Energy and Complexity Conference 2025

Energy & Complexity 2025: Towards a new complex-systems research agenda for a just energy transition

city network at night

Thank you to everyone who attended the Energy & Complexity Conference. We hope you enjoyed the day! Recordings from the online sessions will be available shortly. The Padlet is still open if you have any thoughts from the day.

We warmly invite you to join us for Energy & Complexity 2025, in Leeds on Wednesday 22nd Jan 2025! This free one-day conference will be on the topic of energy systems and complexity (complex systems) science, and will provide an opportunity to hear about the latest research and contribute to an updated research agenda for the field. We want to provide a platform for the intersection of these two research domains, which are increasingly significant but often overlooked. In 2012 we held a national conference in Oxford on the same topic, which was hosted by the UK Energy Research Centre. When we regather in Leeds we will discuss new research and developed an updated agenda for the application of complex systems thinking and methods for a just and NetZero energy transition.

Attendees will enjoy opportunities to:

Engage with the energy and complexity community
Hear from prominent academics and others engaged in using complexity science to address energy challenges
Learn about new frameworks, perspectives, methods and application areas
Connect with other researchers to develop future collaborative work
Consider the impact of complexity perspectives on policy- and decision-making for energy futures
Help us develop a research agenda for the intersection of these two fields.

We expect to host more than 100 participants from across the UK and beyond, both academic and from government and other interested organisations. We will have keynote presentations, lightning presentations from early-career researchers, knowledge cafés on agenda-setting topics, and a panel session. In person places have now closed but we will be able to offer live-streamed presentations of some sessions, with a facility for interactive Q&A. If you wish to join the presentations remotely, please register so that you receive joining instructions.

The themes for the day are:

The intersection of complex systems and energy research
Exploring the interdisciplinary nature of the field, with a focus on the roles of social science and modelling and engineering perspectives
Setting out current energy challenges and the need for complexity science (including practitioner perspectives)

When: Wednesday 22nd January 2025, 10am–4.30pm

Where: Central Leeds, less than 10 mins walk from the train station

Horizon Leeds 3rd Floor, 2 Brewery Wharf Kendell Street LS10 1JR ///minute.enjoy.grace

Agenda:

From 10am	Arrival and refreshments
10:30	Welcome
10:45	Keynote speakers - Live streamed *Embracing Complexity: Simulating the Energy Transition* - Dr. ir. Émile J. L. Chappin, TU Delft; *Net Zero Systems – Embedding Systems Thinking in UK Government* - Beth Green, Department for Energy Security & Net Zero; *Complex Systems Thinking and Decarbonisation* - Prof Liz Varga, University College London
12:00	Q&A
12:15	Lunch
13:15	ECR presentations
14:00	Knowledge cafes; setting the research agenda
15:15	Panel Q&A - What should the priorities be for complexity science in energy policy and practice over the next 5 years? - Live streamed Abbie Badcock-Broe, National Grid Peter Barbrook-Johnson, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford Sara Mehryar, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, LSE Kavin Narasimhan, University of Warwick
16:15	Closing comments
16:30	Networking drinks

Online agenda:

10:30 – 10:45	Welcome
10:45 – 12:00	Keynote speakers *Embracing Complexity: Simulating the Energy Transition* -Dr. ir. Émile J. L. Chappin, TU Delft; *Net Zero Systems – Embedding Systems Thinking in UK Government* - Beth Green, Department for Energy Security & Net Zero; *Complex Systems Thinking and Decarbonisation* - Prof Liz Varga, University College London
12:00 – 12:15	Q&A
15:15 – 16:15	Panel Q&A - What should the priorities be for complexity science in energy policy and practice over the next 5 years? Abbie Badcock-Broe, National Grid Peter Barbrook-Johnson, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford Sara Mehryar, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, LSE Kavin Narasimhan, University of Warwick
16:15 – 16:30	Closing comments

Abstracts for ECR lightning talks

The deadline for abstracts for short talks by ECRs has now closed.

Confirmed speakers

Come along to hear from the following speakers:

Contact

For any queries please email us at [email protected] or contact Dr Catherine (Frin) Bale the conference chair [email protected]

Conference chair

Dr Catherine Bale, Associate Professor in Sustainable Urban Energy Systems, Sustainability Research Institute, University of Leeds

Steering group

Dr Sumedha Basu, Research Fellow, Sustainability Research Institute, University of Leeds
Prof Tim Foxon, Professor of Sustainability Transitions, Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex
Dr Kavin Narasimhan, Assistant Professor, Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIM), University of Warwick
Prof Liz Varga, Professor of Complex Systems, Head of UCL’s Infrastructure Systems Institute, University College London

Acknowledgement of funding

This conference is funded by under a fellowship from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, EP/R024197/1 Co-creating visions and pathways for integrated urban heat systems.