Prof Jim Watson

Professor of Energy Policy

Bartlett School Env, Energy & Resources

Faculty of the Built Environment

Joined UCL: 15th Jun 2018

Research summary

Energy policy and energy systems

Leadership of major research programmes on the UK energy transition including the UK Energy Research Centre
Expertise on energy policy, energy system change and energy security

Innovation systems for clean energy

Innovation policies in the UK and other countries
Economic and policy research on specific low carbon technologies and systems, including carbon capture and storage and decentralised energy technologies

Energy and development

Leadership of research on low carbon transitions and innovation in developing countries
Energy futures and policies in China

Teaching summary

Current PhD students:

Irene Maffini on finance and low carbon innovation (UKERC studentship)
Anna Watson on low carbon innovation systems (UKERC studentship)

Completed PhD students:

Emily Cox (2017) 'Assessing energy security in a low-carbon context. The case of electricity in the UK'
Jonathan Dolley (2016) 'Sustainability, resilience and governance of an urban food system: a case study of peri-urban Wuhan'
Tammy-Ann Sharp (2014) 'Exploring the potential impacts of Carbon, Capture and Storages Technologies on the Diversity of the UK electricity system to 2050'
Jose Opazo (2014): 'The politics of systems innovation for emerging technologies: understanding the uptake of off-grid renewable electricity in rural Chile'
Jenny Lieu (2013): 'Influences of policy learning, transfer and post transfer learning in the development of China’s wind power sector'
Dierk Bauknecht (2011): 'Transforming the Grid: Electricity system governance and network integration of distributed generation'
Mehdi Majidpour (2011): 'The Dynamics of Technological Catching-up: The Case of Iran’s Gas Turbine Industry'
Rudi Haum (2011): 'Transfer of Low-Carbon Technology under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: The Case of the Global Environment Facility and its Market Transformation Approach in India'
Zeeda Fatimah Mohamad (2009): 'The role of universities in national catching-up strategies: fuel cell technology in Malaysia and Singapore'

Biography

I am Professor of Energy Policy at the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, Director of the UK Energy Research Centre and an Associate with SPRU, University of Sussex.

Before joining UCL, I was based at SPRU from 1993-2018. From Dec 2008 to Jan 2013, I was Director of SPRU's Sussex Energy Group. I was appointed as the Research Director of the UK Energy Research Centre in Feb 2013, and have been its Director since January 2015.

I am a member of the UK government's fossil fuel price expert panel, the UKRI Global Challenges Research Fund strategic advisory group and a judge for the Queens Awards for Enterprise: Sustainable Development.

I have over twenty years of research experience on climate change, energy and innovation policy. I have been a specialist adviser to the House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee for its inquiry into The UK's Energy Supply: Security or Independence? (Apr-Oct 2011); the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee for its inquiries on the Draft Climate Change Bill, Climate Change: The Citizen's Agenda and Energy Efficiency and Fuel Poverty (Mar 2006 to Jun 2009); and the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee for its inquiry on resilience of elecricity infrastructure (2014/15)

Previous advisory roles include DECC and Defra's social science expert panel (2012-16); Council Member of the British Institute for Energy Economics (2004-16); Nuffield Council on Bioethics working party on new approaches to biofuels (2009-11); Lead Expert with the UK government Foresight project on Sustainable Energy Management and the Built Environment (2007-2009); and the IPPR New Era Economics panel (2010-12).

International roles include: Panel Member, Academy of Sciences of South Africa consensus study on Green Technologies in South Africa (2012-14); and Visiting Scholar, Energy Technology Innovation Policy group, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (2008).

Publications