Erkinai Derkenbaeva

Erkinai Derkenbaeva

Researcher / Project Coordinator, Wageningen University and Research

Erkinai Derkenbaeva is an energy transition researcher at Wageningen University and Research and the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions, where she investigates how cities and neighborhoods transition to clean energy – and what it takes to get residents, businesses, and governments to move in the same direction. She coordinates the NWO FlexECs project on flexible energy communities, managing collaboration across universities, municipalities, and industry partners. Erkinai holds a Ph.D. in Urban Energy Economics from Wageningen University, completed in 2023 under the EU Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie program. Her research combines agent-based modeling with stakeholder engagement to understand how households and businesses make energy transition decisions. She has published in journals including Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Energy Policy, and the Journal of Common Market Studies. She co-founded EnergyCollab to turn her research into something practical: business models that make decarbonization worthwhile for both public and private partners. Before her PhD, she worked with GIZ in Kyrgyzstan on international development projects. She is a member of the OSCE Pool of Young Experts and Future Energy Leaders Netherlands, and brings experience spanning Central Asia and Europe.