Dr Femke Nijsse
Lecturer at Global Systems Institute
F.J.M.M.Nijsse@exeter.ac.uk
7033
Laver Building 706
Laver Building, University of Exeter, North Park Road, Exeter, EX4 4QE, UK
Overview
I'm a complexity scientist with experience modelling climate, energy systems and the economy.
Energy research
I'm working on innovation in the energy system and the transition towards sustainable energy. I have been involved in the Economics of Energy Innovation and System Transition project (EEIST) led previously by Jean-Francois Mercure. The project seeks to inform energy policy in China, Brazil and India, as well as the UK and the EU. As part of this project, I've improved the representation of the power sector in the energy-economy-environment model E3ME-FTT. Major energy technologies in E3ME-FTT are represented with evolutionary economics, so that the diffusion of a new technology follows an S-curve. I've improved the power sector model by improving the representation of learning, getting higher-quality data and improve the representation of energy storage.
I'm co-leading a follow-up project EEIST 2 with Tim Lenton. For this, I'm working on improving flexibility options in E3ME-FTT to better understand the intergration of high shares of variable renewables in electricity grids. In particular, I'm interested in energy storage innovation and sector coupling as means to deal with intermittency. This should inform what type of policies are effective now that the major barriers towards diffusion are changing (supply chain / grid stability rather than costs)
Climate research
I did my PhD within mathematics in the Exeter Climate Systems group with Peter Cox. It involved finding a theoretical basis for emergent constraints and improving (statistical) techniques. For some processes, a group of climate models shows a relationship between a past and future variable. Measurements of the first allows us to exploit this relationship and get a better estimate of our future climate. My focus was on decadal variability, historical warming and climate sensitivity.
Qualifications
PhD, Mathematics (2017–2020)
MSc, Meteorology, Physical Oceanography and Climate (2014–2017)
BSc, Physics and Astronomy (honours), Utrecht University (2011–2014)
Research
Research interests
Femke and her research group work on two main areas:
- The evolution of the energy transition in the power sector, heating and cooling and transport
- https://decipher-horizon.eu/Decision-making to bring about transformative change
Research projects
Grants
- The Economics of Energy Innovation and System Transition (DESNZ, 600k)
- Decision-making framework and processes for holistic evaluation of environmental and climate policies (Horizon)
Publications
Journal articles
Teaching
Postgraduate modules
- GEOM144 Innovation and the Science-Policy Interface
Modules
2024/25
Supervision / Group
Postgraduate researchers
- Ian Burton
- Olga Maria Ribeiro De Carvalho
- Alex Edwards
- Cormac Lynch
Office Hours:
My office hours in term 2 are Thursday 10.00–12.00 online. You can book a meeting by sending a Teams invite.