A LEADING researcher from Robert Gordon University (RGU) travelled more than 6,000 miles to South America to highlight the potential of moving away from traditional energy sources to embrace the use of hydrogen.
Professor Mamdud Hossain made a presentation at The British Embassy in La Paz, Boliva. He addressed a range of topics around hydrogen including highlighting its potential within Bolivia, a roadmap for greener energy, the importance of public policy, and how higher education institutions as well as respective governments in both the UK and the landlocked South American country can work together.
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Why? Free to subscribe, no paywall, daily business news digest.
Officials from Bolivian Government’s Energy Department, representatives from the nation’s energy sector, and academics from universities attended the talks.
Professor Hossain said: “This was a fantastic opportunity to highlight the potential of hydrogen and green energy to a captivated audience in another part of the world. I was very pleased to accept the invitation from The British Embassy to attend these events. The work on the energy transition and everything associated with it is a project that is not just restricted to Scotland and the UK, so making connections with other stakeholders from the other side of the world is vital if we want to move towards greener forms of energy.
“I hope that my presentation and the visit will have made a positive impact in Bolivia and, furthermore, will potentially lead to collaboration projects focused on green energy in the future.”
The event was organised by The British Embassy and took place on 11 and 12 April.
Professor Hossain’s work focuses on Future Energy and he leads the Energy Research Group made up of 10 academic and 35 PhD students. He is a Science Board member of Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Supergen Hub, a member of EPSRC Reviewer College and an Academic Adviser to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission.
Recently, Professor Hossain was part of the research team which designed a tubular cell that can withstand high temperatures and considerably cut costs which will aid the move towards greener forms of energy in the production of hydrogen.
Hydrogen is widely viewed as having an important role to play in energy transition and RGU is active in this specific field of research. In May 2023, the University was awarded £1.2 million by the Scottish Government to form a hydrogen testing facility at the National Subsea Centre with a view to developing the development of renewable hydrogen technologies. The Hy-One facility provides testing and demonstrations for hydrogen storage systems and prototypes.
