Early Career Researchers

The Supergen Energy Networks hub is committed to support the Early Career Researchers (ECRs) working across this sector. Our ECR network provides greater opportunities for Energy Networks ECRs to help them develop into future leaders in the sector.

square

ECR Net Zero Conference

9 – 10 March 2026 – Birmingham Conference and Events Centre (BCEC) (in-person)

This event brings together emerging academics to share cutting-edge research and build collaborative networks.

Join us for the ECR NetZero Conference 2026 – a dedicated two day gathering for early career researchers working across energy, net zero and sustainability. This event brings together emerging academics to share cutting-edge research and build collaborative networks.

Hosted at the Birmingham Conference and Events Centre (BCEC), this conference offers an engaging mix of talks, poster sessions and networking opportunities designed to support early career researchers.

Whether your work focuses on decarbonisation, renewable energy systems, climate policy, green finance, future fuels, social sustainability, energy justice or low carbon innovation, this is your space to connect, contribute and grow.

The ECR Committee:

 

arrow
arrow
box

Newcastle University

Natalia Zografou-Barredo

Research Associate

Dr Natalia Zografou-Barredo, PhD, is a Research Associate in Energy Systems at the School of Engineering in Newcastle University. She works in research and innovation projects with industry, academia, and more recently, energy regulation. Her research focuses on climate and energy systems resilience, and spans across hydrogen integration and whole energy systems. Natalia was awarded the competitive EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship to continue research after her PhD studies and recently completed a 3-month secondment at Ofgem, the GB energy regulator. Currently she is co-leading the £500K EPSRC-funded research project ResTOrES on resilience of offshore energy systems and leading work under the £9m EPSRC Supergen Energy Networks Hub project.

box

The University of Bristol

Guarav Sen

PhD Student

Currently doing a PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, focussing on the localisation of microgrids and their socio-techno-economic impacts. Research interests include energy access especially in remote areas, community development, and energy sustainability

box

Cardiff University

Shuai Yao

Research Associate

Shuai is a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the School of Engineering, Cardiff University. His research interests lie in modelling, simulation and operational optimization of Multi-Vector Energy Systems including electricity, heating/cooling, natural gas and hydrogen at different temporal and spatial scales. Currently, He is working on two EPSRC-funded projects – Supergen Energy Networks Impact Hub 2023 and Hydrogen Integration for Accelerated Energy Transitions (HI-ACT).

Email: yaos8@cardiff.ac.uk

box

Manchester Metropolitan University

Yakubu Tsado

Lecturer

Dr Yakubu Tsado is a Lecturer in Cyber Security and Smart Grid in the Department of Computing and Mathematics at Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom. Yakubu received a B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering from the Federal University of Technology Minna, Nigeria, an M.Sc. degree in Communication Engineering & Digital Signal Processing from Lancaster University, U.K., and a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering (Smart Grid) from the same University.

Email: y.tsado@mmu.ac.uk

box

University of Manchester

Yitian Dai

Research Associate

Yitian Dai received her B.Eng and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from The University of Manchester in 2019 and 2024, respectively. She is currently working as a Research Associate with the Supergen Energy Networks Hub at The University of Manchester. Her research interests include cascading blackout analysis and resilience assessment of future low-carbon energy systems.

box

Durham University

Jinjie Liu

Research Associate

Dr. Jinjie Liu is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Durham University working on AI for low-carbon energy transitions, including microgrids, virtual power plants, carbon accounting, and digital twins. She received a B.Eng. in Electrical Engineering from North China Electric Power University in 2018 and a Ph.D. in Computer and Information Engineering from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2023. She has contributed to two EPSRC-funded projects (VPP-WARD and Cheddar). Email: Email: jinjie.liu@durham.ac.uk.

box

Northumbria University

Goyal Awagan

Research Fellow

Goyal Awagan received her B. Tech degree in Electrical Engineering from the Government College of Engineering, Amravati, India, in 2013, and her M. E degree in Electrical Power Systems from the Government Engineering College, Aurangabad, India, in 2016. She received her Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Raipur, India, in 2024. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Engineering, Physics and Mathematics at Northumbria University, Newcastle, United Kingdom. Her research interests include microgrid protection, cyber-physical systems, and the application of artificial intelligence in power systems. She is presently involved in two UKRI-funded projects, namely VPP-WARD and SustainAIRA6G.

box

University of Aberdeen

Edward Chuah

Lecturer

I received my PhD in Computer Science at The University of Warwick on July 2020.  On October 2020, I took up a post-doctoral research associate position at Lancaster University.  From September 2021 to May 2022, I was a Lecturer in Computer Science (Teaching and Scholarship) at The University of Exeter.  On May 2022, I joined The University of Aberdeen as a Lecturer in Computing Science (Teaching and Research).

 

My main research interest is in large-scale systems dependability.  My initial research interest is focused on reliability, one of the attributes of dependability.  Currently, my focus is on the security attribute of dependability, where I am investigating security in large networks.

Email: edward.chuah@abdn.ac.uk

box

University of Leicester

Jinning Zhang

Lecturer

Jinning Zhang is a Lecturer in the Green Energy and Transport Group at the School of Engineering, University of Leicester. She received her MSc (2019) and PhD (2022) in Aerospace Propulsion from Cranfield University. Her research focuses on the integration of sustainable energy sources, such as batteries and hydrogen, into propulsion and power systems, addressing the energy and environmental challenges of future sustainable aviation, and exploring synergies between air transport and energy networks to enable integrated strategies for carbon footprint reduction

box

University of Nottingham

Promise Uzondu Chukwu

Mr. Promise Uzondu Chukwu is a Deputy Director at the Energy Commission of Nigeria, where he has served for over sixteen years. He is currently on study leave at the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, pursuing doctoral research focused on the Techno‑Economic Assessment (TEA) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of hydrogen production. His professional and academic interests centre on advancing a sustainable and just energy transition in Africa, with particular emphasis on hydrogen as a strategic pathway. Beyond his professional commitments, he enjoys watching football and actively seeks opportunities to expand his network with like‑minded professionals and global energy leaders.

arrow
arrow
squares
green box

Keep up to date

Join our mailing list

square

 

We take a broad view of what counts as an ECR, spanning from PhD students, post-doctoral researchers, through to academics at the start of their careers. Broadly, if you consider yourself an ECR then so do we.

green box

News & Events

News & Events

30.09.2025

ECR Travel Funding

Blog

Supported through the ECR Travel Fund, Dr Alicia Terrero Gonzalez recently attended the DINAME conference, organised biennially by the Committee of Dynamics of ABCM, the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering

blog image

30.09.2025

ECR Travel Fund Opportunity

Blog

Supported through the ECR Travel Fund, Dr Dimitri Costa (Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen) recently attended the prestigious International Conference on Vibration Problems and International Conference of Wave Mechanics and Vibrations ICOVP/WMVC 2025.

blog image

12.09.2025

Flexible Funding Awarded

Featured News

We are delighted to announce two recently awarded projects through our New Entrant to Energy Networks Flexible Funding.

blog image

10.09.2025

Power networks experts call for speedier connection of renewables to deliver Net Zero and AI goals

Event Featured News Publication

World-leading energy networks experts call for renewable power generation facilities to be connected to the UK grid more quickly at a conference in Bath this week.

blog image

28.05.2025

Energy Networks, Justice & Vulnerability

Blog

Achieving government goals will require expanding some energy networks (electricity and heat in particular), while scaling down or changing the use of others (gas).
Blog post by Sheridan Few, Richard Oduro, Peter Taylor, Lucie Middlemiss & Caitlin Robinson

blog image

28.05.2025

DC Microgrids in Remote Communities

Blog

Blog: Off-the-shelf solar home system equipment to build resilient direct current microgrids for off-grid, remote communities in the Amazon rainforest
Dr Sam Williamson recent trip to Ilha do Pacoca in the Amazon rainforest.

blog image

28.05.2025

Energy Network Solutions for Net Zero Whole System Futures

Blog

Supergen Energy Network Impact Hub is taking a mission approach to solving energy network challenges.
Dr Daniel Carr arranged an internal workshop to further develop research questions and work that can be completed in this area

blog image

9.05.2025

Furong Li appointed Research Chair by the Royal Academy of Engineering

Featured News

Phil Taylor elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering

blog image

2.04.2025

Clearing the Barriers to Heat Networks and Net Zero

Featured News

Heat networks are widely recognised as vital to achieving net zero. In cities they will often be the cheapest form of low carbon heating over the long term because they are efficient and can exploit many different sources of waste and ambient heat

blog image
square