The End Conference of the ENSYSTRA project automatically means the ENSYSTRA project has come to an end. The results of the project are among others focussing on the interconnection between different energy systems, political processes that structure and guide the energy transition, the role of industry and people and their behaviour in the energy transition, planning in the North Sea area, and how to use different and alternative types of energy for existing energy demand, both in small-scale and large-scale applications. Next to pushing the boundaries in state of the art knowledge, the results all show the importance and value of interdisciplinary research, and the linking of various perspectives.
In summary
ENSYSTRA also provides methods and best practises for this, and resulted in integrated and integrable models, which can be used in both academic and more applied settings. The models have been developed on the basis of state of the art knowledge, discussions between the various ESRs in the project, and with the input of the industrial partners in the project. Consequently, different disciplines and perspectives could be included and integrated.
The results of ENSYSTRA can contribute to better planning in the North Sea region. By including various perspectives, new pathways can be discovered and predictions and calculations of potential pathways can be improved. Also, the results can help in improving stakeholder engagement. This engagement is necessary to ensure the necessary knowledge, support, and capital needed for the energy transition and realizing the goals of the Paris Agreement. Not just in the North Sea region, but also beyond, as most of the research and tools developed in the ENSYSTRA project can be easily modified and reproduced for other regions.
One of the most valuable results of the project is the training of the 15 ESRs. Not only has the training resulted in trained energy professionals, it also resulted in the participating parties to develop a network in which the ESRs could be trained. Not only the academic partners, also more than 20 secondment partners, and other involved parties, coming from industry, policy, and society contributed to this network. ENSYSTRA shows that such collaborations work and can lead to results.
Results of the project
By the end of the project this has resulted in among others:
-over 30 publications for general audience & industry
-38 open-access academic article contributions submitted, of which 22 have already been published
-7 open-access academic article under development, to be submitted late 2021 early 2022
-24 conference papers
-policy strategy framework
-quantified roadmaps towards 2050
-best practise guidelines for model collaboration
-energy course portfolio for graduate students
-6 policy briefs
-6 organized policy meetings
-1 final conference
-project website
Next to publishable outcomes, also several models have been developed, and research data is collected. This data contains both qualitative and quantitative data, and can provide insight in the performance of energy systems, and the actors that are active in these systems.
The Early Stage Researchers
The ESRs also received training from their hosting universities and from the dedicated ENSYSTRA training programme. This programme consists of 4 workshops and 3 summer schools, which provided a mix between learning transferable skills, interactions with industry and governmental actors, making collaborative research efforts, interdisciplinary research propositions and learning how to translate research into policy advise.
The ESRs conducted over 30 ‘secondment periods’ with the ENSYSTRA secondment partners, a group of industry partners, NGOs, governments and other knowledge institutes. During these periods, the ESRs have been working ‘in-house’ with the secondment partners, learning valuable new perspectives to further develop their research.
