Imre Szeman

Imre Szeman is the inaugural Director of the Institute for Environment, Conservation and Sustainability and Professor of Human Geography at the University of Toronto Scarborough, where he has taught since 2022. He was previously University Research Chair of Environmental Communication at the University of Waterloo (2017-2022), Canada Research Chair of Cultural Studies at the University of Alberta (2009-2016) and Senator William McMaster Chair in Globalization and Cultural Studies at McMaster University (2004-2009). A cultural theorist distinguished for his contributions to the interdisciplinary study of energy and environment known as “energy humanities,” Szeman is also a key figure in the development of cultural studies in Canada and for research on globalization and culture. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Szeman is author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of thirty books, including (most recently): On Petrocultures: Globalization, Culture, and Energy (West Virginia University Press, 2019), which explores the socio-cultural dimensions of energy use and its implications for energy transition and climate change; Futures of the Sun: The Struggle Over Renewable Life (University of Minnesota Press, 2024), a book examining corporate and state control of the transition to renewables; and Power Shift: Keywords for a New Politics of Energy (co-ed. with Jennifer Wenzel (West Virginia University Press, 2025). Green Dreams: Why Technology Won’t Save the World (co-written with Tanner Mirrlees) will be published by Bloomsbury in 2026.