Yulong Ding holds the founding Chamberlain Chair of Chemical Engineering and serves as the Director of the Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage at the University of Birmingham. With a focus on energy materials and processes, he spearheads the development of innovative technologies for electrical and thermal energy storage across various scales. Over the past decade, he has played pivotal roles as a Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-Investigator (Co-I) in research endeavors securing over £20M in funding.

His contributions extend beyond academia, with a prolific record of over 60 patents and 450 papers, 250 of which are published in peer-reviewed journals, reflecting an impressive H-Index of approximately 62. Notably, Yulong's groundbreaking work includes the invention of liquid air energy storage and composite phase change material-based high-temperature thermal energy storage technologies, both of which have been successfully commercialized by industry.

Moreover, his achievements have been recognized on a global scale, with prestigious accolades such as the Humboldt Research Award https://tinyurl.com/3rvk7ymy; https://tinyurl.com/ycyr7y26 and the IOR J&E Hall Gold Medal https://tinyurl.com/shsfruzs, underscoring his profound impact and leadership in the field.

Jonathan is a Reader in Energy Systems and Policy, leading an interdisciplinary research team. He also leads the Resilient Cities theme of the Institute for Global Innovation, working with colleagues across the university to investigate the drivers of urban distress and the conditions for securing city resilience, with a focus on cities that are undergoing transitions. His research interests are in energy system technology, policy and innovation, in particular the role of energy storage. Jonathan’s research also includes cryogenic energy systems.

Ally is a Lecturer in Subsurface and Society, with a background in energy geographies. She has undertaken research across the energy sphere including recent work on the role of invisible energy policy in Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) and is a part of the Supergen Energy Storage Network +. Additionally, much of Ally’s emerging research involves exploring the relationship between social and earth processes with a specific focus on the underground. This often has an energy theme but not exclusively so and recent work has involved exploring the conceptualisation of subsurface governance.

Jonathan and Ally are leading work on mapping the energy storage community, its internal and external connections.

Yongliang is a Reader in School of Chemical Engineering. His research interests focus primarily on thermal energy processes and systems including thermal energy (heat and cold) storage, refrigeration and air conditioning, carbon capture and storage, process and system simulation and optimization.

Paul is Professor in the department of Chemical Engineering and his research interests are in electrochemical engineering – the study and design of electrochemical processes in devices including fuel cells, batteries and electrochemical reactors. He is involved in a wide range of projects which include understanding and development of Li batteries, development of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs), electro-reduction of spent nuclear fuels using molten salt reactions, and monitoring corrosion in PEM fuel cells.

Yongliang and Paul are leading work which focus on earlier career researchers, engagement and mentoring.

Jihong is Professor of Electrical Power and Control Engineering in the School of Engineering. Her research interests include power system modelling and control, energy storage and grid integration, energy efficient actuators and optimal control methods. She has successfully led the EPSRC Grand Challenge in Energy Storage project – “Integrated Market-fit and Affordable Grid-scale Energy Storage”. She has published over 100 journal papers and gained a number of best paper awards. Her research has led to several practical innovations, including a smart voltage controller product and a clean pneumatic UPS (uninterrupted power supply) through previous joint research projects with industry.

Jihong is the Deputy Director of the Supergen Network+.

Siân is a Reader in Physics and Solid State Chemistry at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. Her research is focused on exploring the properties of complex oxides for energy applications including batteries and solid state magnetic cooling. Her work focuses on using chemical manipulation to alter the crystal and electronic structure with the aim of controlling the physical properties. 

Jihong and Siân are leading work regarding equality, diversity and inclusion, ensuring its implementation within all of the work streams within the Supergen Network+.

Haris is a Senior Lecturer in Power Systems at Newcastle University, School of Engineering. His research focuses in providing network flexibility in the complex and uncertain environment of modern and future energy systems, to support the low carbon transition. Emphasis is given on energy storage system design, management, and integration.

Philip is Professor of Renewable Energy and Director of the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology (CREST). His research focuses on various aspects of renewable energy systems, energy in buildings and thermal energy storage. Topics currently being researched include vacuum glazing design and development, building retrofit for improved energy efficiency, building integrated and concentrator photovoltaic systems, thermal energy storage and solar thermal systems.

Haris and Philip are leading work concerning stakeholder engagement and knowledge transfer with a diverse group of stakeholders within the energy storage community.

Goran is Professor of Energy Systems. He led the development of novel advanced analysis approaches and methodologies that have been extensively used to inform energy industry, governments, regulatory bodies and research community about the technical, economic, market and regulatory challenges associated with the cost effective transition to resilient low carbon energy future, including analysis of the role and value of emerging systems and technologies, in particular energy storage.

Seamus is Professor of Dynamics and Director of the Rolls-Royce UTC in Gas Turbine Transmission Systems. He is also one of three theme leads for the £180m Energy Research Accelerator. His research involves rotordynamics in general and the rotordynamics of machines with laminated rotors in particular. Recently he has developed a strong interest in “Integrated Compressed Air Energy Solutions” whereby renewable sources (wind/wave/tidal) are used to compress air directly and this is subsequently expanded for generation.

Goran and Seamus are developing a comprehensive whitepaper, which will document the key research barriers within the energy storage sector.