QR Strategic Priorities Fund
QR Funding
In November 2020, the Centre for Energy was awarded £39k of QR Strategic Priorities Fund (QR SPF) from Newcastle University to support research activity which works in partnership with policymakers and to support collaborations aimed at supporting evidence-based policymaking in renewable energy.
Led by our Centre Director (Dr Sara Walker) two Research Assistant’s (Tamara Topic and Dr Tom Fender) worked across the 3 workpackages and other Centre activities to prepare POST notes in Energy topics, work on government consultations (such as BEIS and OFGEM), and deliver on other areas of policy impact for the Centre.
You can find Tom's POST note on Carbon Capture Utlization and Storage (CCUS) and Tamara's POST note on the impact of emissions from ships on the links below.
Dr Tom Fender and Tamara Topic have also completed a Centre for Energy review compiling the expertise in Newcastle that aligns to the UK Government targets and funding opportunities outlined in the Energy White Paper, which was presented to Parliament in December 2020 by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. You can find the Centre for Energy Review on the link below.
We also supported collaborations that supported evidence-based policymaking in renewable energy through three other distinct workpackages:
Workpackage 1: (Lead: Dr Anurag Sharma) To support policymakers to develop more sophisticated and accurate forecast techniques to reduce greenhouse emissions by designing a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to forecast energy demand and available generation.
Workpackage 2 (Lead: Dr Kheng Lim Goh): To make progress towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 for affordable and clean energy in Singapore and India, and to enable further dialogue and collaboration between universities, industrials, and policymakers, this project has reviewed the plastic life cycle, impact of plastic waste, landscape of plastic waste and recycling management/infrastructure, economic value model, and possible technology for remanufacturing of new products using plastic scraps.
Workpackage 3: (Lead: Dr James Dawson) The project was focused on a scientific collaboration between Newcastle, Stanford and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory using computational modelling (Newcastle) and X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) facilities (Stanford/SLAC) to study ion transport in battery materials. Beyond the outstanding research potential, another aim of the project was to use the results as a case study to support the ongoing case for a UK XFEL.