Simon is Head of the Department of Engineering at Durham University and holds the DONG Chair in Renewable Energy at the University. He is a member of the Advisory Board in Durham Energy Institute.
Simon is a mechanical engineer with research interests in the general areas of power generation conventional steam and gas turbine plant, wind turbines, energy systems and waste heat recovery. He the Principal Investigator of the EPRSC Future Conventional Power Research Consortium (Cambridge, Durham, Edinburgh, Leeds & Oxford Universities), which is considering the effect of the change in power mix from the growth of wind on the flexible operating requirements for conventional steam and gas power plant. He is also the Durham University lead member on the Executive Management Team of the EPSRC Supergen Wind Hub (Cranfield, Durham, Loughborough, Manchester, STFC & Strathclyde Universities). This is one of the EPSRC’s Supergen research coordination organisations, focusing on the UK academic contribution to wind power research in this case.
