Imperial researchers awarded Industrial Innovation Fellowships

Two energy researchers from Imperial College London have been awarded fellowships by the Natural Environment Research Council

With support from Energy Futures Lab, Dr Zoe M Harris and Dr Athanasios Angeloudis have both secured funding from the Natural Environment Research Council’s (NERC) new Industrial Innovation Fellowships.

Launched in August the scheme offers three-and-a-half-years of funding to undertake a programme of research aligned with the Government’s Industrial Strategy. The two applications were very well received with Dr Angeloudis’ being ranked top of the 80 applications and Dr Harris’s coming in 17^th.

Dr Zoe M Harris

Dr Harris is a Research Associate at Imperial’s Centre for Environmental Policy, having joined the college after working in government with DEFRA and BEIS.

With her current research interest being primarily in bioenergy her fellowship will investigate the feasibility of vertical farming for second generation bioenergy crops.

“This is an amazing opportunity for me to undertake my own independent research, and an essential next step in my academic career,” says Dr Harris, “I haven’t even been at Imperial a full year yet but the support I have received in applying for the fellowship, especially from Energy Futures Lab has been brilliant.”

Dr Athanasios Angeloudis

Dr Angeloudis is a Research Associate in Imperial’s Department of Earth Science and Engineering.

He joined the Applied Modelling and Computation Group after working in the Hydro-environmental Research Centre at Cardiff University. Since then he has been working on simulating and modelling marine energy technologies.

The fellowship will allow him to focus on the optimal planning, design and operation of tidal energy facilities. “The UK possesses some of the largest tidal energy resources in the world and our industry has the opportunity to lead the way in the deployment of marine energy technologies,” says Dr Angeloudis, “This funding from NERC will enable me to conduct computational research together with industry and academics at Imperial College towards efficient, sustainable tidal energy generation in the 21^st century.”

Hydrodynamic simulations modelling tidal lagoon power plants from Dr Angeloudis’s work

Both proposals were supported by Energy Futures Lab through their fellowships programme and the Postdoc and Fellows Development Centre. If you are interested in applying for a fellowship in any energy-related topic and want support from Energy Futures Lab please contact Dr Alexander Mellor (a.mellor@imperial.ac.uk).