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About Energy Research at Newcastle University
Our vision and mission
At the Centre for Energy Research, our vision is to unify efforts and raise ambitions towards a new way of thinking about energy systems.
Our mission is to contribute to the delivery of clean and affordable energy – the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 7.
A new way of thinking
By bringing together a wealth of expertise across disciplines, at the Centre for Energy Research, we aim to unify efforts towards a new way of thinking about energy systems:
- Across scales – from individual electrons to global trading systems
- Across geographies – from the individual home and household, to communities of villages and towns, to mega cities and nations
- Across disciplines – from materials science, the engineering of systems, social sciences, the law of energy policy and regulation, public health, and AI. A multitude of disciplines are needed to address this complex problem
- Across applications — such as domestic, industry, transport, and services
We aim to deliver advances in:
- technology and engineering
- materials science
- economics and policy studies
- cyber security
- lifecycle analysis
- ethics and justice
- business models
- behaviour
- design and infrastructure
This will help the Centre for Energy Research to progress towards the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.
Joint Director – Dr Haris Patsios
Dr Haris Patsios is a Reader in Smart Energy Systems with significant experience in the design, modelling and control of power systems including renewables.
He is:
- a Co-director and WP leader for the Supergen Energy Storage Network,
- a Work Package Leader for the £5m EPSRC’s National Centre for Energy Systems Integration (CESI)
- also a co-investigator in relevant projects (e.g. the £5m EPSRC project ‘Multi-scale ANalysis for Facilities for Energy Storage’ (EP/N032888/1). This links energy storage facilities across the UK)
Dr Patsios’s research focuses on:
- the development of integrated models and control techniques for energy storage
- decentralized control in future power networks, working closely with UK industry and academia
Joint Director – Professor Katharine Rietig
Professor Katharine Rietig is Professor of Sustainability and International Politics.
Her research examines how the effectiveness of climate change governance can be improved. Her particular focus is:
- on the role of learning, non-state actors and multilevel governance dynamics between countries and the United Nations
- how these dynamics help policy change for more effective environmental governance
She holds:
- a British Academy/Wolfson Fellowship as Principal Investigator. Focussing on ‘Climate Smart Cities: Responsible Policies for governing Artificial Intelligence in Transitions to Low Carbon Societies
She is a Principal Investigator for a British Academy-funded project on Just Transitions in the forestry sector. Her research and impact activities have been funded by the:
- UK Research and Innovation Council/ Economic and Social Research Council
- British Academy
- Wolfson Foundation
- German Federal Ministry for Education and Research
She has been participating as academic observer in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations since November 2009. She has conducted various research projects on the UNFCCC negotiations focusing on the influence of:
- non-national actors
- negotiation strategies
- the role of leadership by governments and non-national actors
She is co-founder and co-convenor of the Better Climate Governance Network.
She holds:
- a PhD in Environmental Policy and Development
- a MSc in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics and Political Science
- an M.A. in Political Science, International Law and Economics from the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich
Her work appeared in leading peer-reviewed journals including:
- Environmental Policy and Governance
- Environmental Politics
- Global Governance
- International Affairs
- International Environmental Agreements
- the Journal of European Public Policy
- Policy Studies Journal
- Policy and Society
- Policy Sciences
- Public Administration
Her research monograph on Learning in Governance was published in September 2021 by MIT Press.