A Keele professor was among a delegation of prominent academics who visited a Beijing university recently to forge new partnerships centred on smart energy and innovation.

Professor Zhong Fan, from the School of Computing and Mathematics, travelled to Tsinghua University alongside colleagues from universities across the Midlands to build new partnerships for green energy innovation and research.

The academics are part of the Energy Research Accelerator (ERA) network, a partnership of eight research-intensive universities that are working to develop new low-carbon energy technologies and solutions.

The aim of the ERA is to find new and innovative solutions for tackling climate change and developing smart energy solutions, as well as forging the partnerships necessary to make them successful.

The event at Tsinghua University - the UK-China Green Energy Innovation Forum - was supported by the British Embassy and Tsinghua University and forms part of the UK government’s Green is GREAT campaign, a commitment by the government to promote partnerships across the world that can help to fight climate change.

Professor Fan also gave a presentation at the University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB) during the visit, speaking about artificial intelligence and smart energy.

Professor Fan is leading the creation of the Smart Energy Network Demonstrator (SEND) at Keele University which is Europe’s first living laboratory for energy-efficient technologies. The programme provides the perfect ‘real-world’ environment for the research, development and testing of such technologies.

Professor Fan said: “This visit was a great opportunity to promote the fantastic work that we have been doing at Keele on smart energy and sustainability, and to establish collaborative links with some leading Chinese universities. A number of Chinese businesses including a world top 10 battery manufacturer have also shown keen interest in our work in this area.”