About the Energy Storage CDT

Welcome to the CDT in Energy Storage and its Applications

The Centre for Doctoral Training in Energy Storage and its Applications at the Universities of Sheffield and Southampton opened in October 2014, and recruited cohorts of students until 2018.

We tackle industrial research challenges and develop new technologies and leaders that will enable the UK to meet its low carbon targets.

We received substantial funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in 2014 having identified energy storage as a UK priority area with a major skills shortage.

Through sponsorship support from the Universities and industry partners we now have 51 students participating in projects across 5 cohorts, in topics across the diverse themes of energy storage and its applications.

The CDT recruited it’s final cohort of students in 2018, and is therefore closed to further applications.

One of the UK’s largest battery-based energy storage facilities has been connected to the grid as part of new research led by the University of Sheffield on the growing area of energy storage.

The academic partners for the CDT support gender equality through their participation in the Athena SWAN charter. The University of Sheffield and the University of Southampton hold a Silver Athena SWAN award.

The Athena SWAN Principles:
  1. We acknowledge that academia cannot reach its full potential unless it can benefit from the talents of all.
  2. We commit to advancing gender equality in academia, in particular, addressing the loss of women across the career pipeline and the absence of women from senior academic, professional and support roles.
  3. We commit to addressing unequal gender representation across academic disciplines and professional and support functions. In this we recognise disciplinary differences including:
    • the relative underrepresentation of women in senior roles in arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law (AHSSBL)
    • the particularly high loss rate of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM)
  4. We commit to tackling the gender pay gap.
  5. We commit to removing the obstacles faced by women, in particular, at major points of career development and progression including the transition from PhD into a sustainable academic career.
  6. We commit to addressing the negative consequences of using short-term contracts for the retention and progression of staff in academia, particularly women.
  7. We commit to tackling the discriminatory treatment often experienced by trans people.
  8. We acknowledge that advancing gender equality demands commitment and action from all levels of the organisation and in particular active leadership from those in senior roles.
  9. We commit to making and mainstreaming sustainable structural and cultural changes to advance gender equality, recognising that initiatives and actions that support individuals alone will not sufficiently advance equality.
  10. All individuals have identities shaped by several different factors. We commit to considering the intersection of gender and other factors wherever possible.
  11. Find out more about Athena Swan here, the University of Sheffield Women In Engineering campaign here, and the University of Southampton’s Athena SWAN engagement here.

Listen to student Rachel Lee on the The Naked Scientist podcast explain ‘What happens to “un-used” electricity?’