Monash Energy Newsletters
We welcome contributions of short articles, events, publications with an energy focus. Contributions are published subject to space and relevance at the editor's discretion.
2022
January 2022
Welcome to a new year of Monash Energy News.
2021 included highlights such as RACE for 2030 CRC projects, new lithium-sulfur battery technology, funding for Monash’s microgrid outreach program, awards for the Woodside Monash Partnership, and ERICA’s State of Energy Research Conference (SoERC2021).
The start to this year comes with renewed urgency around the fight against Climate Change. With the 2021 UN climate conference, COP26, the aim of reducing fossil fuel emissions and aiding sustainable development are burning priorities. We now have less than 10 years until the world runs out of the 1.5 degree carbon budget! Monash has set this as one of our three Strategic challenges to 2030 and with energy the main culprit, we must also be a key solution driver.
We welcome our team back with all hands on decks, Professor Ariel Liebman, Dr Roger Dargaville, Shreejan Pandey, Professor Sarah Pink, A/Professor Yolande Strengers, Professor Mainak Majumder, Scott Ferraro, A/Professor Guillaume Roger and Professor Mark Wallace. We also particularly welcome Dr Behrooz Bahrani who joined us in 2021 as inaugural Associate Director for the Energy Grids theme and Professor Paul Webley, Director of the Monash Woodside Partnership as lead for our new Clean Fuels and Hydrogen theme.
It looks like 2022 will be the make-or-break year for real climate action. We call on all Monash researchers and industry engagement professionals as well as our industry and government partners to reach out to us as soon as possible to develop collaboration opportunities and new projects for 2022.
2021
November/December 2021
Last week, Monash Energy Institute hosted the 2021 State of Energy Research Conference (SoERC2021) featuring over 50 researchers and industry speakers from the energy community.
We are honoured that so many researchers, both early career and experienced, shared their research during SoERC2021. The community of researchers and their industry partners that gathered represent hope and dedication to the most urgent and critical challenge facing humanity to date; anthropogenic climate change. Read the full Chair's Foreword here.
Thank you to all the speakers and attendees that devoted their time to this conference. Recordings of the keynote speeches are now available on the ERICA YouTube channel.
October 2021
Monash University has been sending delegations to the annual UN Climate Change Conferences (COPs) since 2016. See how Monash is participating in CoP26.
The State of Energy Research Conference 2021 registrations are now open, and now accepting poster submissions – see the great lineup of speakers with more on the way. Find out more and get your ticket.
A RACE for 2030 Opportunity Assessment report for E3: Developing the Future Energy Workforce, has been published, with Dirk Visser from Monash Sustainability Development Institute leading this work from Monash’s end, working closely with Energy Efficiency Council and University of Technology Sydney.
September 2021
See the visualisation of the Monash University Clayton Campus Woodside Living Lab Building during the Earthquake by Associate Professor Colin Caprani, with data and code available online.
Applications for the generous Zema Energy Studies Scholarship are closing at the end of October, available to domestic students in the energy space.
Led by Prof Mainak Majumder, researchers have found the key to stabilising new lithium-sulfur battery technology by using a glucose-based additive. With Yingyi Huang, Dr Mahdokht Shaibani and Prof Matthew Hill.
Webinar and article that covers fighting back against climate misinformation and the IPCC report
August 2021
In this issue, we highlight the results of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.
We promoted our Net Zero Initiative which released the Microgrid Electricity Market Operator (MEMO) toolbox outlining the journey to developing a microgrid.
We celebrated the legacy of Chloe Munro AO, visionary pioneer of a clean energy future and Professorial Fellow at Monash, with The Chloe Munro Scholarship for Transformational Leadership.
July 2021
We welcomed Prof Paul Webley (Clean Fuels and Hydrogen theme leader) and Dr Mark Wallace (Smart Energy Systems theme leader) to the Monash Energy Institute leadership team.
We celebrated a successful project between the Monash Energy Institute’s Grid Innovation Hub, Worley and Palisade Energy Ltd using machine learning to predict wind and solar power for better integration into the grid.
We Congratulate Prof Mainak Majumder (Materials and Devices theme leader) for leading the new Advanced Manufacturing Hub with 2D materials (AM2D).
June 2021
Congratulating Professor Tony Marxsen who was recognised on the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours list for his professional work and contributions to the community.
Congratulations to Professor Rebekah Brown, who has been appointed as Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Senior Vice-President and Professor Rob Hyndman (Head of the Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics), for being elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science We also celebrate Monash and ENGIE working on accelerating the Net Zero transition
Discover the Australian Energy Transition Research Plan to reach Net Zero emissions by the Australian Council of Learned Academies.
May 2021
In this issue, we investigated EV's and AI against the climate crisis with Monash Lens articles from our Director Professor Ariel Liebman and Deputy Director Dr Roger Dargaville. We showcased the Net Zero Momentum tracker on energy by ClimateWorks Australia. We welcomed Audrey Zibelman to the Monash Energy Institute community. And we discovered the 2020 Annual Reports from Woodside Monash Energy Partnership and the Centres of Excellence ARC Graphene Hub, FLEET, ACES and ACEX.
April 2021
Monash came in 3rd for Sustainable Cities and Communities and 8th for Affordable and Clean Energy in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings against the UN SDGs. We celebrated AI for sustainable transformation in smart cities, mobility and energy with A/Prof Ariel Liebman. We congratulate Dr Shirui Pan for being recognised as one of the five most influential scholars in the AI 2000 Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Conference. And welcome to Mr Vincent Makota (new Zema Scholar) who will work to strengthen existing grid systems.
March 2021
In this issue, we showcased the Hydrogen Economic Fairways Tool. We introduced Lynne Gallagher, Chief Executive Officer at Energy Consumers Australia. We profile Dr Kari Dahlgren, a social anthropologist working on the Digital Energy Futures Project.
Congratulations to Dr Tanesh Gamot who won the best presentation at the Graphene Hub Workshop 2021 ”High-quality supercapacitor materials from sustainable sources and steps towards scaled production” and to Dr Sarah Goodwin for her new position as Director (Research) at Monash's Grid Innovation Hub.
February 2021
Monash Energy Institute lead the National EV-Grid interaction research project. Also, a big congratulations to all the women in STEMM and a particular congrats to Associate Professor Yolande Strengers (Associate Director, Theme Consumers, Monash Energy Institute) on being a finalist in the 2021 Women in AI Awards!
Congratulations to our students, particularly to Rabeeh Golmohammadzadeh and Brian Jong from Chemical Engineering, who have been selected as one of the student team winners of the IACE Hackathon.
January 2021
We start this year with highlighting what the Grid Innovation Hub PhD scholars are doing towards addressing challenges faced by our energy sector. We profiled Sajjad Hadavi, Milad Zarif Mansour, Si Phu Me, Abu Pengwah and Rakshitha Godahewa. We celebrated Prof Jack Jasieniak and the Next generation solar cells.
We promoted Uplift, a novel prototype system to support `casual collaborative visual analytics' for a campus microgrid. We are looking forward to working with our energy community in what is already shaping up to be an exciting year.
2020
May - June 2020
We present our Energy Profile - a showcase of Monash's major energy programs. We congratulate Dr Julie Karel who is now a FLEET Chief Investigator, Dr Alexandr Simonov, Prof Douglas MacFarlane and team who published a Roadmapto the Ammonia Economy and Prof Huanting Wang for receiving an ARC Laureate Fellowship for his work in renewable energy and clean water.
We also promote the Digital Energy Futures Report by the Emerging Technologies Research Lab.
April - May 2020
We celebrated our 7th position in energy in the world impact rankings, highlight developments in solar research, and congratulate our student team for winning the Solar Decathlon Design Challenge.
This newsletter includes profiles of Professor Andrew Dyer, Dr Larissa Nicholls, Dr Christoph Bergmeir and Ms Rakshitha Godahewa. We also shared the 2019 Annual Reports from the ARC Graphene Hub, FLEET and ACEX.
March - April 2020
Monash University will play a major role in RACE2030 by leading the networks research program, one of the four research pillars of the CRC program.
Congratulations to A/Prof Akshat Tanksale for becoming an IChemE Fellow, Scott Ferraro for being appointed on the Board of the Energy Efficiency Council, Bridget Ryan for receiving the Monash 2020 Your Leadership Voice award, and Dr Chang Wei Tan for receiving the Mollie Holman Medal 2019. We also profiled Ali Meghdadi and Dr Semini Wijekoon.
February - March 2020
The 2019-2020 bushfire season in Australia has raised questions about fire management and impacts of fires on essential services; our researchers commented. Congratulations to Dr Mahdokht Shaibani, Prof Mainak Majumder and A/Prof Matthew Hill for developing the world’s most efficient lithium-sulphur battery.
We introduced Vanya Kumar, and profiled Dr Mahdokht Shaibani and Shalini Kandasamy.
2019
December 2019
The Monash University's COP25 delegation led by Dr Diana Krall and Dr Susie Ho commented on their experience of the COP. We announced the launch of our new website, which was designed to reflect the vibrant, inclusive and impactful Monash Energy community.
We introduced Kane Thornton and profiled Dr Sarah Goodwin, A/Prof Akshat Tanksale and Colin Kang.
November 2019
In this newsletter, we provided a summary of the Monash Energy Conference. We announced the renaming of MEMSI to the Monash Energy Institute.
We celebrated the $5.45m partnership between GE Digital and Monash, congratulated Prof Huanting Wang and Prof Ranjith Pathegama Gamage elected as a Fellow to the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, and Prof Douglas MacFarlane appointed as a Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor.