Energy Systems

I am an electrical power engineer by training, holding the Personal Chair of Agile Energy Systems at the School of Engineering of the University of Edinburgh.

As a member of the Institute for Energy Systems I lead the Agile Energy Systems Research Group, conducting interdisciplinary research in the areas of renewable energy conversion and integration, smart grids, and robotics and smart materials for energy applications. Our group currently comprises 9 Doctoral and Postdoctoral Researchers and has already graduated an additional 10 PhDs. Our research has generated ~100 peer-reviewed publications.

My teaching includes courses on renewable energy, power and control engineering and research methods. I have a strong track record in developing and delivering courses and programme curricula at both under- and postgraduate levels.

My administrative roles include the School's Directorship of Internationalisation - Students, responsible for the strategic development and delivery of the School's international academic partnerships, while I am also the founding Programme Director of the MSc in Electrical Power Engineering and the 2-year MSc in Advanced Power Engineering.

• BEng Electronics Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Crete (TEIC), 1999
• Postgraduate Diploma in Communications, Control & DSP, University of Strathclyde, 2000
• PhD in Electrical Power Engineering, University of Edinburgh, 2005

• Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
• Member of the Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET)

Control & Instrumentation Engineering 3Course Organiser 3rd Year Mechanical Engineering / Electrical Engineering

Solar Energy & Photovoltaic SystemsCourse Organiser MSc in Sustainable Energy Systems / Electrical & Advanced Power Engineering

Solar Energy Conversion 5Course Organiser 5th Year MEng Undergraduate Programmes

Engineering Research Methods with Grand ChallengeCourse Organiser (2018-2021) Core course for all Engineering MScs

• Power System Modelling
• Distributed Generation
• Renewable Energy
• Smart Grids & Demand Side Management

Since 2018 I have been a Visiting Professor at the China-UK Low Carbon College of the Shanghai Jiao-Tong University, China. I am currently Associate Editor of the IET Smart Grid Journal and Member of the Editorial Board of the MDPI EnergiesJournal. I have also been Guest Editor for the Special Issue on Marine Energy, the Special Issue on Data-Driven Methods in Modern Power Engineering and the Special Issue on Advances in Electrical Power Conversion for Energy, Transportation and Industry Applications of the MDPI Energies Journal.

I am a Senior Member of the IEEE and Member of the IET. I am also an active STEM Ambassador for East Scotland, having organised several events promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics to the public and especially primary and high school children, specifically in the areas of renewable energy and robotics.

• PhD in Mechanical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada, 2010 Dissertation: Transport Phenomena in Cathode Catalyst Layer of PEM Fuel Cells (Advisor: Prof Xianguo Li)
• MSc in Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, Canada, 2003 Dissertation: Electrostatic Double Layer Interactions in Confined and Many-Body Geometries (Advisor: Prof Subir Bhattacharjee)
• MSc in Mechanical Engineering, BUET, Bangladesh, 2001 Thesis: Elastic-Plastic Behaviour of a Circular Rod under Combined Torque and Tension (Supervisor: Prof Abu Rayhan Md. Ali)
• BSc (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering, BUET, Bangladesh, 1998 Thesis: Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of a Solar Water Heater (Supervisor: Prof Md. Imtiaz Hossain)

Editorships Associate Editor in Electrochemical Engineering, Frontiers in Chemical Engineering (2022–date) Associate Editor, Journal of Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage (2021–date) Associate Editor in Fuel Cells, Electrolyzers and Membrane Reactors, Frontiers in Energy Research (2020–date)

Guest Editor for the special issue: Multiphysics, Multiphase, and Multiscale Modeling and Characterization of Porous Media in Electrochemical Energy Systems, Frontiers in Energy Research (2023) Lead Guest Editor for the special issue: Battery Management in Electric Vehicles: Current Status and Future Trends, Batteries (2022–2023) Lead Guest Editor of a special issue on Advanced Energy Materials and Research, Energies (2020–2021)

Editorial Board Member for section Battery Performance, Ageing, Reliability and Safety, Batteries (2022–date) Editorial Board Member of Renewable and Sustainable Energy (2022–date) Editorial Board Member for section D1: Advanced Energy Materials, Energies (2019–2023) Editorial Board Member for section Inventions and Innovation in Energy and Thermal/Fluidic Science, Inventions (2018–date)

Advisory Board Member, Challenges, MDPI (2020–date)

• Thermodynamics 4
• Professional Issues for Mechanical Engineers 3
• Sustainable Energy Systems Dissertation
• Mechanical Engineering Project 4

Max Malyi is a renewable energy engineer and PhD Candidate at the Institute for Energy Systems, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh. His research is situated at the intersection of renewable energy, data science, and control engineering, with a primary focus on enhancing the reliability and operational lifetime of wind turbines.

His work involves developing data-driven, health-aware control strategies that balance power generation with component longevity, particularly for wind turbine electrical subsystems. This is achieved by applying advanced machine learning and natural language processing techniques to analyse large-scale operational data from SCADA systems and maintenance records. The insights from this analysis are then used to inform and validate physics-based aeroelastic simulations in environments like OpenFAST and Simulink.

Through an industrial studentship and active collaboration with industry partners, his research aims to deliver practical, cost-effective solutions that contribute to a more sustainable and resilient energy future.

• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Engineering, The University of Edinburgh (2023–Present)
• Master of Engineering (MEng), Wind Power Systems, North China Electric Power University (2017–2020)
• Bachelor of Engineering (BEng), Renewable Energy Systems, Dnipro University of Technology (2013–2017)

As a Teaching Assistant at the School of Engineering, I have contributed to the following courses as a tutor, marker, and/or lab demonstrator:

• Wind Energy
• Python Programming Skills for Engineers
• Professional Development for Engineers
• Power Systems

• Health-aware and multi-objective control for wind turbines
• Reliability and lifetime extension of wind turbine electrical subsystems
• Operational data analysis using SCADA and maintenance records
• Applications of machine learning and large language models in renewable energy
• Predictive maintenance and anomaly detection for wind farms
• Physics-based modelling and digital twins for wind energy systems

My doctoral research is supported by a studentship agreement with one of the leading wind farm operators in Europe. I actively collaborate with industry to ensure my work addresses real-world challenges in wind farm operation and maintenance.

Recent Work:

• Malyi, M., Shek, J., & Biscaya, A. (2025). Exploratory Semantic Reliability Analysis of Wind Turbine Maintenance Logs using Large Language Models. arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.22366.
• Malyi, M., Shek, J., McDonald, A., & Biscaya, A. (2025). A Comparative Benchmark of Large Language Models for Labelling Wind Turbine Maintenance Logs. arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.06813.
• Malyi, M., Shek, J., McDonald, A. (2025). Wind Turbine Reliability Analysis Using SCADA and Maintenance Data. In Solar and Wind Beyond Limits for Technology, Policy, and Practice – 5th Annual Solar and Wind Power Conference. pp. 185–192. Springer Nature. doi:10.1007/978-3-032-08953-3_18.

I am a Senior Lecturer in Ocean Observation. My research focuses on the use of remote sensing to study water, energy and environmental problems. In particular, I am interested in using multi and hyperspectral satellite imagery, in situ data, and machine learning techniques to investigate processes modelling the coastal environment. I also work on the application of satellite data to reduce the cost of marine renewable energy and better understand its environmental impact. I hold a PhD in Energy Systems & Dynamics of Biogeochemical Flows. I am a Turing Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), and a Chartered Engineer (CEng MICE). I am a certified commercial drone pilot (Civil Aviation Authority A2 CofC and GVC).

Research

I lead the Coastal and Environmental Remote Sensing Group (CEReS) at the School of Engineering. We study topics involving remote sensing of the coastal ocean, marine renewables and coastal engineering. Have a look at our work in the section Further Information below.

I am the Principal Investigator and Director of the Failure Modes of Engineering (FeME) Network Plus. This project was awarded £2.2 million in 2025 by EPSRC. We focus on engineering solutions for climate change and biodiversity loss, and their impact on women, children and underrepresented communities. My interest in this area stems from the transformative potential of satellite data to address global challenges—particularly in resource-constrained regions—and its role in advancing climate justice. You can find more about this project here. If you want to be involved, please get in touch!

You can find details on the research projects I am involved at present, and the ones I have worked on in the past in the link to "Research Publications" at the top of this page.

Leadership

I am the Deputy Director for Training of the UK Space Agency and NERC Centre for Satellite Data in Environmental Science, SENSE. I am also a co-investigator and part of the management team of the EPSRC and NERC Centre for Doctoral Training in Offshore Renewable Energy IDCORE.

My story so far

I started my studies in Ingenieria de Caminos, Canales y Puertos (MEng Civil & Environmental Engineering) at the University of Granada (Spain) in 2008, focusing on marine energy and coastal engineering. In 2013 I did an MSc in Environmental Hydraulics, specialised in aero-hydrodynamics.

I moved in 2014 to Oxford, where I worked as a Researcher in Coastal Structures at HR Wallingford. During that time, I developed my computational fluid dynamics skills, analysing the effect of storms in breakwaters and wave energy converters. In 2015 I was awarded a Talentia Fellowship to pursue a joint PhD at the University of Edinburgh in collaboration with the University of Granada.

From 2017, I worked at the University of Edinburgh as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Marine Energy, where I studied the life cycle and techno-economics of marine energy converters, as well as the numerical modelling of ocean energy arrays. Moreover, I was a Work Package leader for a €20 million H2020 project from the European Commission working on numerical tools for the optimisation of tidal energy farms. In 2018, I was awarded a Chancellor's Fellowship in Data Driven Innovation focusing on satellite applications for the ocean. In 2023, I was promoted to Senior Lecturer.

• PgCert (Postgraduate Certificate) in Academic Practice, PgCAP. University of Edinburgh, 2021 - 2022.
• PhD Energy Systems & Dynamics of Biogeochemical Flows. University of Edinburgh and University of Granada (Spain), 2015 - 2017.
• MSc Environmental Hydraulics. Universities of Granada, Malaga and Cordoba (Spain), 2013 - 2014.
• MEng Civil & Environmental Engineering (Ingenieria de Caminos, Canales y Puertos, 5 year degree). University of Granada (Spain), 2008 - 2013.

• CEng MICE, Chartered Engineer, Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
• FHEA, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
• Commercial Drone Pilot: A2 Certificate of Competency (A2CofC), and General Visual Line of Sights Certificate (GVC)
• Turing Fellow, The Alan Turing Institute.
• MASTS (Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland). Former member of the Marine Energy Forum Steering Group.
• IMarEST (Institute for Marine Engineering, Science & Technology). Former student member.

At undergraduate level:

• Coastal Engineering 5 (Course Organiser), 10 SCQF credits.
• Interdisciplinary Group Design Project 4 (Course Organiser), Potable Water Supply, 20 SCQF credits.

Past courses I have taught:

• At undergraduate level: Programming Skills for Engineers 2, 10 SCQF credits (2020-2022)
• At postgraduate level: SENSE CDT, Python code carpentry and Google Earth Engine workshop (40 taught hours) (2020-2024).

• Remote sensing of the ocean.
• Marine renewables.
• Coastal science and engineering.
• Machine learning applications.

CEReS - Coastal and Environmental Remote Sensing Group

Current members

1. Penny Clarke, PhD student, SENSE CDT. Topic: Using remote sensing tools to study ocean health and whale strandings. 2021 - present. Co-supervised with British Antarctic Survey (Dr Jennifer Jackson).
2. Anneke Sperling, PhD student, SENSE CDT. Topic: Do ocean currents stick together? 2023 - present. Co-supervised with National Oceanography Centre (Dr Alejandra Sanchez-Franks).
3. Liam McAlister, EngD student, IDCORE CDT. Topic: Offshore wind structures design sensitivity to metocean site conditions. 2024 - present. Co-supervised with University of Strathclyde, University of Exeter and SSE Renewables (Dr Alyona Naberezhnykh).
4. Nishant Gaur, PhD student. Topic: Hydro-climatological extremes in the context of climate change. 2024-present. Co-supervised with Prof. Lindsay Beevers.
5. Jasmine Relf, PhD student. Topic: Towards a resilient coast. Developing a continuous coastal resilience indicator for monitoring and adaptation in a changing climate. 2025-present. Co-supervised with JBA Consulting (Dr Demetra Cristaudo).

Past members

1. Dr Simone Zen, Postdoctoral Research Associate. Topics:
   1. Assessment of the Omo river and delta using satellite data. 2019 - 2021.
   2. Supergen ORE Hub funded project Satellite Climate Observation for Offshore Renewable Energy Cost Reduction (SCORE). 2020 - 2021.
2. Dr Segio Lopez-Dubon, Postdoctoral Marie Curie Fellow. Topic: Data-Driven Structural Testing for Tidal Energy. 2020 - 2025.
3. Dr Emma McAllister, PhD. Topic: High-resolution satellite remote sensing of the coastal morphology. 2019 - 2024. Co-supervised with BGS (Dr Alessandro Novellino and Dr Andres Payo-Garcia) and Cefas (Dr Tony Dolphin).
4. Dr Madjid Hadjal, PhD, Data Lab industrial PhD. Topic: Automated classification of ocean colour remote sensing for environmental monitoring and legislative compliance. 2018 - 2022. Co-supervisor, student based in University of Strathclyde (main supervisor Dr David McKee) in collaboration with Marine Scotland.
5. Dr Solomon White, PhD student, SENSE CDT. Topic: High-resolution multispectral estimation of sea surface salinity and temperature. 2020 - 2024. Co-supervised with Cefas (Dr Tiago Silva).
6. Valentina Gonzalez, MEng student. Topic: Offshore solar resource assessment in the North Sea using remote sensing. 2024-2025.
7. Samantha Waugh, MEng student. Topic: Levelised Cost of Energy uncertainty estimation - A case study for offshore wind. 2024-2025.
8. Ed Holt, PhD student, SENSE CDT. Topic: Investigating the potential for catastrophic collapse of Greenland's lake-terminating glacier margins. 2021 - 2025. Co-supervised with School of Geosciences (Prof. Peter Nienow).
9. Melissa Cabrera Alfaro, MSc Geographical Information Science (School of Geosciences). Topic: The role of fishing refuge areas in the absorption of CO2. 2023-2024.
10. Joe Marsh-Rossney, PhD student, guest team member (based in School of Physics and Astronomy).
11. Katie McWilliams, MEng Civil Engineering student, final year thesis. Topic: Sea Surface Salinity From Satellite Data, Machine Learning And Numerical Models. 2021 - 2022.
12. Clementine Frere, MEng Civil Engineering student, final year thesis. Topic: Feasibility Study Of Coastsnap In The Edinburgh Shores. 2020-2021.
13. Hubert Gurs, MEng Structural Engineering with Architecture student, final year thesis. Topic: Feasibility Study Of Coastsnap In The Edinburgh Shores. 2020-2021.
14. Nick Heaney, MEng Civil Engineering student, final year thesis. Topic: Coastsnap Assessment For Adaptation To Python. 2020-2021.
15. Marcin Filinger, BEng Civil Engineering student, final year thesis. Topic: Flood risk assessment in Scotland using satellite data and numerical models. 2019-2020.
16. Simone Speltoni, Visiting student, MSc thesis. Topic: Modelling the interaction between marine energy converters and the coast (Collaboration with the University of Trento, Italy). Awarded best MSc thesis. 2019.

www.VOILAb.eng.ed.ac.uk

Ignazio Maria Viola is Professor of Fluid Mechanics and Bioinspired Engineering at the School of Engineering of the University of Edinburgh; Distinguished Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University; Adjunct Professor at the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna; and Fellow of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA).

He publishes in Nature, Nature Communication, eLife, Renewable Energy, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Ocean Engineering, etc. For his publications, Viola was awarded two RINA Medals of Distinction and one Medal of Exceptional Merit, a Gold Rating for the Best Journal Article by the International Marine Energy Journal, as well as the Covid-19 Hero Medal of the School of Engineering of the U. of Edinburgh for significant contribution to solving Covid-19 challenges.

Overall Viola has contributed to securing research grants in the excess of £18M of which £6M were allocated to his institution and £7M as Principal Investigator. He leads an ERC Consolidator Grant fellowship DANDIDRONE (€2m, 101001499), an ARIA grant SEED (£0.5m), the EPSRC project MORPHING BLADES (£1m, EP/V009443/1), and several other grants funded by industry, the Royal Society, etc. Viola is Co-Investigator and Director of Responsible Research and Innovation of the Centre for Doctoral Training in Wind & Marine Energy Systems & Structures (£6m, EP/S023801/1).

He is the Functional Vice President Alt. of Knowledge Management of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME), and a member of several Executive Committees, including the Group on Energy Research and Applications of the American Physical Society, the UK Fluids Network, the UK Robotics and Autonomous Systems Network, and he is a member of the Academic Board of the National Robotarium.

Viola is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Sailing Technology (SNAME), and Associate Editor of the Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering (ASME), and the Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy (Springer). He is a member of the Executive Committee of the conference series ECCOMAS International Conference on Computational Methods in Marine Engineering (MARINE), and Innovation in High-Performance Sailing Yachts (Innov'Sail).

Curriculum Vitae

Research Group: VOILAb

• 2008, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Experimental and Numerical Aerodynamics of Sailing Yachts, Politecnico di Milano
• 2001, Master of Engineering, Naval Architecture, Università degli studi di Genova

CEng, Chartered Engineer Registered by the Engineering Council (UK), no. 584133 (2010) Dott. ing., Italian State Examination to practice as ‘Ingegnere’ (engineer) (2001) EUR ING, European Federation of National Engineering Associations, no. 31153 (2010) FRINA, Fellow of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, no. 00174260 (member since 2009)

Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Sailing Technology, SNAME (2016-date) Associate Editor, Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, ASME (2023-date) Associate Editor, Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy, Springer (2023-date)

Functional Vice President Alt. of Knowledge Management, Society of Naval Arch. and Marine Eng. (2024-date) Executive Committee, Group on Energy Research and Applications, American Physical Society (2023-date) Executive Committee, UK Fluids Network (2020-date) Executive Committee, UK Robotics and Autonomous Systems Network (2024-date) Academic Board, National Robotarium (2024-date)

• Fluid Mechanics
• Marine Energy
• Naval Architecture

Aerodynamics and hydrodynamics, including

• Aerodynamics
• Biomechanics
• COVID Aerodynamics
• Sail Aerodynamics
• Wind and Tidal Energy

• Research group: VOILAb
• Research Explorer (paper repository)
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Edinburgh Fluid Dynamics Group