UKERC reports to a Funders Group convened by UKRI, and is advised by an independent Advisory Board.
Specific funding activities are also overseen by independent groups of experts, with the Flexible Fund overseen by the Research Committee and the Whole Systems Networking Fund overseen by a Steering Committee.
A new Funders Group was formed in 2014. The Group comprises of representatives from the three research councils that fund the Centre: the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
The Advisory Board provides high-level advice to UKERC on:
UKERC’s Advisory Board meets at least twice a year.
Members of the Advisory Board are:
Alex O’Cinneide, CEO and Founder, Gore Street Capital, Beth Scott, University of Aberdeen, NERC (Member of) Marine Ecosystems Working Group / Offshore Renewable Energy, Chris Stark, CEO, Committee on Climate Change, Damitha Adikaari, Director, Science & Innovation for Climate Energy, (BEIS) , Dhara Vyas, Deputy Director EnergyUK, Ian Temperton, Plastic Energy Ltd, Executive Vice President, Joanne Wade, Chair of the Advisory Board, Chief Strategic Advisor of ADE and Chair of UKERC Research Committee, John Howells, Climate Change, Energy and Planning, Welsh Government, Kersti Berge, Department for Energy and Climate Change, Scottish Government, Mike Colechin, Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) for EPSRC, Nick Eyre, Director, Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDs), Guy Newey, CEO, Energy Systems Catapult, Philip Sellwood, Independent, Rebecca Newsom, Head of Politics, Greenpeace, Richard Rodgers, Head of Energy Group, Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland Government and Sara Walker Director, Centre for Energy Systems Integration (CESI).
Reflecting UKERC’s interdisciplinary approach, membership of the Committee reflects a wide range of disciplines including: physical science, biological science, environmental science, engineering, social science and economics. Their main tasks will be to:
Members are: Rebecca Ford, University of Strathclyde; Geoff Hammond, University of Bath; George Day, Energy Systems Catapult; Sara Walker, Newcastle University; Jen Roberts, University of Strathclyde; Abhishek Asthana, Sheffield Hallam University; Paul Brockway, University of Leeds; Xinfang Wang, University of Birmingham, and Monica Giulietti Loughborough University.
The Centre was established following a recommendation made by the Chief Scientific Advisor’s Energy Research Review Group’s 2002 report.
Broadly, the report recommended setting up a new Energy Research Centre to:
The UK Research Councils invited bids to run the Centre, with submissions received from three consortia of academic institutions lead by Imperial College London, the Kelvin Consortium (comprising several institutions including Manchester University), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (at the time known as CCLRC), the New and Renewable Energy Centre and the University of Oxford.
On advice of the Scientific Advisory Committee the bids were combined, with Professor Jim Skea invited to lead the consortia. The Research Councils accepted the new proposal and activities started in October 2004. Professor Jim Skea assumed the role of Research Director in July 2004; John Loughhead was appointed as Executive Director in November 2004.
In early 2009, UKERC was invited by the Research Council’s Energy Programme to submit a proposal for a further five years work. Led by Prof. Jim Skea, the proposal was accepted and UKERC Phase II began on 30 April 2009.
The UKERC Research Programme changed significantly in terms of partners and objectives and also a new Research Fund has been established.
Activities such as the Research Atlas, the Meeting Place and the National Energy Research Network all continue in UKERC Phase 2.
Led by Prof. Jim Watson, UKERC’s activities were substantially re-oriented in Phase 3.
The first two phases of UKERC focused on understanding what a decarbonised UK energy system would look like in 2050 and how the transition towards this system could be achieved.
The third phase recognised the increasingly contested and uncertain nature of energy system change. It explored the UK energy transition in an uncertain world, and the synergies and trade-offs between the key drivers for this transition.
UKERC Phase 4 commenced in 2019 and runs until 2024. It is being led by Rob Gross, bringing together experts from social science, engineering, environmental science and economics to tackle the real world problems of the energy transition.
UKERC has recently been granted funding for the latest phase of its research. It is led by Rob Gross, and centres on four key challenges: