Energy Themed Discovery Day

As part of the strategic Met Office Academic Partnership (MOAP), the University of Birmingham held an ‘Energy-themed Discovery Day’ in July 2024. The hybrid event was run in conjunction with the Birmingham Energy Institute (BEI) and was open to University staff and the Met Office. The workshop provided a platform to showcase the diverse expertise present within the University, while bringing the Met Office Academic Partnership to a wider audience.

Several areas of mutual interest were identified in advance of the event. Topics ranged from using climate data in energy modelling and future energy scenarios, to the environmental impacts of flooding or wildfires on assets, among many others e.g. developing new energy forecasting models based on ensembles, the potential to install meteorological instrumentation on powerlines and the possibility of predicting weather-related incidents on railways and the wider transport network.

Part of the day was run as a ‘sandpit’ to encourage the development of collaborative pilot projects. A seed fund of £50k was secured should any viable projects emerge. During this exercise, the group converged on two main themes. The first entitled ‘Data and Digital Twins’, the second main theme of interest was entitled ‘Extremes and Forecasting’.

Over 30 delegates attended from a variety of backgrounds and took the opportunity to exchange ideas and findings. Many other areas of common ground, which were not identified before the event, also emerged on the day. Overall, the ‘Energy-themed Discovery Day’ provided an excellent opportunity for networking, the exploration of common areas of interest, and has created potential for collaboration going forward.

Find out about the Met Office Academic Partnership at the University of Birmingham.