Ana Díaz-Vidal

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I’m currently doing a PhD in post‑growth policy at the University of Barcelona under the supervision of Federico Demaria and Filka Sekulova as part of the MAPS project.

My aim is to analyse post-growth policies and their interaction with dominant economic discourse and practices. I am most interested in creating space for alternatives to flourish and on how to nourish better futures. While I am based in the School of Sociology, I have a multi-disciplinary background and I often draw from Political Economy, Geography, Ecological Economics and STS in my work. Methodologically, I like to draw on discuourse analysis and use computational social science approaches.

In the past, I have worked as a policy researcher at the OECD and REN21, focusing on issues of energy and climate negotiations in the framework of the UNFCCC. I graduated from Sciences Po and the University of Edinburgh.

I am an avid crossword solver, poetry writer, crafter and sport-doer. I also love reading.

latest posts

Sep 03, 2025	My first post

selected publications

The unequal university will never be ’sustainable’

Isabelle Darmon, Ana Díaz Vidal, and Clara Freudenberg

Undisciplined Environments, Feb 2022

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It’s not only about gigawatts: A comment on the COP28 renewable energy target’s conceptual issues

Ana Díaz Vidal

Sciences Po Energy Review, Oct 2024

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Foreword by Marc Ringel Foreword by Giacomo Luciani 2. Editorial Introduction 3. Experts interviews Interview with Miguel Gil Tertre-Competitiveness amidst Decarbonisation Interview with Adnan Shihab Eldin-A Nuclear Renaissance with Small Modular
Cloudy days for solar energy: A study of the Spanish solar photovoltaic Feed-in Tariff through the Multi-Level Perspective and Socio-technical Transition Pathways

Ana Díaz Vidal

Intersect: The Stanford Journal of Science, Technology, and Society, Oct 2022

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This article explores the under-researched area of policy failures from a Multi-level Perspective (MLP) theoretical framework. In the process, it builds on MLP as a framework and suggests theoretical additions that may increase its explanatory power: the consideration of politics in regimes by exploring power dynamics and the importance of landscapes in influencing transitions. The article offers a contextualization of energy policy in Spain. It then outlines the theoretical framework combining MLP to the socio-technical transition pathways and adding political economy to the regime level. In the analysis it explores the interactions between niche, regime and landscapes followed by a discussion of the ability of the theory to explain and explore policy failures. The article concludes landscape and regime levels are essential in explaining the Spanish SPV case while highlighting the importance of power relations, especially within the regime level. It finally challenges Multi-level Perspective to further explore the complexity of the relations among its different levels. The article suggests further exploration of policy failures as a source of both theoretical and political insight.
Unpacking an African Renewables-Based Economy

Díaz Vidal, Ana; Okoth-Menya, Frank

Jun 2025

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This Strategic Intelligence Brief looks at how resources, trade, policy, and finance intersect to shape Africa’s opportunity to build a renewables-based economy. It emphasises the critical role of renewables in regional cooperation, enabling policies that extend beyond energy access and strategic alignment with continental initiatives for economic development and industrialisation. Africa stands uniquely positioned to harness an unprecedented opportunity: leveraging its abundant natural resources, exceptional renewable energy potential, and critical mineral wealth to drive industrialisation, economic diversification, and sustainable development through a renewables-based economy framework.