The Institute offers an award-winning postgraduate program for Masters and Doctoral research students. Our supervisors can support students who wish to explore the following questions and topics.
Evolution of energy infrastructure approaching 100% renewables
- The economics of smart grids, batteries and demand management (i.e. expanding the VNM economic model)
- Energy futures modelling and scenario development (e.g. EV, PV grid integration, IoT, prosumers, business models, systems, etc.)
- In an environment where renewable energy can deliver electricity, heat, gas, or hydrogen, how can we optimise interactions between our electricity, gas and water infrastructure to accelerate the transition to a zero-carbon economy?
- How will large scale transport electrification impact the electricity system?
- Limits of local energy – how far can local or ‘distributed’ solutions reach?
- What are the energy infrastructure implications if Australia was to become a major renewable energy exporter?
- What is the energy productivity of renewable energy? (SW, DA)
Transforming through Data and Information
- Developing tools to drive city scale/local 100% renewable ambition
- What network data analytics on ISF’s Network Opportunity Maps can be applied to accelerate clean energy integration?
- How do we harness the power of spatial energy datasets to better understand energy demand and forecasts?
Empowering new participants: equity & access
- What role does energy equity and fuel poverty play in an Australian context? How can we better understand stakeholder impacts of energy futures using advanced modelling techniques?
- How can developing countries with low electricity access leapfrog fossil fuels for 100 % renewable energy access?
- What business models are needed to ensure positive community outcomes when looking at 100% renewable energy at the fringe of the grid?
- How can we incorporate carbon emissions from agriculture/ food production into a carbon budget?
Systems thinking
- How can Australia plan for a sustainable recovery and response to economic crisis, and how can clean energy catalyse this transition?
- How can we build resilient energy systems (e.g. develop new metrics, create new tools and develop stress test scenarios for Australian energy systems to understand resilience, etc.)?
- How can we incorporate carbon emissions from agriculture/ food production into a carbon budget?
If you are interested in pursuing any of these research topics through postgraduate study with ISF, please refer to our how to apply page.