Forthcoming SISER Events:
28-29 March 2011: Second Annual SU2P Symposium will be held at University of St Andrews and will be of interest to those keen to learn more about the link between optics/photonics and solar cells - for more info please see: http://www.su2p.com/
6-8 April 2011: 7th Photovoltaic Science Application and Technology Conference and Exhibition (PVSAT-7) will be held at Heriot-Watt University and will cover all aspects of photovoltaics, from materials, to devices and modules, then on to systems, markets and policy - for more info please see: http://www.pvsat.org.uk/
14-20 June 2011: Summer school "Frontiers in Organic, Dye-Sensitised and Hybrid Solar Cells", organised by Neil Robertson (Univ. Edinburgh) and Marek Pietraszkiewicz (Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences) - for more info please see: http://ikss2011.pl/
Annual Events:
Annual Research Retreat
Once a year a week-long retreat is organized to bring together the SISER colleagues and members of the Membrane Technology Research Group from the University of Edinburgh. During the retreat held in a remote location in Scotland, participants engage in both research, career development and outdoors activities.
The objectives of the retreat include personal development, team building and increased collaboration between the two participating research groups. Sessions covering different topics such as becoming an effective academic, how to get a PhD, grant writing, publication reviewing, personality tests, negotiation, mentoring & coaching, are held throughout the week, combined with varied outdoor activities such as abseiling, rock climbing, kayaking, raft building, gorge scrambling, orienteering, and white water rafting.
For a video of highlights from the 2009 retreat, click here!
Energy Academy Seminars
During the academic year, the Heriot Watt Energy Academy holds regular seminars. Please see the Energy Academy's seminar schedule and feel free to join - anyone interested in attending is welcome.
Past Events:
Joint launch of Scottish Institute for Solar Energy Research (SISER) and Centre for Advanced Energy Storage and Recovery (CAESAR)
On 2 February 2011, Prof. Bryce Richards led the joint launch of Scottish Institute for Solar Energy Research (SISER) and Centre for Advanced Energy Storage and Recovery (CAESAR). The public lecture discussed some of the key challenges and opportunities for getting solar electricity where we need it most - in the heart of our cities and in the remote areas of developing countries. Click on this link to download a copy of the presentation.
Prof. Bryce Richards' Inaugural Lecture
On 27 May 2010, Prof. Bryce Richards delivered his inaugural lecture entitled "Solar Enlightenment: Bringing Photovoltaic Power To Where We Need It Most". The public lecture discussed some of the key challenges and opportunities for getting solar electricity where we need it most - in the heart of our cities and in the remote areas of developing countries. Click on this link to download a copy of the presentation.
Third Generation Photovoltaics Workshop
On 27-28th May 2010, HWU and SISER hosted a "Third Generation Photovoltaics Workshop", with presentations made by speakers drawn together from across Europe. The final programme of the Third Generation Photovoltaics Workshop can be found here. The presentations are available alphabetically by speaker:
Theory and Simulation of Quantum Photovoltaic Devices, U. Aeberhard
Nanophotonics for Photovoltaics, D. Bagnall
Luminescent Solar Concentrators: A Bright Idea for Solar Energy Conversion?, A. Chatten
Optimising phosphors and filters for Luminescent Solar Concentrators, D. de Boer
Mitigating fluorescent dye performance limitations in luminescent solar concentrators, M. Debije
Can Quantum Well Solar Cells break the Shockley-Queisser Limit?, N.J. Ekins-Daukes
Photon management with luminescent materials: Recent results & new ideas, J. C. Goldschmidt
Self Assembled Photonic Crystals for Photovoltaic, G. Kocher
Sodium rare-earth fluorides: upconversion and crystal structures, K. Krämer
Photon conversion with lanthanides: up and down they go!, A. Meijerink
Organic-complexes and nanoparticles to improve solar cell efficiency, P. Stefano
Photovoltaic Molecules for Harvesting & Converting Light, N. Robertson
Photovoltaics R&D at Sharp Laboratoris Europe (Oxford, UK), I. Sellers
An Intermediate Band Solar Cell based on InAs Quantum Dots, C. Stanley
New Photovoltaic Materials, A. Watt
Developments in PV System Technology, M. Zettl
SISER at Indo-Scottish Workshop
In December 2009 Dr. Brenda Rowan (School of Engineering & Physical Sciences Heriot-Watt University) visited the IIT Bombay as part of a small group of representatives to attend an Indo-Scottish workshop organised by the Energy Technology Partnership and the Department of Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay.
The aim of the workshop was to each present current active areas of research in their respective fields with a view to finding areas in which the institutes could collaborate together. The workshop was organised in response to the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Indian and Scottish Governments in October 2009 which outlines an agreement to ‘drive innovation in renewable energy and support both governments' goals to increase supplies of wind energy, solar power and biofuels’ (The Scottish Government, 2009).
Dr. Rowan presented an overview of the work of all the SISER member institutes and met with a number of academics working in the field of Solar Energy. IIT Bombay are in the process of establishing a National Centre for Photovoltaic Research and Education in which they plan to build state of the art fabrication and characterisation facilities and become a world class centre incorporating academic and industrial collaboration with an emphasis on education and training. This vision for the future of photovoltaic research combined with the high standard of expertise and facilities available make it clear that collaboration with IIT Bombay could be exciting and rewarding. The visit was very successful and several areas of potential collaboration were identified. Joint funding applications are currently being developed and interest was expressed in student and staff exchanges between the Scottish and Indian Institutes.
The workshop was followed by the 2009 International Conference in Advances in Energy Research held at the IIT Bombay from the 9th-11th December 2009.