A/Professor Liz Ratnam
A/Professor Liz Ratnam
Dr Elizabeth Ratnam earned her BEng (Hons I) degree in Electrical Engineering in 2006 and a PhD in Electrical Engineering in 2016, both from the University of Newcastle, Australia. She further honed her expertise through postdoctoral research positions at the University of California, San Diego, and the University of California, Berkeley, within the California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE). From 2001 to 2012, Dr. Ratnam held key positions at Ausgrid, one of Australia’s largest electricity distribution networks.
Her exceptional contributions to the field earned her the Future Engineering Research Leader (FERL) Fellowship at The Australian National University (ANU), where she served as a Senior Lecturer and Sub-Dean for Educational Programs at the College of Engineering & Computer Science. As of 2024, Dr. Ratnam continues to advance the frontiers of power systems research as an Associate Professor at Monash University. A Senior Member of IEEE and a Fellow of Engineers Australia, Dr. Ratnam’s research is centered on pioneering new paradigms for operating power systems, with a strong focus on developing a resilient, carbon-neutral power grid.
Expertise
- Control of Power Systems
- Control and Optimisation of Energy Systems
- Estimation of Power Systems using Synchrophasors
- Secure and Resilient Operation of Power Systems
- Advance Transactive Energy Markets
- Social Shaping of Transactive Multi-Agent Systems
- Electric Vehicle Control and Coordination in Distribution Networks
Research Interests
My current research interest is in developing new control, estimation and optimisation frameworks to facilitate robust electric grid operations, advance transactive energy markets, and to improve the security and resilience of cyber-physical electricity grids.
Australian Research Council Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) 2023 LE23010058, Lead Chief Investigator (LCI). National Facility for Electricity Grid Security and Resilience Research. CI Team Institutions: Australian National University (Lead), University of Newcastle, University of Sydney and Monash University.
Australian Research Council – Discovery Project DP22010135 (2022). Democratisation of Deep Learning: Neural Architecture Search at Low Cost. CI Team: Prof Saman Halgamuge (Lead CI), Dr Julian de Hoog, Dr Elizabeth Ratnam, PI: Professor Ponnuthurai Suganthan.
Australian Research Council – Linkage Project LP21200473 (2022). Lead Chief Investigator (LCI). Building Australia’s Electric Vehicle Fast Charging Infrastructure. CI Team Institutions: The Australian National University, University of Sydney. PI: Andrew Mears