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UKERC Annual Assembly 2025: Collaboration for a Complex Energy Future
4 days ago
UKERC 24-29 is an independent, interdisciplinary research centre focused on sustainable energy systems. It conducts research on the challenges and opportunities of transitioning to a net-zero energy system, through a whole-systems approach. UKERC is funded through UK Research and Innovation, by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Economic and Social Research Council.
UKERC has a core consortium of 13 research institutions across the UK. We are preparing to issue a call for expressions of interest for new participants to join the consortium via a New Partners and Capability Development Fund.
The Fund will:
As part of this we will be awarding an initial three projects that demonstrate strong potential for impact and collaboration with new partners.
Each successful proposal may receive funding of up to £250,000 at 80% full economic cost (FEC).
The first call for new partners will fund three new projects in total, to bring in a new partner aligned with each of the research themes detailed below:
This consultation document outlines a range of prospective topic areas identified by the UKERC Management Board. We are inviting feedback from stakeholders to help us prioritise and refine the subject areas.
Following consideration of this feedback we will publish a call for expressions of interest (EoI) from potential partners. EoIs will be subject to review, with one project in each area selected for further development. Successful proposals will then be invited to engage with UKERC Theme leaders to co-create the final project scope.
*Dates for review, co-creation and start date indicative and preliminary
1. Consumer engagement to unlock the potential of demand flexibility
Objective: To better understand and engage consumers in unlocking the full value of demand-side flexibility in the transition to a net zero energy system. Flexibility from the demand side, especially households, SMEs, and community energy systems, has often been underutilised due to limited public understanding, trust, incentives, or policy alignment. Capabilities required include social science insights into consumer attitudes, company decision making, applied policy analysis and behavioural economics.
2. Environmental and economic impacts of inter-seasonal long-duration energy storage (LLES)
Objective: To advance understanding of the environmental and social sustainability as well as economic viability of various types of large-scale, long-duration energy storage systems that are essential for inter-seasonal balancing in a highly renewable system. Capabilities required include environmental and social valuation and impacts, techno-economic assessment, investment analysis, and applied policy analysis.
3. Skills and standards for heat decarbonisation
Objective: to better understand workforce development needs to deliver heat decarbonisation. This could include evaluation of the suitability of existing training, standards and certification processes, interactions between fabric retrofit and heat pump standards, analysis of existing data on heat pump design specifications compared to real-world performance in order to inform understanding of why system performance is variable, and/or research on how heating engineers can be supported to become advocates for decarbonisation. Capabilities required could include heating engineering and built environment analysis, sociology and policy analysis.
4. Just energy transitions: moving from principles to action
Objective: To evaluate learning on just energy transition frameworks across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and how frameworks are being translated into delivery structures, metrics and impacts. Capabilities required could include political science, labour market analysis, and applied policy analysis.
5. Place-based transitions in the context of net zero opposition
Objective: to understand how local governments are responding to the increase in net zero scepticism, and likely impacts on place-based net zero delivery. Over 75% of UK local authorities have committed to ambitious net zero targets and action at this level is likely to be particularly important for heat, transport and industrial decarbonisation. At the same time, English local government is going through the most significant reforms for 50 years and many areas saw a swing towards net zero sceptic parties in the 2025 local elections. Capabilities required include political science and economy, and applied social science assessment of local governance capacities and processes.
6. Regional energy strategic planning and heat decarbonisation
Objective: to understand how emerging Regional Energy Strategic Planning processes are engaging with heat decarbonisation planning, including heat network deployment, electrification, industrial process heat and gas grid decommissioning. This research, in collaboration with UKERC research on should engage with questions of whether the evidence provided by gas distribution companies, electricity distribution companies, NESO, local governments and industry can be successfully integrated to inform regional decision-making. Capabilities required could include applied political science, analysis of governance and decision-making, and political economy analysis.
7. Consumer energy costs and net zero backlash
Objective: to research how to engage those who may be open to anti-net zero messages with more rigorous information about electricity costs. The project would proceed in two parts: (i) modelling (potential/real) falls in consumer electricity prices that result from the shift to clean energy in the UK (Net Zero policies), and (ii) choosing the appropriate message, messenger, and channels to communicate this information to relevant parts of the public. Capabilities required could include a multi-disciplinary approach comprising energy economics, sociology, and political science.
8. Understanding material science innovation as a driver of resilience and vulnerability in critical mineral supply chains
Objective: To assess the potential of disruptive developments in material science to reshape supply chains for critical minerals, such as automated (AI-driven) technologies that accelerate materials discovery, materials development, and waste characterisation for materials recovery. The project will examine the geopolitical risks and opportunities for the UK of global developments in material science, and will assess how UK domestic capabilities and international science and innovation partnerships can be harnessed to build resilience and reduce vulnerability in critical mineral supply chains. Capabilities required could include materials science, geopolitics of technology, and international relations.
Please submit your feedback on these topics via this Google Form.
Specifically we are seeking feedback on the three questions outlined below:
Free form entry
Multiple choice – Select 1, 2, 3.
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