Earlier this year, Supergen Energy Networks Hub convened a workshop in Leeds, bringing together industry, public and third sector stakeholders from around the country to discuss how best to support vulnerable energy users through the transition to decarbonised domestic heating.
We have now published a Briefing Note summarising key points from the event. Themes include lowering costs and reforming the standing charge, scaling up practical help, easier connections and disconnections, communication with customers, and long-term strategic direction.
The event also led to ongoing short research projects across Supergen, looking at the network implications of requirements for all rented housing in the UK to be EPC ‘C’ by 2030, current and future support from DNOs for vulnerable households, and approaches to the future of the gas grid.
September 2026, we will be hosting an afternoon workshop at the DAFNI: Data & Analytics Facility for National Infrastructure Conference.
This event brings together researchers and practitioners to address some of the UK’s most pressing infrastructure challenges through the use of shared data, models, and advanced analytics. The workshop aligns closely with our mission-driven approach, with a strong emphasis on collaboration, innovation, and real-world impact.
The focus will be on exploring how integrated modelling and analytics can support more effective decision-making across energy networks. The workshop will also provide a space to share perspectives across disciplines and sectors, creating meaningful dialogue and encouraging new ways of thinking. By bringing together diverse expertise, we hope to build connections that help translate research into practical solutions.
We are looking forward to contributing to a forum that champions connected thinking, open collaboration, and community building, and to work with attendees to help shape the future of research and practice in this space.
More details on the workshop will be shared soon.
2 June Bristol (In person)
We are hosting a workshop in June to bring together colleagues to create a shared space to exchange perspectives, explore current research challenges, and collaboratively develop ideas focused on the next steps in AI and digital innovation for the UK energy network.
The workshop will be facilitated by Dr Gareth Buchanan and will build on the workshop held in January at the University of Bath, the emphasis will be on co‑developing research ideas with clear pathways to funding.
We are looking forward to using this workshop as an opportunity to generate new ideas and advance thinking around the role of AI in energy systems
Supergen Energy Networks Hub researcher Dr Yitian Dai has been selected for the highly competitive 2026 DAFNI (Data & Analytics Facility for National Infrastructure) Fellowship programme.
Dr Yitian Dai, a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at The University of Manchester, is one of just 10 Fellows chosen from 116 applicants. Her work focuses on understanding how climate change impacts the resilience of electricity networks.
Through the Fellowship, Dr Dai will develop and share accessible tools and datasets via the DAFNI platform, helping researchers, network operators and policymakers better assess and manage climate-related risks to critical infrastructure. Her project will bring together climate hazard data, asset vulnerability models and simulation workflows to create an integrated evidence base for analysing how electricity networks perform under extreme weather conditions.
Dr Dai’s research, carried out within the Supergen Energy Networks Hub, explores how climate hazards can trigger cascading failures in transmission systems. By making these methodologies more widely accessible, her work aims to support more informed decision-making and strengthen the UK’s energy resilience.
The Fellowship provides funding to support collaboration, knowledge exchange and dissemination, while fostering closer links between academia, industry and government to address national infrastructure challenges.
Sometimes, it’s worth stopping and asking a simple question:
“What have we been doing all these years?”
This blog started as exactly that.
We’ve been talking a lot about AI recently, as has everyone, and it’s easy to feel like it’s something new that’s suddenly arrived. But, for the Supergen community, that isn’t quite true.
As an experiment, we decided to pull together 36 papers from 11 of our Co Investigators, covering more than two decades of research. With the plan, to not only look back to see within AI what we had been doing, but to identify the knowledge and experience across the team.
Instead of us trying to summarise 20+ years of research, we decided as this was a look into research involving AI to let an LLM have a go at collating all our work.
We asked the LLM to “assess all the AI papers from the team and create a story of AI research within the Supergen team before AI was as prevalent as it is now.”
We didn’t want anything too polished. Just a sense of whether it could spot patterns, make connections, and reflect something meaningful back to us.
What came out was surprisingly clear and created a narrative of the research and collective expertise of the Supergen team.
We are sharing the story that it gave back….
So, leaving LLM’s “voice” and returning to ours, what can we actually take away from this?
We haven’t suddenly started doing AI. We’ve been doing it, in different forms, under different names, for a long time. The current prevalence of AI just makes it more visible.
What the LLM did well was connect those pieces. It gave us a quick way to zoom out and see the bigger picture across years of work that previously had not been connected both to AI today and within members of the team.
The real value is that it enabled us to step back and recognise the connections that were already there and pull together a great narrative for our research.
It can feel like AI is all of a sudden everywhere, but the reassurance is that:
“For this team, it’s been part of the story all along.”
Supergen Energy Networks Director and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bath, Professor Phil Taylor has been appointed Honorary Professor of Tsinghua University, China.
The appointment highlights the strong and growing research links between the two institutions.
During his recent visit, he shared his thoughts on the future of energy, emphasising the need for systems that are not only low-carbon, but also flexible enough to adapt and remain affordable as demands change.
The Supergen Energy Networks Hub Annual Conference 2025 brought together a diverse mix of researchers, industry leaders and policymakers in Bath, with around 70% of attendees joining from beyond the immediate Hub community. The event highlighted the growing reach of Supergen and its role in connecting people and ideas to accelerate the transition to net zero energy systems.
Across the programme, the focus was firmly on impact, how research, industry insight and policy can come together to deliver resilient, inclusive and future-ready energy networks. Plenaries, panels and technical sessions created a space for open discussion, knowledge sharing and new collaborations.
Director of Supergen Phil Taylor said:
“There are some really big challenges that the UK faces regarding energy systems. One of them is: ‘how do we get to net zero?’ We’re helping tackle that challenge. The other big question is how do we also remain resilient to the effects of climate change – we put energy networks front and centre in that conversation”
A strong line-up of speakers brought both UK and international perspectives. Cathy McClay (National Grid DSO) and Phil Jones (Northern Powergrid) shared insights from the front line of energy system transformation, while Professor Anjan Bose (Washington State University) and Adama Gassama-Jallow (University of The Gambia) highlighted global challenges around renewable integration and inclusive energy access.
Sessions explored key themes including operating future energy grids, strengthening system resilience, and ensuring inclusion in the energy transition, alongside a dedicated workshop on inclusive energy networks. A strong Early Career Researcher presence also reinforced the importance of building skills, networks and new ideas for the future.
Above all, the conference demonstrated the value of collaboration, bringing together different perspectives to turn research into real-world impact. Through new connections, shared learning and ongoing conversations, Supergen continues to support the co-development of solutions that will shape sustainable and resilient energy systems.
As part of the EPSRC Supergen Energy Networks Hub’s mission to accelerate the transition to net zero, engaging with international research and innovation communities is key to amplifying impact. The IEEE PES ISGT Europe 2025 conference, themed “Harnessing Innovation: Powering a Sustainable and Resilient Future”, provided a valuable platform to connect our interdisciplinary work with global advances in smart grid technologies and energy system resilience. Bringing together leaders from academia, industry, and policy, the event closely reflected the Hub’s focus on delivering scalable, integrated, and future-ready energy networks. In this blog, Dr Laiz Souto reflects on her experience delivering a Special Session, with other Supergen colleagues and contributing to discussions shaping the future of clean energy systems.
Blog by Dr Laiz Souto
Last week we had the pleasure to attend the IEEE PES ISGT Europe 2025 conference in Valletta, Malta, and host a Special Session presenting our EPSRC Supergen Energy Networks Hub research. It was a great opportunity to meet old and new colleagues from academia and industry and discuss the latest advancements in grid modernisation toward clean power and net zero in the UK and internationally.
The IEEE PES ISGT Europe conference is a world-leading event focused on power grid modernization and the application of ICT to enhance energy systems, with an emphasis on integrating renewable and distributed energy resources. This year’s conference theme was “Harnessing Innovation: Powering a Sustainable and Resilient Future”. The programme featured keynotes, plenary sessions, special panel sessions, influential industry representatives, industry exhibits and presentations, technical sessions, and a job fair on smart grid innovations.
Our Special Session, titled “Accelerating, Scaling and Impacting Energy Networks for a Sustainable and Resilient Future”, showcased key research outputs and outcomes from within the Hub. It was chaired by Dr Laiz Souto (University of Bath) and featured an overview about the Hub plus six invited talks from the team, namely:
1- Advanced state estimation for situational awareness in multi-vector energy systems by Dr Dragan Cetenovic (University of Manchester)
2- The impact of increasing renewables on cascading failures in power systems by Prof Robin Preece (University of Manchester)
3- Whole system approaches for resilient low carbon energy networks by Dr David Greenwood (Newcastle University)
4- Navigating policy, regulation and planning of UK energy networks by Dr Richard Oduro (University of Leeds)
5- Measuring climate resilience in energy regulation by Dr Natalia Zografou-Barredo (Newcastle University)
6- Planning multi-energy networks for net-zero futures by Dr Muditha Abeysekera (Cardiff University and Energy Systems Catapult)
The presentations highlighted the interdisciplinary nature of our research with perspectives from across the four work packages and three missions toward clean energy network solutions. Each presentation was followed by questions from the audience and a final panel discussion to increase interactions.
All in all, hosting this Special Session was well worth the time and effort. Our preparations paid off very well as we had a great time presenting our research and enjoying the rest of the conference and the location. Our IEEE PES ISGT Europe 2025 conference experience as part of a team will be unforgettable!
Learn more about our research
ECR Net Zero Conference 2026
Early Career Researcher Jinning Zhang , a lecturer in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Leicester and a member of the Supergen Energy Networks Hub (SEN) Early Career Researcher Committee recently supported the planning and development of the ECR Net Zero Conference 2026. The conference, held in Birmingham in March, was led by the Supergen Energy Networks and Supergen Bioenergy hubs and was sponsored by 16 EPSRC funded energy research projects. The two day event brought together over 180 attendees and showcased exceptional cross-hub community building and interdisciplinary engagement. Jinning- a member of the SEN ECR Committee, along with ECR’s from across all 16 research projects played a central role in designing the full agenda, contributed to planning, and chaired parallel sessions focused on low carbon technologies and infrastructure. This ECR-led model exemplified meaningful participation and ownership, reinforcing the importance of empowering emerging researchers to shape the direction and culture of the wider energy research community.
As an ECR, being part of the planning and delivery of a conference session was both challenging and genuinely rewarding.
Planning the session meant thinking carefully about balance, bringing together speakers from academia, industry, and policy to shape a programme that felt both diverse and well connected. It provided a valuable opportunity to build confidence in reaching out and in designing a session that would be inclusive and engaging for a wide audience.
Session chairing on the day was fast paced but energising. Keeping everything on track while encouraging discussion helped us develop skills we don’t often use in day-to-day research. The conversations were a real highlight, seeing different perspectives connecting in a way that felt genuinely collaborative rather than siloed.
The conference truly created a strong sense of community. Across keynotes, parallel sessions, training, and posters, there were plenty of opportunities for ECRs to share their work and connect with others. It brought together researchers, industry, and funders in a way that encouraged open exchange and showed the value of working collaboratively to tackle shared challenges in the transition to a just and sustainable net zero future
“It offered us a unique opportunity to step beyond our usual research and contribute to shaping open, collaborative dialogue”
Learn more about Supergen Energy Networks Hub ECR Committee and ECR Opportunities
We are delighted to celebrate the achievements of Dr Natalia Zografou‑Barredo, Research Associate in Energy Systems at Newcastle University and a member of the Supergen Energy Networks Hub, who has been selected as a finalist in the Engineering category of the prestigious STEM for Britain Awards 2026.
STEM for Britain is a highly regarded annual competition held at the Houses of Parliament, recognising outstanding research from early‑career scientists, engineers, and mathematicians across the UK. The event provides a national platform for emerging researchers to present their work to politicians, policymakers, and leading figures from across academia and industry.
On 17 March 2026, Natalia presented her research poster titled “A formal guide to quantify climate resilience in energy regulation: The Climate Resilience Metrics and Indicators Framework.” This work was developed during her HI‑ACT secondment and focuses on advancing how climate resilience can be systematically measured and embedded within energy regulation frameworks.
Natalia’s selection as a finalist highlights both the quality and impact of her research, as well as its relevance to current challenges in building a more resilient and sustainable energy system. Her work contributes to ongoing efforts to ensure that energy networks are better equipped to respond to the increasing risks posed by climate change.
We warmly congratulate Natalia on this significant achievement and look forward to seeing her continued contributions to the field.
‘An amazing experience and great privilege to have presented a Poster of my work in the Houses of Common through the STEM for Britain Competition. It is important to be able to disseminate research to a broader audience and this competition definitely made me think outside of the box to do this!’