Fabiano Pallonetto
Chair of the UCD Sustainable Energy CommunityMy goal is to boost sustainable technology advancements in the energy and transportation sectors working as multidisciplinary researcher, teacher and project leader contributing to UCD reputation and promotion of its values.
Mattia DeRosa
Secretary of the UCD Sustainable Energy CommunityMattia is MEng and PhD in Mechanical Engineering, is Senior Researcher in Energy System at the University College Dublin. He is member of the ASHRAE Ireland Board since 2017 and founder and secretary of the UCD Sustainable Energy Community since 2018. Mattia’s current research interests are focused on energy modelling of building energy systems, renewable energies, waste heat recovery and thermo-economic analysis of energy systems.
Mohammad Saffari
Leader of the Operational Committee Building StrandMohammad is an internationally recognized building and energy engineer. He joined UCD Energy Institute as a senior energy systems researcher in 2018. He holds PhD in applied energy, M.Sc. in mechanical engineering, and B.Eng in building technologies. He has been involved in different international projects on energy efficient buildings and systems namely ESIPP, Sim4Blocks etc. His main ambition is to promote the sustainable energy solutions and implementation of green technologies in communities. Mohammad’s main areas of research are smart buildings and energy systems, data analytics and artificial intelligence, building and urban energy simulation and optimisation.
Anjukan Kathirgamanathan
Member of Transport & Dissemination StrandsAnjukan Kathirgamanathan is pursuing a PhD at the Energy Institute at University College Dublin and is passionate about using machine learning and data-driven techniques to make the world a more sustainable place. He values sustainability because he believes in the Maori term "Kaitiakitanga" or "guardianship" and how we are all guardians of our land and nature.
Guneet Kaur
Member of Outreach & Dissemination StrandI am currently working as a Research Assistant in the Energy Institute in UCD. My work is focused on Electricity Markets in Ireland. I’ve been a part of the UCD community for the past 5 years now and it certainly feels like home. Every single day I realise that you cannot get through the day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference & every individual decides everyday what kind of difference they want to make & here I am taking a step forward to be a part of this initiative to make my difference. I aim to continue to spread the sustainability vibe in and around campus and to engage and educate UCD community on sustainable energy practices.
Cathy Quinn
Member of Outreach & Dissemination StrandI have been involved with the sustainable energy institute from its inception in UCD in June 2018. Renewable energy is our future, we have a growing appetite in our community to become sustainable energy citizens, to find ways to reduce and reuse our energy usage in new ways. I believe that through the sustainable energy community working in collaboration with our colleagues on campus we can empower and educate our community on how best to implement these renewable strategies. As a member of the BEACON bio economy research center, we are also researching ways to develop alternative technologies based on renewable biological resources. All of this will add to a more sustainable renewable future for the UCD community and beyond.
Tensay Hadush Meles
Research StrandTensay Hadush Meles is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Energy Institute and School of Economics, University College Dublin. He is also affiliated to the Department of Economics, Mekelle University (Ethiopia). Tensay’s main research interests are energy and behavioral economics. His current research focuses on uptake of renewable energy technologies in a residential sector. Tensay obtained his PhD in Economics from Gothenburg University (Sweden). In addition, he holds MPhil in Environmental and Development Economics from University of Oslo (Norway) and BA in Economics from Mekelle University (Ethiopia).
Adamantios K. Bampoulas
Member of Outreach & Dissemination Strandfrom Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2013 and in 2016 his Master of Science in Energy Systems and Renewable Energy Sources from the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department of the Democritus University of Thrace. As a doctorate researcher in University College Dublin he investigates the application of self-learning techniques for energy systems integration in future residential heating systems. He is the inventor of the game "Build your sustainable city".
Devasanthini Devaraj
Member of Outreach & Dissemination StrandI am a PhD student in UCD School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering. I have a multi-disciplinary background. After completing my bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, I worked as a Programmer/Analyst for few years. I pursued master’s in UK in Process Systems Engineering where I studied design, operation and simulations for industrial systems. My research involves investigating the future role of gas networks. Sustainable development goals by UN aim to improve the lives and livelihoods of future generation by providing access to clean energy, food and water while protecting the biodiversity and ecosystem. Several nations are making efforts to address this situation by producing energy from wind, solar and water. Producing clean energy is a long-term process which requires huge investment. At the same time, millions of euros had already been invested in building the infrastructure which is currently existing to supply gas. Switching to producing clean energy can make the existing infrastructure obsolete. My research is to identify the balance between these two challenges. Natural gas is a relatively cleaner and cheaper form of energy. Switching to gas from coal or oil as much as possible will support immediate reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. I am working on identifying ways of using the gas infrastructure for various purposes like storing/supplying other types of gases.
Páraic Carrol
Transport StrandPáraic is an Assistant Professor in the School of Civil Engineering, where his teaching and research focus is Transportation Engineering. Prior to UCD Páraic worked as a Transport Modeller in the Transport Planning and Capital Investment Division of the National Transport Authority (NTA). Páraic’s research interests include transport policy and travel demand management, transport modelling, transport and behavioural economics, stated preference surveying and discrete choice modelling, transport accessibility and social inclusion assessment, as well as climate change adaptation and mitigation, and risk management.
Ali Ekhtiari
Senior ResearcherAli has been working as a PhD researcher on "Modelling and Analysis of Gas Network in an Interconnected Energy System". Ali has a well-developed background in modelling and analysing of the integrated energy system. Ali has focused on modelling of an integrated gas and power grids using the potential of gas networks for renewable energy storage using new technologies such as P2X to generate H2/SNG. To investigate the impacts of the future interconnections in the energy systems, Ali has applied data analysis approaches for preparing a training dataset for forecasting demand and supply. He was the inaugural recipient of the MacElroy Energy Research award in University College Dublin in 2019.