How engineering and management research at Bath
is powering the
UK's industrial strategy
The UK’s modern industrial strategy, updated in June 2025, sets out a long-term plan to boost economic growth by investing in eight high-growth sectors, including clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and digital technologies. Central to this strategy is the role of universities in driving innovation, developing future skills, and supporting regional development.
At the University of Bath, engineering and management research is directly aligned with these national priorities. Through initiatives such as IAAPS, the Supergen Energy Networks Hub, and the Centre for People-Led Digitalisation, Bath is helping to accelerate the UK’s transition to net zero, strengthen industrial capabilities, and foster inclusive growth.
Discover how Bath’s engineering research is not only responding to the industrial strategy’s goals but actively shaping them through cutting-edge technologies, strategic partnerships, and a commitment to training the next generation of engineers and innovators.
Member of Parliament for Filton and Bradley Stoke, and Bath graduate, Claire Hazelgrove.
Member of Parliament for Filton and Bradley Stoke, and Bath graduate, Claire Hazelgrove.
Claire Hazelgrove MP visits IAAPS
Claire Hazelgrove MP visits IAAPS
IAAPS is developing skills to help meet net zero
IAAPS is an inclusive, collaborative Institute and centre of excellence in sustainable propulsion systems and mobility, recognised internationally for its leadership in research, innovation, policy, and education. It is built on nearly 50 years of propulsion systems research and development at the University of Bath, drawing on the University’s strong industry links, and has a mission to lead the transition towards sustainable mobility for the benefit of society and industry, while also equipping tomorrow’s leaders with the knowledge and skills to take on the challenges of the future.
“Work through IAAPS and the wider activities in the Bristol and Bath Science Park represent real opportunities for the government both in terms of supporting economic growth and in helping the UK transition towards net zero.”
Member of Parliament for Filton and Bradley Stoke, and Bath graduate, Claire Hazelgrove, was given an insight into this work when she toured IAAPS in 2025. During her visit, she met students from AAPS – the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems - which is training the next generation of engineers and transport specialists.
Since it launched in 2019, AAPS has trained 71 PhD students. Working with and alongside industry, the programme equips doctoral students from diverse academic disciplines with the skills and knowledge to drive innovation in clean, sustainable, and affordable transportation.
Commenting on her visit Claire Hazelgrove MP said: "It was a pleasure to visit IAAPS to see the ground-breaking work the innovative team are doing in helping the transport industry get to net zero – including shaping the future of flight. The type of innovation and collaboration we see here at IAAPS, bringing together industry, enterprise and academia, is key to making headway on this - one of the biggest challenges we face today."
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How Supergen is enabling energy networks to be a driving force for net zero
The University of Bath is a world leader in energy networks research and the Supergen Energy Networks Hub (SEN) is central to this. The hub brings together collaborative teams from Industry, Academia, Government and Civil Society to carry out highly effective, interdisciplinary research, enabling energy networks to become a driving force towards a rapid, safe and just transition to net zero.
Energy networks not only allow the transition to a low carbon economy but also drive green growth such as decarbonising industrial processes and connecting large data centres to enable the adoption of AI at scale.
Led by Bath under the Directorship of Professor Phil Taylor, Vice-Chancellor and President, University of Bath, the Hub involves partner Universities including Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds, Manchester, and Newcastle, as well as the Energy Systems Catapult, to provide leadership, research, and networking for the energy networks community.
“We often forget about the crucial role that energy networks play in integrating these technologies and moving energy from where it is generated to where it is needed, in a safe, low carbon and reliable way.”
Experts and guest speakers at the recent Supergen Energy Networks Hub conference explain how the challenges and opportunities of renewables and future energy systems are making the sector one of the most exciting fields to work and study in right now.
Experts and guest speakers at the recent Supergen Energy Networks Hub conference explain how the challenges and opportunities of renewables and future energy systems are making the sector one of the most exciting fields to work and study in right now.
The recent Supergen Energy Networks Hub annual conference at the University of Bath put a spotlight on opportunities regarding the pivotal role of energy networks for achieving Net Zero. At the conference, world-leading energy networks experts from industry and academia across the UK, USA and Africa, called for renewable power generation facilities to be connected to the UK grid more quickly to help the nation deliver several of its long-term strategic environmental and economic goals including energy security and food poverty.
“We work with the Supergen Energy Networks Hub to harness our collected brain power to understand how we can help make this transition happen as quickly and effectively as possible.”
Supergen Energy Networks Hub co-investigators based at the University of Bath include Professor Furong Li who is a world-leading expert in electricity power networks.
World-leading electricity power network expert helping to deliver the UK’s clean power 2030 goal
Professor Furong Li is the Deputy Director for Sustainable Energy Systems (SES) at the University of Bath. As one of the leading experts in energy systems, she is working with the National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED) Centre to position the UK as the world leader in agile and flexible energy network to make clean energy affordable and resilient.
Professor Li’s research focuses on how UK’s network operators move from the existing monolithic power system model, where data sharing and dynamic interactions between subsystems are very limited, to a new, more agile, interoperable and flexible model fit for rapidly changing low carbon systems. This model will give operators better visibility and control of energy flows between customers and networks to manage networks, demand and generation more effectively.
“Moving to a demand-driven decarbonisation model is crucial if the UK is to achieve its Clean Power 2030 and Net Zero 2050 commitments,” she says.
Working with the UK’s largest distribution network, the National Grid, Professor Li is developing a ‘whole energy system’ model for the UK’s power networks. This will improve access to open data, models and evidence to help NGED, its stakeholders and other operators collectively drive decarbonisation in the sector. The model will also help operators introduce financial incentives, encouraging energy use or energy saving depending on when renewable supply is plentiful, or when networks are congested.
“Currently, there are limited open data and models for consumers to understand the impacts of different choices such as switching to a heat pump or electric vehicle, and hard for network operators to predict the uptake of low carbon technologies between locations and over time– our work aims to change that.”
Professor Li’s portfolio of energy networks research, which led to her appointment as the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Research Chair earlier in 2025. She is working with colleagues across Electrical Engineering and Mathematics to assess the transfer capability requirements for a low carbon system dominated by renewable and flexibility. Distribution use of system charges methodology developed by her have been adopted as the industry standard in the UK; She led the largest smart grid demonstration project with NGED, has helped the company to save 575,000 tons of CO2 annually to its 8 million energy customers by giving a clearer understanding of consumers' energy usage patterns.
Boosting local economies through coworking spaces
The University of Bath’s Centre for Regulation, Governance and Industrial Strategy (CGR&IS) is co-directed by Dr Felicia Fai and Professor Phil Tomlinson, both from the School of Management. A leading research centre at the University, their research acts as a catalyst for policy development in the governance and regulation of markets, and the prosperity of industry and regions, to ensure they are organised and managed effectively, efficiently, equitably, lawfully and in the public interest.
Some of the Centre’s recent work has been exploring the role of Coworking Spaces (CWSs), which, enabled by digitalisation, can contribute to place-based policy and regional development, especially in peripheral and lagging regions. CWSs offer shared workspaces and facilities for freelance workers, digital nomads and others who wish to work in them. Since their emergence two decades ago, CWSs have proliferated in both urban, rural and coastal settings, in line with the rising popularity of remote work made possible through new digital technologies.
In 2023, Dr Fai and Professor Tomlinson, along with Dr Mariachiara Barzotto (also from CGR&IS), were awarded an ESRC-InterAct grant to examine how manufacturers might integrate the flexibility that Coworking Spaces offer into their operations. For instance, CWSs allow employees to work at geographical distance, while offering firms a lower cost alternative to traditional offices for some functions (such as administration, small batch manufacturing or even some R&D activities).
The team also received UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Made Smarter Innovation Challenge funding as part of the University’s Centre for People Led Digitalisation. Along with their (now former) PhD student, Dr Zihan Wang, this project has been exploring how CWSs can assist people with developing both their technical and social skills. More recently, Dr Fai and Professor Tomlinson have received funding from the Innovation Research Caucus (IRC) to explore how CWSs might act as conduits for business support for entrepreneurs, again in lagging regions.
This research is very much positioned within contemporary central government policy initiatives, particularly towards addressing regional inequalities – as set out in the Levelling up Agenda (2022) – and promoting regional growth, which is a priority of the modern Industrial Strategy White Paper (2025).
In an article for Regional Studies, Dr Fai, Professor Tomlinson and Dr Barzotto highlight the potential of CWSs to play a role in revitalising ‘left behind’ places, including from the provision of accessibility of tools and technology, support to startups, and even the reemergence of small scale manufacturing. They also liken these CWSs to ‘industrial districts’, which are built on communities of spatially concentrated sector aligned businesses, providing a seedbed for knowledge transfer, innovation and entrepreneurship. Similar, for example, to Scotch whisky, the Staffordshire ceramics industry, or Motorsport Valley in Silverstone, England. Their work has also attracted interest in CWSs from the Organisation for Economic and Cooperation Development (OECD).
Professor Tomlinson says: “Coworking Spaces provide an environment that enables networking, collaboration, co-learning, knowledge-sharing and community building, both within and beyond the CWSs. The sense of community can not only lead to new innovation and business opportunities but can also reduce the risk of social isolation experienced through home working. This readily available ‘infrastructure of care’ can improve mental health and wellbeing”.
Dr Barzotto adds: “Remote working is only possible through digital technologies, both in terms of broadband infrastructure and the proliferation of remote work software applications. Not all households have access to stable, reliable broadband, but remote working can be facilitated by using coworking spaces. However, despite the rollout of 5G in rural areas, broadband and Wi-Fi are still problematic, limiting the provision of CWSs in rural and coastal areas that would benefit from this provision.”
Finally, Dr Fai concludes: “The UK government does not appear to have a unified, strategic approach to how remote working can support the growth and development of its rural economy. This is in stark contrast to the approach of many other countries. CWSs should be part of place-based policies to revive lagging regions, connecting people, ideas and innovation. Our research offers policy recommendations for improved and coordinated policy support for the provision of CWSs beyond urban hubs in major cities”.
Professor Phil Tomlinson
Professor Phil Tomlinson
Dr Felicia Fai
Dr Felicia Fai
Co-working space at The Engine Shed, Bristol
Co-working space at The Engine Shed, Bristol
How co-working spaces drive regional growth
How co-working spaces drive regional growth
Transforming UK manufacturing through digitalisation
The Centre for People-Led Digitalisation (P-LD), led by the University of Bath, works with industry to generate and implement human-led solutions that enable UK manufacturers to embrace digitalisation with confidence.
As labour demands shift, a workforce is needed that is well equipped with the digital skills required to meet current needs. P-LD is supporting the UK manufacturing network in adopting digital technology using a people-led approach.
Professor Linda Newnes, Director of the Made Smarter: Centre for P-LD, says: “According to the World Economic Forum, the adoption of digital technologies during the period 2016 to 2026 is estimated to have a value of $100 trillion. Despite their potential, technologies encounter barriers to widespread adoption, often common in highly regulated industries such as the nuclear sector, where risk tolerance is low, and regulations are stringent. Yet where sectors refrain from adopting digital technologies, they may overlook opportunities for cost reduction, enhanced safety, decreased environmental impact, and increasing value for stakeholders.”
Professor Linda Newnes
Professor Linda Newnes
One example of P-LD's work is with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and Flare Solutions Ltd to identify and characterise the barriers and enablers of successful digitalisation.
The government's transition strategy to a net-zero energy sector relies heavily on the increased use of digital technologies. The oil and gas industry provides 80% of all jobs in the energy sector (OEUK, 2024), but over time, these jobs are expected to transition from oil and gas, which has low digital maturity, to renewable energies.
Led by Dr Aida Garcia Lazaro, from the Institute of Policy Research (IPR), P-LD has helped inform practice and accelerated digital adoption within and beyond the energy sector. It has also resulted in a Digital Skills Classification method, which has been applied to the oil and gas sector and replicable across other industries.
The method allows like for like comparison, providing a comprehensive and robust understanding of digital skills requirements, guiding effective policy and training initiatives across the UK.
Dr Susan Lattanzio, Deputy Director of the P-LD from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bath worked on the project. She said: “A dictionary of 5,706 digital skills was created, covering the information technology category, as well as subcategories for business intelligence software and computer-aided manufacturing. These digital skills were classified, using our method, into four levels: basic, intermediate, advanced, and advanced with programming. We then applied our Digital Skills Classification to the oil and gas sub-sector, analysing 75,474 online job vacancies from 2015 to 2022.”
Dr Susan Lattanzio
Dr Susan Lattanzio
The increased demand for digital skills in oil and gas is encouraging, evidencing that the skills required for a future transition to renewable energies should become embedded in the workforce over time.
Dr Lattanzio continued: “Between 2015 and 2022, the number of jobs in oil and gas requiring any form of digital skill rose from a third to over 50%. By 2022, the demand for digital skills in oil and gas had increased and had caught up with the manufacturing and electricity sectors. However, it still lagged behind finance and insurance services. Our analysis also revealed a growing demand for intermediate and advanced digital skills in the oil and gas industry, while the number of job vacancies demanding only basic skills fell by 50%.”
P-LD offers a suite of resources including digital metrics for resilient change, digital twins, stakeholder engagement, insights, a glossary, infographics, cards, a skills map, and a technical report.
In 2025 the P-LD received a share of £10 million in funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) for carrying out new research to explore ‘whole systems’ approaches to reaching net zero carbon emissions across the UK.
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