News

Two researchers from the University of Birmingham have been awarded funding through the HI-ACT Secondment Flex Fund. Both will take their research directly into policy and government settings, one working with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the other with the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST).

Modelling the value of long-duration hydrogen storage with DESNZ

Dr Harati, Research Fellow, will be seconded to DESNZ to assess the system value of long-duration hydrogen storage for the UK energy transition.

Working with the department’s Energy Engineering team, Saeed will use DESNZ’s SCORES model to compare storage options, including salt caverns, depleted gas fields and lined rock caverns. The aim is to identify which storage characteristics matter most for balancing renewable generation, providing flexibility and strengthening the resilience of the energy system. His findings will feed directly into government modelling and policy thinking on long-duration storage.

Building an evidence pathway to Westminster with POST

Dr Sharma, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, will build on her existing work with POST to create a stronger evidence pathway between HI-ACT and Westminster.

Her secondment will deliver three outputs: a national policy workshop for HI-ACT Early Career Researchers, a knowledge-exchange workshop with POST and parliamentary colleagues, and a HI-ACT Perspectives Paper. Together, these will help ensure that hydrogen and net zero policy is informed by research from across the Hub and give early career researchers practical experience of how evidence reaches decision-makers.

Professor Walker, HI-ACT Principal Investigator, said: “Hydrogen will only play its full role in a net zero energy system if research and policy move forward together. Saeed and Shivangi’s secondments are exactly what the Flex Fund was designed for: putting our researchers alongside the people shaping energy policy, so that evidence from across the Hub reaches government and Parliament directly. I’m delighted to see two early career researchers leading the way, and I’d encourage colleagues and partners across the consortium to think about how a secondment could do the same for their work.”

About the HI-ACT Secondment Flex Fund

HI-ACT Secondment Flex Fund supports skills development and knowledge exchange between academia and industry, the public sector and the third sector, focused on the integration of hydrogen into future energy use.