A sociomaterial stance approach to geoenergy RD&D organising

This paper explores the stance on immersive technology in research, development and demonstration (RD&D) organising activity. Drawing on a government-led RD&D project, comprising shallow and deep geothermal energy (Northern Ireland, Department for the Economy, 2023), we show how members attempt to remedy a significant and enduring impediment – being able to access Plant Earth’s subsurface and showcase the thermal dynamics of geoenergy heating and cooling – with immersive technology practice. More in particular, we adopt a stance perspective toward immersive technology practice in RD&D activity. Stances are distinctive attitudes held by various institutional members in relation and are associated with the manner in which individuals position themselves and evaluate a phenomenon (Du Bois, 2007). Stances are not just beliefs, but are adopted, held, and expressed in human action (Fayard et al., 2016). Building on the work of Ahuja & Lampert (2001) on institutional familiarity traps, we explore how the role of unfamiliarity with Planet Earth’s subsurface conditions stances, impacts reasoning and evaluation (Ahuja & Lampert, 2001; Fayard et al., 2016). In organising RD&D practice, we study the way that institutional members organise immersive technologies and couple those with materiality (Monteiro & Nicolini, 2015) to stimulate new ways of reasoning and evaluation – new stances. In this research, we adopt a sociomaterial approach, whereby materiality is viewed as inseparable from the social world, providing insight into “how the entangled sociomaterial practices of specific apparatuses enact boundaries with certain performative outcomes.” (Orlikowski & Scott, 2023: 8). A cyclical model for the interaction between implicit new world views and the accommodative stances are outlined. Suggestions for research on stances towards immersive technology and sociomaterial practice in RD&D activity are supplied.