Biography
Gustė Gurčinaitė is the first Lithuanian Rhodes Scholar. Having first completed a MSc in Environmental Change and Management at the University of Oxford with a distinction, she is now pursuing a doctoral degree (Dphil) in Geography and the Environment. She is affiliated with the Environmental Change Institute and the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment.
Bridging academia and policy, Gustė's research analyzes how to achieve a just transition to clean energy systems in the European Union. Gustė is engaging a diverse set of European policy actors through qualitative and participatory research methods. She is exploring how practitioners interpret and mobilize just transition principles in European energy policy and developing actionable governance strategies and practical policy instruments to help advance just transition principles in European energy policy.
Gustė also serves as the EU's Young Energy Ambassador, contributing youth perspectives to clean energy policy discussions under the Energy Directorate-General and the European Climate, Infrastructure, and Environment Executive Agency in the European Commission.
Previously, for her Master's research, Gustė developed a partnership with Vilnius City Municipality in Lithuania to investigate social justice risks within the city's planned clean energy transition policy. Gustė also holds a BA in Political Science from New York University Abu Dhabi, where she graduated summa cum laude.
Outside of academia, Gustė has contributed to a range of research projects shaping climate policy across Europe and the Middle East. In her free time, Gustė boxes with the Oxford University Amateur Boxing Club, dances hip hop, cooks veggie dinners for her friends, and appreciates Oxford’s green spaces on runs.