Antti Silvast

Antti Silvast is a scholar in Science and Technology Studies (STS) whose work focuses on energy and information infrastructures, climate resilience, social science methodologies, and material participation. His research combines theoretical work with detailed empirical fieldwork, including his ethnographic work on energy control rooms, which became his first monograph, Making Electricity Resilient (Routledge, 2017), and his study of energy computer models and modelling (conducted during his fellowship at Durham University, UK).

Prior to his position at LUT, he held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Edinburgh (Science, Technology and Innovation Studies), Durham University (Department of Anthropology), and Princeton University (Global Systemic Risk) and had positions in the key Nordic technical universities NTNU (Norway) and DTU (Denmark).  

Silvast leads a Science & Technology Studies research group at LUT Social Sciences and has secured over €3 million in research funding during his career, currently managing 8 researchers (4 postdoctoral researchers, 3 junior researchers, and 1 research assistant).

He currently supervises 5 doctoral students and 5 master's thesis projects. 

At LUT, Silvast teaches courses in Science and Technology Studies (BSc), Systems Theory (MSc), and Smart Cities (MSc) and leads the international MSc programme "Technology, Environment, and Societal Change". 

In 2025, he received the LUT Teacher of the Year Award 2024 for the best BSc course, Science and Technology Studies. 

Since 2014, he has been an Editor of Science & Technology Studies, the official journal of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) and the Finnish Society for Science and Technology Studies, and its Coordinating Editor since 2022

Ongoing research projects

• 2026 – 2029, NordForsk Responsible Use of AI call, project, “Data Quality for Responsible AI in Energy Systems (DARES)
• 2024 – 2027 (second term 2027-2030), Strategic Research Council Democracy for the Future (DEMOC) programme, project, “Material Democracy"
• 2025 – 2031, Horizon Europe, project, “Resilient Investment for Sustainable Environments (RISE-IN)”
• 2026, LUT Electric Mobility Research Center Co-Creation Fund, project, “DRIVE towards GREEN (DtG): Exploring Finnish SMEs' Readiness for Decarbonization through Internal Experiences and External Pressures”

Completed research projects

• 2023 – 2026, Innovation Fund Denmark, public professional PhD programme project with the Danish Energy Agency, “Long-term assessment of energy technology data"
• 2020 – 2024, Horizon 2020, “Sustainable Consumer Engagement and Demand Response” (SENDER)
• 2021 – 2023, NordForsk, Joint Committee for Nordic research councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences, “The Increased Vulnerability due to Climate Change of Critical Infrastructure in Remote Areas in the Nordic countries”
• 2019, UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, National Centre for Energy Systems Integration flex project “Control Rooms of the Future: Coordinating Supply and Demand in Integrated Energy Systems”
• 2017, Horizon 2020, “Checking Assumptions and Promoting Responsibility in Smart Development Projects”