Irish Traveller communities and energy poverty: Methodological reflections on human-centred and community-based research

Energy poverty disproportionately affects marginalised communities across Europe yet remains poorly understood among groups whose housing arrangements and cultural relationships to ‘home’ fall outside mainstream policy assumptions. Irish Travellers, a distinct ethnic minority with a nomadic heritage, face acute energy vulnerability in mobile dwellings that are excluded from national retrofit programmes. Despite policy commitments to a just energy transition, these communities remain largely invisible within retrofit and housing strategies and risk being left behind. This paper presents a methodological reflection on the MOBILISE project, a design-led research initiative examining energy poverty among Irish Traveller communities. Rather than reporting empirical findings, it explores how Human-Centred Design and a Community of Practice framework were adapted to foster inclusive, culturally responsive engagement with mobile, marginalised populations in Ireland. The reflection draws on stakeholder interviews, participatory workshops, community meetings, and the development of a multi-stakeholder Community of Practice. Four methodological lessons emerge. First, meaningful engagement requires sustained time and relationship-building, with trust central to participation and co-production. Second, transparency about research limitations proved essential for managing expectations and maintaining ethical integrity. Third, engagement with Traveller Cultural Awareness and Trauma-Informed training prompted critical reflexivity in the research process. Fourth, the Community of Practice enabled collaboration among diverse stakeholders and created space for Traveller voices to shape research priorities. This paper contributes to energy research by demonstrating how combining Human-Centred Design and Community of Practice principles can foster trust, reflexivity, and co-production, offering a transferable framework grounded in relational depth, cultural responsiveness, and accountability.