The Energy and the Environment Summer School 2026 Cohort

Off

The Energy and the Environment Summer School (EESS) welcomed 55 students from six countries this summer from Shanghai University of Electric Power, Singapore Polytechnic University, China University of Petroleum, and Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, alongside students from across Europe.

The programme combined interactive lectures, English workshops, site visits, and practical labs and students explored sustainable engineering theory and practice such as designing wind turbines, testing materials, and investigating hydrogen, tidal energy, and AI for materials discovery.

Beyond campus, students had the opportunity to see engineering theory applied in real-world settings through visits to Drax Power Station and Blackburn Meadows Power Station. These visits provided valuable insight into sustainable energy technologies and UK engineering practice, while demonstrating how the concepts explored during the summer school are being applied at operational sites.

The cohort also explored Sheffield’s rich industrial heritage at Kelham Island Museum and visited the historic Chatsworth House, where they learned about its innovative gravity-fed water systems. To bring the programme to a close, students took part in the Energy Engineering Challenge, working in teams to develop and pitch creative solutions to a hypothetical town’s energy crisis to a panel of experts.

We look forward to building on the success of EESS 2026 and welcoming another group of international students to Sheffield in 2027.