Energy Systems

• Chartered Engineer, Member of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) and Member of the Energy Institute
• 2015 - 2019: Chair for the IChemE's Scottish Members Group

Personal Tutor and Dissertation Supervisor for the MSc in Sustainable Energy Systems

Lecturer in Chemical Enginering, currently teaching part or all of the following courses:

• Process Safety and Environmental Issues in Chemical Engineering 3 (part)
• Chemical Engineering Design 3 (part)
• Chemical Engineering Desgin Projects 4 (group supervisor)
• Sustainable Energy Systems Dissertation (MSc), projects supervision

• "Appropriate" Engineering for development, including in the areas of Food, Energy and Water. For more detail, please visit www.susdev.eng.ed.ac.uk
• Conversion and storage of renewable energies: Hydrogen; biofuels and biochar; compressed air; CO₂ utilization

• For more info: Please visit my personal webpage.

https://modular-power-electronics.com/

• PhD in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College London (UK), 2013, awarded the “Eryl Cadwaladr Davies” Prize for Best Doctoral Thesis in the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department.
• MSc Control Systems from Imperial College London (UK), 2008, obtained with Merit.
• Diplôme "Ingénieur en Électronique" from ENSEA (Cergy, France), 2008.
• Diplôme Universitaire Technologique in "Génie électrique et Informatique Industrielle" from Institut Universitaire de Belfort-Montbéliard (Belfort, France), 2005.

• Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE); societies: PELS, PESand CS
• Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)

• Advanced Control for Electrical Power Engineering [MSc]
• Distributed Energy Resources and Smart Grids [4/MSc]

Currently working with the Policy and Innovation Group within the Institute for Energy Systems, on a range of UK and European projects. Donald's research topics include techno-economic analysis and cost reduction, lifecycle assessment, technology commercialisation, and the research & innovation requirements for the ocean energy sector.

Donald completed an Engineering Doctorate, with research on testing renewable energy devices in a combined wave-current environment at the University of Edinburgh's FloWave Ocean Energy Research Facility, as part of the Industrial Doctorate Centre of Offshore Renewable Energy (IDCORE). His background is as a civil engineer/hydrologist, with over nine years experience in small hydropower schemes and renewable energy, flood risk assessment and flood management, plus coastal engineering

Doctor of Engineering (EngD) in Offshore Renewable Energy. The Universities of Edinburgh, Strathclyde, and Exeter, as part of the Industrial Doctorate Centre of Offshore Renewable Energy (IDCORE)

Master of Engineering (MEng) in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh

For my publications, please see my Research Gate profile, ORCID, or PURE below

Google Scholar

Hongye ZHANG (FHEA, MIEEE, MIET) received his BSc and MSc in Electrical Engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China, in 2015 and 2018, respectively, a Diplôme d’ingénieur from École Centrale de Lyon, Lyon, France, in 2018, and his PhD degree in Applied Superconductivity from The University of Edinburgh, UK, in 2021.

In 2021, he was awarded one of the six IEEE Council on Superconductivity Graduate Study Fellowships. He has been working on the £54-million collaborative H2GEAR project as a Research Associate at The University of Manchester since May 2021.

He is currently a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Superconducting/Cryogenic Electric Machines at the University of Edinburgh and a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Manchester.

His research encompasses Design & Analysis & Testing of Superconducting/Cryogenic Electric Machines, Numerical Modelling & Measurement of Superconductors, Hydrogen Energy, and Artificial Intelligence.

He is currently a Board Member of the European Society for Applied Superconductivity (ESAS), a Board Member of the HTS Modelling Workgroup, and an Early Career Editorial Board member & Associate Editor for the Elsevier journal Superconductivity, etc.

He is the Chairman of the international workshop HTS 2026.

• BSc (2015) and MSc (2018) in Electrical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China
• Diplôme d’ingénieur (MEng, 2018) in General Engineering, École Centrale de Lyon, France
• PhD (2021) in Applied Superconductivity, The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

• Board Member of The European Society for Applied Superconductivity (ESAS)
• Board Member of the HTS Modelling Workgroup
• Early Career Editorial Board Member & Associate Editor of Elsevier Superconductivity (Q1)
• Programme Committee Member of SMT 2023
• Technical Editor for IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, MT-28
• Guest Editor for a Special Issue of Crystals
• Winner of the 2021 IEEE Council on Superconductivity Graduate Study Fellowship in Applied Superconductivity
• Member, IET
• Member, IEEE

• BEng - Power Engineering 2
• MEng - Electrical Machines and Power Electronics (IDCORE)

Hongye ZHANG’s interdisciplinary research combines Electric Machines & Drives, Clean Energy Conversion, Superconductor Technology, Cryogenic Techniques, Hydrogen Energy, and Artificial Intelligence to contribute to low/zero emission technology.

His interests centre on Net Zero Transport and Hydrogen Energy with a focus on power-dense and highly efficient next-generation propulsion electric machines. His current research focuses on the design, analysis, build, and testing of cryogenic/superconducting motors for sub-regional electric aircraft exploiting hydrogen propulsion.

His long-term vision is to build a world-leading research group at the interface of academia and industry that will further advance the decarbonisation of future transport.

• Numerical modelling of high temperature superconductors
• Design and analysis of electric machines
• High-speed propulsion machines for electric aircraft
• Hydrogen energy application
• Engineering AI