Professor Qiteng Hong, Co-Investigator of the ENSIGN project, has been awarded an Royal Society International Exchange Grant jointly funded by the Royal Society and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). The grant will support a new collaborative research programme with Professor Bin Wang of Tsinghua University, one of China’s leading experts in power systems operation and protection.

This exchange grant will enable Professors Hong and Wang to jointly address critical challenges in the operation and protection of future decarbonised distribution networks. The collaboration will be delivered through a structured programme of reciprocal visits and joint research activities over the next two years, including the exchange of early-career researchers and doctoral students, as well as workshops, seminars, and joint publications to enable future collaboration and disseminate findings to the wider scientific community and industry stakeholders.

ENSIGN’s Principal Investigator, Professor Campbell Booth, and Co-Investigator, Professor Qiteng Hong, recently completed a research visit to China, reinforcing international partnerships in the transition to sustainable energy systems.

As core members of the organising committee, they played a leading role in the “Voice of the Future” Forum on System Thinking for Shared Sustainability, an event sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and jointly organised by the University of Strathclyde, Imperial College London, Peking University, and Tsinghua University.

• Professor Booth chaired a session focused on decarbonising power and energy systems, a critical step toward achieving global net-zero targets.
• Professor Hong delivered a presentation on enhanced monitoring of future power systems, highlighting innovative approaches to ensure reliability and resilience.

The visit also included strategic meetings at Huairou National Laboratory, a national-level research centre dedicated to clean, low-carbon, and high-efficiency energy technologies. Discussions explored opportunities for future collaboration on cutting-edge energy research.

In addition, the team visited Peking University and Tsinghua University to strengthen ongoing partnerships and identify new avenues for joint research and educational initiatives.

This trip underscores ENSIGN’s commitment to advancing global cooperation and innovation in sustainable energy systems.