socio-environmental change.
Future Goals
Vincent’s research aims to advance interdisciplinary, policy-relevant approaches to climate, and energy challenges that are grounded in community engagement and justice. Building on his current work in the Great Lakes region, he is interested in how governance structures, institutional design, and participatory processes can build community resilience as well as equitable and effective energy policy outcomes. Following completion of his PhD, Vincent plans to pursue a research-oriented academic career with his scholarship and teaching supporting just, resilient, and socially responsive environmental and energy decision-making.