Christina Papadimitriou

In an effort to align with recent developments in science and society, EIRES has redefined its focus areas and welcomed new members to its management team. Among them is assistant professor Christina Papadimitriou, whose ambition is to promote science to give back to society. ‘We tend to develop high tech solutions that are accessible for privileged people in western countries, but energy should be for all.’

Christina Papadimitriou obtained her diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Patras (Greece) in 2006, followed by a PhD from the same institute in 2012. She then moved to a senior researcher position at the National Technical University of Athens, until 2016. In the next three years, Papadimitriou served as a system engineer at the Hellenic Distribution Network Operator. In 2019, she returned to academia in the position of special scientist at the University of Cyprus. Since March 2022, she has been an Assistant Professor in the Electrical Engineering department at TU/e, working on intelligent electrical energy systems.

‘Energy as a domain has been static for over 100 years, but now that renewable energy e.g. from sun and wind becomes abundantly available we are on the verge of a radical transformation. Since I like to work on breakthrough types of projects in fields that affect people’s lives, during my studies I got intrigued by the question how to integrate renewable resources into the grid,’ the Greek scientist recollects how she entered into the energy research field.

Experiencing industry
After having spent some ten years in science, in 2016 Papadimitriou decided to switch to industry. ‘As engineers, we are always looking for applications of our research. During the first period of my academic journey, I had already worked alongside industry as a consultant. In Greece, the Hellenic Distribution Network Operator is the only grid operator, and I wanted to take part in the applied energy issues they were working on at a daily basis.’ However, she never really left the academic environment, she emphasizes. ‘I had obtained an excellent grant for teaching, so besides my day job at the network operator, in the evenings I worked as a teaching Assistant Professor at several institutes in Greece and Cyprus.’

The turning point came when the ambitious engineer obtained another grant. ‘Then I had to choose.’ But that wasn’t hard, she says. ‘I simply need to be in academia. It is the perfect place for me to combine the knowledge triangle of teaching, research and valorization.’ She did learn a lot in her three years in industry though, she says. ‘Besides things like managerial skills and dealing with different hierarchical levels of governance, I also gained an understanding of what is important to stakeholders involved in the energy transition. Academics can sometimes be disconnected to real problems. Where we may discuss what 2030 and after will look like, stakeholders are looking for solutions to problems they are dealing with today.’

Bottom-up approach
At the moment, the assistant professor is working on several different projects. ‘For example, I am the technical coordinator of an Horizon2020 project called eNeuron. That project takes a user point of view to local energy systems.’ The goal is to develop a practical framework for optimizing the design and operation of local energy communities that act as energy hubs. ‘What we aim for is a modular plug and play approach where you can add or remove a range of electricity, heat technologies, EVs etc. and see how that influences the optimal operation of the community, the grid and the energy balance in individual buildings or households. We use sophisticated algorithms to manage trade-offs and conflicting requirements of different stakeholders.’ The approach is a bottom-up one, she stresses. ‘We start from small entities and build up towards quite complex systems. Our workflow management architecture is modular and flexible and agnostic towards the energy carrier itself.’

Even though she has only been working at TU/e for a little over a year now, Papadimitriou is also involved in two projects that were recently awarded within the EIRES BEHeaT program. ‘During a symposium I chaired, I encountered EIRES representatives. We had some nice discussions, I decided to get involved in EIRES, and I submitted two collaborative proposals that were successful. All in all, I think EIRES is a great point of reference for new people like me to quickly become part of a fruitful interdisciplinary network at TU/e and beyond.’

Wider focus
As of September 2023, she has joined the EIRES management team as one of the institute’s focus area leaders. ‘Together with Floor Alkemade, I am now leading the new focus area System Transition and Scenario’s (STS). This is the redefined version of the focus area System Integration. We take that systems approach up one level and will look at what is needed in terms of technical, socio-economic and environmental innovations to make the energy transition a fair, just, and inclusive one.’

Inclusive transition
Personally, she is convinced that the final solution for our future energy system will start from the smallest blocks. ‘Each home or building will become self-sufficient in terms of energy. That seems a feasible future. But it will be a challenge to also include non-privileged people in that transition. Topics like energy justice, energy poverty, and democratization are close to my heart. Energy is now often treated as a commodity, but in order to keep up with the transition, people need to be empowered in different ways. Energy should be for all, not only for the privileged. Or, to rephrase that in the words of the European Green Deal: we have to make sure that the transition leaves no one behind.’