Together we produced insightful research outputs and discussions to help the ongoing energy issues in the world.

The learning and collaboration never stopped...

Online events

We kicked off the year with the introduction and continuation of several webinar series:

• CESI Webinar 
• V2G Webinar 
• Whole Energy Systems 
• Optimisation Group

Collaboration

• Higher Education Innovation Fund is continuing to help CESI and Northern Gas Networks
• Newcastle University and CESI are proud to be a member of the North East Energy Catalyst helping solve global energy challenges throughout the north east.
• CESI's work on hydrogen in the Whole Energy Systems landscape featured in the Network Innovation Annual Summary 2020/21 produced by Northern Gas Networks
  

Events

• Our Director, Professor Sara Walker, joined representatives from the Supergen Network Hubs for the Energy Day at COP26 Fishbowl event and EDI in Energy Research Conference 
  
• CESI partners from Durham Energy Institute Professor Tony Roskilly, and industry partner Keith Owen from Northern Gas Networks spoke at the Hopin UK International Conference on Gas Decarbonisation ahead of COP26

CESI featured on our screens up and down the country…

CESI partners triumphed with media coverage including interviews with Sky News, ITV News, BBC News, local and national BBC Radio, From Newcastle Podcast, blogs and featured in the Centre for Life Climate Matters series.

 Some of our achievements from this year include...

• Dr Zoya Pourmirza finished her Secondment with Office for Zero Emission Vehicles. Dr Pourmirza contributed to reports and British Standards on cyber security of electric vehicle charging infrastructure and IoT devices.
• Jon Gluyas became President of Global Geothermal Energy Advancement Association
• Launching of the Centre for Energy's website, led by CESI Director Professor Sara Walker
• Dr Zoya Pourmiza was awarded an EPSRC IAA grant to continue her work with Energy Systems Catapult on Energy Systems Digitalisation
• CESI paper on Data Reduction, written by Dr Zoya Pourmiza, Professor Walker and John Brooke, was chosen as a featured article in IET Smart Grid (Volume 4, Issue 5)
• CESI Flex Fund 3 and Flex Fund 4, featuring a recently published Policy Brief on Tools for Local Government Net-Zero Decision Making
• POSTnote Contributions on Energy Digitalisation was contributed to by Professor David Flynn, Dr Zoya Pourmirza and Professor Sara Walker
• Dr Sara Walker became Professor Sara Walker in November. Keep an eye out in the new year for an inspiring blog post about Sara's journey.

We celebrated women in power...

• In June, Professor Sara Walker was awarded Top 100 Women in Engineering by WES
• Prof Walker joined some inspirational women in STEM for the ‘Holmes Lecture 2021: Here are the women in STEM.’
• CESI hosted an exhibit *LIVESTREAM* on our YouTube channel as part of the WES 100 Violets Challenge
  
• We celebrated International Women's Day on 8th March
• Research Associate Dr Nabila Rufa'l spoke at the Women in Power Global Summit webinar series, talking about the transition to low carbon electricity systems

Our team changed...

We had some new additions to the team:

• Two research associates joined in 2021: Akhil Joseph and Dr Nabila Rufa'l 
  
• Justina Heslop and Rhiannon Lamb joined our Professional Services team
• Natalia-Maria Zografou-Barredo was successful in securing a 2-year EPSRC fellowship with Dr David Greenwood after completing her PhD this year
• Research Associate Dr Merlinda Andoni gave birth to a beautiful daughter, welcome to the team Eliza!

And we said farewell to some:

• In June, Laura Brown moved to work in industry with The TNEI Group
• Alison Norton became Project Coordinator for the Driving the Electric Revolution (DER) Project 
• Research associate Dr Yiji Lu started a new Lecture role at the University of Glasgow
• After completing of his PhD, Ali Berjawi started a new role at Willis Towers Watson

Final words

"It is a phrase being regularly used, but it has certainly been a strange year in 2021. We have been fortunate to be able to continue with much of our research throughout the pandemic, with adjustments as we worked from home for a portion of the year and had limited access to laboratories and demonstrators. Thanks to our partners in academia, industry and the public and private sector, who have engaged with CESI online as we continued with our webinars and virtual meetings. Thanks to all of our researchers who have continued to push for new knowledge in quite trying circumstances! Our project will complete in 2022, and I look forward to working with the team to complete our final tasks and deliver impact through a planned series of White Papers and events in late spring."

Professor Sara Walker, CESI Director

To our academics, research associates, students, wider partners, and professional staff members,  thank you for your support throughout 2021. 

From the CESI team, we hope you have a restful and peaceful Christmas holiday!