We are pleased to announce the four winning projects of our Whole Systems Networking Fund call. Now in its third iteration, the fund broadens the people, institutions, and research areas UKERC engages with, connecting new partners and amplifying fresh voices in the conversation around our future energy system.
The fund is designed to improve Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), collaboration and networking in energy research. After a competitive call for proposals, launched in November 2025, the four new projects will take innovative approaches to whole systems energy research, and work with many of our existing Research Activities. Learn more about the projects and their lead researchers below.
Researchers: Pu Yang (lead), Weiqi Hua, Francisca Jalil-Vega, Andrew Lyden
Long-duration energy storage (LDES) matters more every year. It provides ancillary services, underpins capacity adequacy, and adds liquidity to the market when the wind drops and gas sets the price. Yet large-scale storage is struggling to get built. Revenues are uncertain, construction is slow, and even with the new Cap and Floor scheme, investment in technologies such as flow batteries, liquid-air and compressed-air storage hinges on how investors judge risk and whether local communities accept new projects. The power sector models that inform these decisions are good at sizing how much storage Britain needs, but rarely capture whether it is investable or socially acceptable. This project asks: how is the value of LDES understood, realised and represented in UK electricity decision-making under highly renewable, largely electrified scenarios? It will bring developers, investors and system operators together with residents and local councillors in two codesign workshops. Using plain-language ‘system maps’, participants look inside the models, challenge their assumptions, and help reshape them, so that the modelled storage decisions move beyond cost to reflect market reality and social value.
Lead Researchers: Tasniva Rahman Mumu, Andrew Peacock, Mehreen Gul
This project will explore how local energy communities can become more inclusive and ensure that everyone has a voice in the transition to net zero. While community energy initiatives can provide social, economic, and environmental benefits, women and lower-income households are often underrepresented in decision-making. The project will work with these groups to better understand the barriers they face and develop inclusive approaches that improve energy literacy and support meaningful participation. By empowering underrepresented communities to engage with energy issues and contribute to local decisions, the project aims to create a framework for more equitable and community-led energy transitions that can be adopted by communities across the UK. Rather than treating inclusion as a post-hoc reflection, this research proposes to develop and test a participatory framework where EDI informs who participates, how participation is structured, and what knowledge is valued.
Lead Researcher: Jayne Carrick
Energy Hub Futures aims to promote a just transition to low carbon, energy efficient homes. Warmer, energy efficient homes reduce energy bills and fuel poverty, improve health and wellbeing by addressing damp and mould, help households adapt to a hotter, changing climate, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But top-down, technocratic policies are delivering retrofit too slowly. To explore how grassroots initiatives can tackle this challenge, this study addresses the question: How can a community hub model be developed and scaled to support a just transition to low carbon homes across South Yorkshire?
Researchers: Sanchari Deb (lead), Nosheen Khan, Tina Sikka
INTERSECT-CHARGE will explore how the UK can make electric vehicle charging fairer, more inclusive, and better aligned with people’s everyday lives. As the transition to electric mobility accelerates, access to charging remains uneven, particularly for renters, disabled people, low-income households, carers, and rural communities. The project will bring together communities, local authorities, policymakers, infrastructure providers, and researchers to understand the barriers people face when using or accessing EV charging. Through regional workshops, whole-systems mapping, and a national Legislative Theatre event, the project will examine how technical, social, policy, and planning decisions interact to shape charging inequalities. The project will produce a UK EV Charging Equity Agenda and a practical toolkit to support more inclusive infrastructure planning.
More information will be available soon, including full project details on our website.