Dr Catalina Spataru and Dr Cliff Elwell promoted to Associate Professor

Announced on the 4^th July, the promotions are testament to the excellence they have displayed in their teaching and research at the UCL Energy Institute.

Dr Catalina Spataru joined UCL Energy Institute in 2010. She is currently Course Director for the Energy Demand Studies MRes at the Institute and is also co-lead of the Energy Space Time research theme.

Catalina specializes in whole energy systems dynamics and resource nexus, with particular interest to sustainability. Her activities range from theoretical investigations to implementation research, and the development of models. She is the author of the book Whole Energy System Dynamics: Theory, modelling and policy and co-editor of the Routledge Handbook of the Resource Nexus. She has participated, coordinated and lead numerous research and consultancy projects funded by industry and research councils. Topics focused on urban development, islands, technologies, infrastructure, resource management, energy networks, and so on. She is the regional representative of the IEEE Women in Power (Region 8 –Europe). 

Dr Cliff Elwell leads UCL Energy Institute’s Physical Characteristics of Buildings research group and co-leads the Buildings Theme. Cliff’s work with the Physical Characterisation of Buildings (PCB) Group focusses on the measurement of energy use, and parameters related to it, to characterise the performance of buildings, building elements and systems. The team undertake monitoring campaigns, develop physically informed models, undertake analysis and relate the outcomes to the complex socio-technical factors that affect building performance, and policies and practices that may support reductions in carbon emissions. This work pays particular attention to the robustness of the data we analyse and the statistical methods that are used, often employing Bayesian statistics.

Cliff is passionate about teaching building physics and research training, and is Deputy Director of the ERSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Energy Demand and has previously been Departmental Graduate Tutor (Research) for the Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources and Course Director for the MRes Energy Demand Studies. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has recently been nominated for a Student Choice award for Outstanding PhD Supervision.