Dr Angad Panesar is a Principal Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Mechanical (Energy) Engineering, and his role encompasses, Research & Development on Sustainable Energy Technologies, Leadership on Engineering Course Pathways, Lead of the Sustainable Technology & Engineering Projects (STEP) Lab, and Student Engagement Lead at the Faculty.

At the Advanced Engineering Centre, he is involved in various consortium-based energy-themed research and development projects, including: Decarbonised Clean Marine: Green Ammonia Thermal Propulsion (MariNH3), SUCCES (Stored Up-valued Concentrated Cold Energy System) and UK National Clean Maritime Research Hub. These projects are covering the themes of: Energy Efficiency, Advanced Propulsion, Energy Storage, Energy Recovery, Fluid Dynamics, Reactor Engineering, Sustainable Energy Vectors and Life Cycle Analysis.

Research and Development Achievements

Dr Panesar has 15 years experience of impactful research and development expertise in sustainable technologies. He has successfully delivered, technology readiness levels 2 to 8 projects in, energy conversion, energy storage and sustainable fuels, via simulation and experimental methods applied to transport and stationary applications. He has complete concept-to-commissioning experience on new large-scale energy recovery test facilities, to operational experience on advanced heavy-duty research engines.

His research outputs are the result of successful industry focused projects, these include, (1) Recuperated Engine - Advanced Route to Market Demonstrator via Innovate UK 2021 (£250K); (2) Development of high-grade heat storage for integration with liquid air energy storage via Innovate UK 2018 (£58K); (3) Engine efficiency challenge via Advanced Propulsion Centre 2018 (£20K); (4) Utilizing low grade heat via Ricardo Plc 2016 (£20K); (5) Libertine waste heat recovery unit via Innovate UK 2016 (£220K) etc.

He is a recognised scholar who has been invited at conferences across UK, Poland, Malaysia, Italy, India, Portugal, USA, Spain etc. He has authored 20+ peer reviewed publications and his outputs have contributed to institutional Research Excellence Frameworks. His notable outputs include, sole authorship in high impact factor journals, such as in ‘Applied Energy (11.4)’ for the work titled ‘An innovative Organic Rankine Cycle system for integrated cooling and heat recovery 2017’. He has also published via high impact special issue journal invitations, for instance in ‘Energy (8.8)’ for the issue titled ‘Towards low carbon energy systems: engineering and economic perspectives 2016’.

As a Fellow in Thermal Storage and Waste Heat Recovery, He was recognised as,

(1) Substantial Speaker as the sole author at the Thermal Management Systems Symposium 2016.

(2) Best Paper Award as the lead author from over 120 submissions at the International Conference on Production, Energy and Reliability 2014.

Teaching Achievements

Dr Panesar has 15 years experience of leading and delivering impactful engineering training and education, recognised by his,

(1) Embedding employability in the curriculum award 2023, in recognition of students benefiting from unique and authentic multidisciplinary project experiences in working engineering environments.

(2) Outstanding team award 2023, in recognition of successfully developing, leading and implementing comprehensive changes on the largest module with the engineering team of 20+ staff.

(3) Excellence in facilitating and empowering learning award 2019, in recognition of successfully developing and implementing a range of student-centred methods, improving engagement and achievement, and benefiting the maximum number of diverse students.

(4) Excellence in facilitating and empowering learning award 2018, in recognition of significantly enhancing student experience through linking teaching, learning and research.

(5) Inclusive teaching award 2017, in recognition of successfully imbedding methods in conscious inclusivity, creating inspiring sessions and tackling differential outcomes.

He has undertaken leadership, development, management and delivery of accredited engineering course portfolios (bachelors and masters) 2019-23. Some of the key achievements of his tenure have included in,

(1) Playing a leading role in collaborating and fostering excellence in the team, to secure the 5-year gold standard accreditation rating on engineering courses 2020-24 (by the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers). This has guided our engineering graduate outcomes for, highly skilled employment and further studies, to be in the upper quartile compared to the sector.

(2) Strategically developing our training provisions, by merging his professional experience with teaching opportunities, via launching and leading the Sustainable Technology & Engineering Projects (STEP) Lab, to problem solve energy challenges via tutor-student collaborations 2020-Present. This initiative aligns our curriculum with the emerging industrial skills and demands, and was chosen and published as the Engineering Employability case study, by the Learning and Teaching Hub 2022.

His expertise has been enlisted to deliver radical improvements, such as, (1) Changes on the largest skills and practice subject, which includes interactive sessions, group challenges and innovative learning activities, resulting in 60% improvement in student experience 2022; (2) Comprehensive transformation on the largest level 5 project module, achieving 80% student engagement across the module 2019; (3) Extensive enhancements on the largest level 4 technical module, improving progression by 50% 2018.

He was appointed as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy 2018, with his distinction work on, ‘Student Centred Teaching and Learning Approaches to Enhance Student Experience’, during my PGCert. He has served on the Academic School Board (Engineering Representative), School Athena SWAN Committee with a successful submission (Sub-Group Lead), School Education and Student Experience Committee (Engineering Representative) etc. addressing sector wide priorities, from skills development to attainment gap.

Training Achievements

Dr Panesar received his PhD in Mechanical (Energy) Engineering with successive awards of,

(1) Best Presentation in the Faculty 2014 in Computing, Engineering and Mathematics.

(2) Best Presentation in the Faculty 2013 in Computing, Engineering and Mathematics.

His specialisation was in ‘Waste heat recovery using fluid bottoming cycles for heavy duty Diesel engines’ at the Sir Harry Ricardo Laboratories. The academic achievement of his earlier works resulted in his first lead author conference paper being in the top quartile of over 170 submissions, and hence being chosen for publication in the International Journal of Engines (2013-24-0089).

He holds additional qualifications from University Alliance, Russell Group and Professional Institutions. He received his MPhil in Mechanical (Energy) Engineering from City University London, MSc (Distinction) in Mechatronics from Kings College London, GradWeld I from the Welding Institute Professional Division, and BEng (First Class Honours) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Greenwich.

His specialisations included, ‘Performance prediction of energy systems with expansion performed by twin screw machines’, ‘Investigation into the fundamental problem of inverse dynamics method using an instrumented robotic test-rig’ (with Royal Veterinary College) and ‘Design, manufacture and commissioning of an instrumented drop weight impact tester’. In these he was awarded the,

(1) Best Overall Performance in Engineering.

(2) Best Industrial Board Innovation Project.

He also holds certification in, ‘Management, Leadership and Business’ from Roehampton University London, and in ‘Development through Philosophy’ from City University London. Building from such experiences, he has gained and implemented, new lateral thinking actions in, investment planning to conflict resolution.

Early Career Achievements

Dr Panesar’s notable achievements and contributions, in the early years of his career included,

(1) Intern Engineer in US energy sector (incl.  Electratherm Inc.) during 2 years, where he was commended as resourceful and skilled contributor to commercial energy sector projects in USA.

(2) Lecturer in Engineering at City University London, and Course Facilitator for Smallpeice Trust (Design & Manufacture) during 2 years.

(3) Advisor to higher education institutes on administration and operation of University Accommodations during 5 years, where he received the Bronze Award by accommodation services at Greenwich '07 in recognition of advanced duties undertaken during management absence. He has demonstrated excellent operational experience, encompassing logistics, safety, policy, coordination, delegation, diplomacy, budget control, maintenance etc., gained working across multiple large-scale sites.

Active Research Themes

Dr Panesar’s research interests cover the theme of sustainable energy production, conversion and storage, with a strong focus on waste to power, thermal energy storage, high efficiency engines, sustainable fuels and life cycle assessment. At the systems level, this includes, heat to power technologies, fluid bottoming cycles, energy recovery expanders, working fluids, nano-particles, concentrated solar power plants, molten salt thermal batteries, compact heat exchangers, liquid air energy storage systems, NOx/HC emissions, heavy-duty and split cycle engines, carbon free fuels, ammonia/hydrogen/methane combustion, process integration, techno-economic evaluations, exergy analysis, hazard and operability studies, research methodology to improve technology readiness level, system wide modelling, optimisation, control and validation, and quantifying environmental impacts of a products, services and materials. He has investigated most of these research strands via simulation and experimental methods as part of knowledge transfers, industrial consultancies and research grants.

He is a member of the Advanced Engineering Centre and the Thermal Efficiency Spoke of the Advanced Propulsion Centre. His live industrial and university supported, doctoral research projects include,

(1) Combustion Chemistry for Optimisation of Advanced Propulsion Cycles with E-fuels - by Elisa Wylie

(2) Universal Life Cycle Emissions Tool Applied to Electric Vehicles in Automotive Sector - by Aleksandra Skalba

(3) Micro-Power Volumetric Machines as Energy Recovery Expanders in Two-Phase Conditions - by Ian Kemp

Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise Achievements

Dr Panesar has successfully delivered industrial consultancies for small to large enterprises, (1) Heat to-Cool 2023 via Access to Expertise for Flint Engineering Ltd (£7K); (2) Automotive hydrogen engine concept 2020 for Clean Automotive Engineering Ltd (£4K); (3) Thermal management work packages to explore novel waste heat recovery 2017 via Advanced Propulsion Centre for Ricardo Ltd (£20K); (4) Cryogenic waste heat recovery 2016 via Green Growth Platform innovation voucher for Dearman Engine Company Ltd (£5K); (5) Free piston expander testing 2016 via Department of Energy and Climate Change for Libertine FPE (£13K) etc.

He has secured around £50K funding from various streams, from Santander Universities, to Research Awareness Diversity Summer Placement, resulting in 50+ masters, bachelors and internships students, completing authentic industrial projects 2020-Present. He has undertaken automotive project supervision, including, Electric Vehicle Lab Feasibility 2023 (Industrial project via JLC group), London-to-Brighton EV Rally 2022 (Awarded Best in Class Car), Formula Student Competition 2019 (Competing at Silverstone) etc.

His expertise’s in improving the technology readiness level of energy systems is recognised by industrial impact via development and delivery of continuous professional development training courses for global engineering companies, for example BorgWarner Inc 2016. He has also delivered accelerated courses, for example ‘Powertrain thermal management 2015’ via Training and Development for automotive engineering professionals.

He has been appointed as session chairman and invited as speaker at international conferences, such as ‘European Conference on Renewable Energy Systems 2019’ and ‘Experimental and Computational Tools for Combustion Optimization in Marine and Automotive Engines 2016’. He has acted as a reviewer for funding bodies, high impact journals and international conferences, for instance EPSRC, Energy Conversion and Management, and Heat Powered Cycle Conference.

Dr Panesar’s pedagogy focuses on developing cross disciplined, multi-skilled and solution focused engineering graduates with ingrained fundamental principles. He has stepped up to the challenge of developing and implementing, a range of active teaching approaches and embedding learning opportunities, for the benefit of maximum students for aerospace, automotive, design, electrical and mechanical engineering courses.

To pave the way from the theoretical concepts to practical engineering for diverse and large cohorts, he has implemented various methods in his practice, these include investigative engineering, problem based learning, reverse engineering, puzzle based learning, conscious inclusivity, practice based learning, feedforward plans, peer based learning, real world case studies and simulators as virtual training tools.

He has taught a range of forward thinking as well as core subjects including, Renewable Technologies, Engineering Practice, Energy Systems, Product Design, Aircraft and Automotive Systems, Instrumentation and Testing, Thermodynamics, and Engineering Design Innovation and Management etc.

He has presented my pedagogic works such as ‘Student Centred Teaching and Learning Approaches to Enhance Student Experience 2019’ at the Pedagogic Research Conference, and ‘A Mixed Mode Teaching and Learning Cycle in Engineering Education 2018’ at the Learning and Teaching Conference.

Dr Panesar’s supervision interests in the theme of energy engineering via simulation and experimental methods are aligned with his research interests in energy recovery, energy storage, advanced engines, sustainable fuels, low carbon transport and life cycle assessment. He welcomes correspondence from potential Placement, PhD and Post-Doctoral applicants, and new academic and industrial collaborators.