The conference will showcase the work of inspirational women across the energy sector, to mark international Women’s Day.

Future Energy Systems conference highlights female leaders in energy system change

A high-profile conference to examine the world’s future energy systems will also showcase the work of inspirational women across the sector, to mark international Women’s Day on Thursday March 8.

The University of Exeter’s pioneering Energy Policy Group, based at its Penryn Campus in Cornwall, is organising the conference as part of its high profile IGov project. The event is also supported by the EPSRC.

The event will focus on the period of fundamental change that the global energy sector is experiencing, due to the emergence of new technologies, economic challenges, business models and transforming social preferences.

As the conference coincides with International Women’s Day, it will also celebrate the achievements of women in energy and aims to help address the lack of visibility of female leaders in the sector. All speakers at the event are women in different stages of their careers across the energy sector– including industry, academia, regulation, government, and communities and civil society.

Speakers include Cathryn Scott from Ofgem, Katy Black from the National Infrastructure Commission and Professor Catherine Mitchell, from the University of Exeter.

The conference format will consist of presentations and roundtable discussions with 100 attendees discussing cutting-edge innovation and the governance issues for Future Energy Systems. Jess Britton, a Research Fellow at the Energy Policy Group said: “ The women presenting at our 2018 conference are amongst the most talented and innovative people working in the sector. The fact that we had so many wonderful speakers to choose from shows that women really are leading the charge in energy system transformation”. The IGov research sits within the University of Exeter’s Energy Policy Group and is an Established Career Fellowship for Professor Catherine Mitchell, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The seven year project is now in phase two (Innovation, Governance and Affordability for Future Energy Systems) which explores energy system change, the governance needs of the ‘new’ system and what the opportunities are to capture benefits within GB. This project runs until October 2019.

For more information about the conference visit http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/igov/innovation-and-governance-for-future-energy-systems/ or email Jess Britton at j.britton@exeter.ac.uk

Date: 6 March 2018