Professor Gareth Harrison

Head of School and Bert Whittington Chair

Email: 

Telephone: 

+44(0)131 6505566

Location: 

1.122 Sanderson Building

Social Media: 

Engineering Discipline: 

  • Electronics and Electrical Engineering

Research Institute: 

  • Energy Systems

Research Theme: 

  • Wind Energy
  • Energy and Climate Change
  • Energy Policy, Economics and Innovation
  • Energy Storage and Carbon Capture
  • Offshore Renewable Energy
  • Power Systems
Photo of Professor Gareth Harrison
Professor Gareth Harrison

Biography: 

Professor Gareth Harrison is Head of the School of Engineering and Bert Whittington Chair of Electrical Power Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. He holds a Bachelor’s degree and a Doctorate from the same institution.

His research is focused on renewable energy integration within energy systems and he has built a reputation for the application of meteorological modelling and optimisation methods for energy network operation and planning. He is currently a Co-investigator on several EPSRC and Ofgem/InnovateUK projects covering energy storage and power networks. He was Associate Director of the EPSRC National Centre for Energy Systems Integration (2016-2022), Principal Investigator of the EPSRC Adaptation and Resilience in Energy Systems project (2012-2015), examining climate impacts on energy system resilience, and has been Co-Investigator on many UK and EU consortia.

Professor Harrison is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and is an Affiliate of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. He was a founding member and now Emeritus member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy of Scotland.

Academic Qualifications: 

  • BEng (Hons) Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, University of Edinburgh, 1997
  • PhD Electrical Power Engineering, University of Edinburgh, 2001

Professional Qualifications and Memberships: 

  • Fellow, Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE)
  • Chartered Engineer (CEng)
  • Senior Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
  • Affiliate of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
  • Emeritus Member, RSE Young Academy of Scotland 
  • Inquiry Committee Member, Royal Society of Edinburgh, Energy Inquiry (2017 - )
  • Member of Working Group, Royal Academy of Engineering, Wind Power Inquiry(2012 – 2014)
  • Associate Editor/Editorial Panel, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Energy (2002 - )
  • Editorial Board Member, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews (2018 –)
  • Editorial Board Member, IET Energy Systems Integration (2018 –)
  • Editorial board member, International Journal of Emerging Electric Power Systems (2005 - )
  • Guest Editor, Proc. IMechE, Part A: Journal of Power and Energy, ‘Evaluating Energy Technologies for the Net Zero 'Greenhouse Gas' Transition: From Here to 2050’ (2023)
  • Guest Editor, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, ‘Special Issue in marine and ocean energy dedicated to the work and memory of Professor Ian Bryden’ (2019)
  • International Advisory Board, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment (2013 - 2019)
  • Associate Editor, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment (2010 –2013)

Teaching: 

  • Interdisciplinary Group Design Project [MEng]
  • MSc Dissertation

Research Interests: 

My research activity covers a wide range of areas including:

  • Grid integration of renewable energy
  • Renewable resource assessment using high performance computing
  • Climate change impacts on electricity systems
  • Multi-vector energy systems/energy systems integration
  • Carbon footprints of energy systems

Specialities: 

  • Renewable resource assessment
  • Network Integration of Renewable Energy
  • Multi-vector energy systems/energy systems integration
  • Climate Change Impacts on Renewable Energy
  • Life cycle assessment (or carbon footprints)