Professor Gill Valentine (Deputy Vice Chancellor) led a University of Sheffield delegation visit to the University of Cape Town (UCT) with the aim of developing a strategic bilateral partnership with UCT. Discussions took place around: current research priorities for both institutions; energy research; opportunities for professional services exchanges such as EDI, interdisciplinary research, and research management; and student exchanges. Both institutions agreed to developing a holistic partnership, building on strong synergies in terms of research priorities and shared institutional values.
Three members from the Energy Institute, Dr Eleni Stathopoulou, Professor David Stone, and Dr Adrien Chauvet were in attendance to discuss energy research. Dr Eleni Stathopoulou is an applied theorist and her main area of expertise lies within the fields of Microeconomics and Environmental Economics. Her work focuses on environmental policy making. She is also interested in the Net Zero energy transition and she has worked as a Co-I and Work Package leader on the €4m Horizon 2020-Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network 'Smart-BEEjS' project, to study and support cities and communities in their goal to produce more energy than they use and boost knowledge sharing across stakeholders, exploiting a human-centric and energy-just approach to designing Positive Energy Districts (PEDs).
Dr Eleni Stathopoulou was asked to join the team and represent social sciences in the discussions around the theme of energy research. Her recent research outputs cover decarbonisation pathways; environmental regulation, taxes, and activism; regulators and environmental groups; and corruption and market competition.
Energy research delegation from the University of Sheffield visits the University of Cape Town, South Africa
