Enabling the Future Grid: Technology, Stability, and Governance in Renewable Integration

Meeting Details 

📅 Date: Friday 5th June 2026 | 09.30 – 16:30

📍 Location: Imperial College London, Electrical and Electronic Engineering Building, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ

Registration Fees

There is a modest charge of £20+VAT per person to secure your place to attend. Lunch and refreshments will be provided. There will also be an opportunity to network with attendees at the end of the event over a drink. Registration will be free of charge for students as long as they do so with a valid .ac.org email address.

 Speaker Bios

Dr. Biljana Stojkovska is a Chartered Engineer and IET Fellow with extensive expertise in clean energy, grid technology integration, and strategic business development. Holding PhD in Power System Economics from Imperial College London, she currently serves as a Senior Expert in Market Innovation in Hitachi Energy. Her work includes a wide range of areas, including grid technologies, system planning, offshore coordination and energy market optimization, with particular focus on integrating renewable energy sources into power systems. A leading expert in techno-economic analysis, Dr. Stojkovska applies her deep knowledge to maximize asset value and drive business performance. She had led a variety of high profile, global initiatives, especially in offshore network design, where she played a pivotal role in integrating offshore wind and other renewable technologies into the energy grid. Among her notable achievements is securing significant funding from the UK electricity regulator Ofgem for innovative grid solutions for directing the world’s first reactive power market trial. Dr. Stojkovska is also a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion in the energy sector. She founded and chairs CIGRE UK Women in Energy (WiE) and serves as Vice-Chair of CIGRE International WiE. Through her leadership, she made significant improvements in enhancing the visibility and participation of women in the energy industry. With strong blend of technical expertise and strategic vision, Dr. Stojkovska is recognized as a thought leader in the energy sector. Her work continues to in-fluence the future of energy systems, driving innovation and fostering sustain-ability across global markets.

Dr Xiaoyao Zhou is the Senior Technical Leader at the National Energy System Operator (NESO) for Great Britain, with over 20 years of experience in transmission system operation, planning, and investment. In his current role, he leads the development of technical policy to support the net zero operation of Great Britain’s electricity system. Dr Zhou also holds the position of Honorary Professor at the University of Birmingham, UK.

Yunjie Gu is an Associate Professor in Power Systems and Director of MSc programme Future Power Networks. Before his academic career, he was with General Electric (GE) Global Research Centre in Shanghai, where he led and participated in a series of R&D projects on the integration of renewable power into grids.  Yunjie’s research career started with power-electronic converters and control for solar power systems. The IPs generated from his early work has been translated into a spinout (Hoymiles) listed in Shanghai Stock Exchange. After joining Imperial, his research interests have been extended to power-electronics-based power systems, including power-electronic technologies to support power system stability, and system stability analytics considering the behaviour of power electronics. He recently opened another thread of research on the numerical and computational methods for power system analysis and simulation. Yunjie holds eight patents including seven Chinese patents and one US/EU patent.

Jianing Li (PhD, BEng, MIET, MCIGRE, MIEEE, APM PMQ) is a Technical Director leading the UK and the Global Capability Centre (GCC, India) Power Systems team at WSP UK, responsible for the technical direction, delivery of a 60+ strong team supporting major network operators, developers and investors in the UK and globally. With a strong background in transmission and distribution systems, grid compliance and network design, he has been instrumental in working with networks and investors to develop advanced models and analyses that enhance grid flexibility and resilience. Jianing’s technical expertise encompasses power system planning, optimisation, grid compliance studies, and power system protection. His experience extends to delivering complex grid compliance assessments and designing innovative solutions that meet the evolving requirements of modern energy systems. In recent years, he’s been facilitating key industry processes with T&D network partners. As a leader, Jianing has successfully overseen complex projects, providing strategic recommendations to stakeholders across the energy sector. His ability to anticipate future system needs and deliver practical, technically sound solutions makes him a trusted expert in the field. Professionally active, Jianing serves as the UK Regular Member for CIGRE Study Committee D2 on Information Systems, Telecommunications, and Cybersecurity and held leadership positions within CIGRE UK and the IEEE Power and Energy Society.

Dr. Fatima Amara is an Electrical Power and HVDC Engineer with expertise in renewable energy integration, power electronics, and advanced control systems for modern transmission networks. She currently works as a Lead HVDC Control and Protection Application Engineer at GE Vernova in UK, where she contributes to HVDC system development and innovative solutions for large-scale renewable energy integration. She earned her PhD in Electrical Engineering from The University of Nottingham, focusing on the control of Cascaded H-Bridge converters for Solid-State Transformer applications in electric vehicles. Prior to this, she completed an MSc in Electrical and Renewable Energy Systems at University of Leeds and graduated with First-Class honours in Electrical Engineering from The College of Engineering Technology, Hun-Libya. Her professional background combines industry, research, education, and sustainable development experience across the UK and Libya. Throughout her career, she has worked on HVDC technologies, renewable energy systems, power system operation and control, and sustainable infrastructure projects, including off-grid solar initiatives for rural communities. In addition to her technical work, Dr. Fatima Amara is actively involved in mentoring, STEM outreach, and professional volunteering. She is a member of the Steering Committee for Women in Energy at CIGRE UK, where she supports initiatives that promote diversity, inclusion, and leadership opportunities within the energy sector. Her achievements include receiving the Global Talent Endorsement from the Royal Academy of Engineering and representing the UK as a delegate for United Nations Women at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68). Driven by innovation and collaboration, she is passionate about developing resilient and sustainable energy systems that support the global transition to clean energy.

Vince Pizzoni is a Professor in Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Nottingham, Vince mentors, and sponsors 1000s spanning the whole career lifecycle from school to university, executive, and board level, and made it his mission in life to inspire future generations into STEM, Engineering, Tech, and Energy careers. Vince has 40+ years of global business experience incorporating executive management and board positions in blue chip companies including ExxonMobil, Suez, V. Ships, Nalco, and P&G and with a boutique executive search firm, Preng & Associates, which specialises in executive and board recruitment. Today he manages a diverse portfolio that incorporates career mentoring and sponsorship to undergraduates, graduates and alumni at the University of Nottingham, energy sector career mentor to students and alumni at several prestigious UK business schools including London Business School, Imperial, Cambridge and Chicago Booth, and holds Trustee and Non-Executive positions on several boards. He won the prestigious Chairman’s Award as global General Manager of the year at Suez for outstanding performance, and recently the Gender Diversity Ambassador Award 2025 from the IET/WISE,  Davidson Medal 2024 from the Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) for global leadership in mentoring, the TechWomen100 2024 Award for Gender Balance and the Men as Allies 2024 Award from the Women’s Engineering Society. Vince is a Trustee/Non-Executive Board member and Ambassador for various organisations including Male Allies UK, the Women’s Energy Network Alliance, Female Leaders in STEM Subjects, POWERful Women, Graduate Mentor, MyBigCareer, a charity providing career guidance to students from disadvantaged backgrounds and the South Shropshire Multi-Academy Trust. He is a mentor for businesswomen from Ukraine in the Progressiya initiative, and for the Cajigo group where he inspires women in tech, the Prague Training Academy where he mentors businesswomen in Eastern Europe and also for Elevate Women in Tech and Reed Women in Tech. He is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of several organisations including the IChemE, Energy Institute, Women’s Engineering Society, and the Chartered Management Institute. Vince is a Group Partner of Circklo and a member of UN Women UK, the Career Development Institute, the Society of Women Engineers, the Denim G100 Mission Million for gender equality and European Women on Boards.

Alison Orsi is an accredited Executive Coach and Team Coach, with a passion for helping leaders and teams build the organisational and cultural capability to deliver growth. Previously Alison spent 30 years at IBM, culminating as VP and CMO EMEA, and previously Global VP Performance Marketing. A Fellow of both the Marketing Academy and the Marketing Society, she now specialises in marketing transformation and executive coaching, and wishes she’d had formal coach training much earlier in her career. Alison is a NED for The Marketing Society a Trustee for the charity AbilityNet.

Angela PP is a Lead Asset Lifecycle Engineer with National Grid. She is passionate about combining asset maintenance experience with engineering decision-making and supports the development of asset strategies, type registration, and technology integration to enable effective lifecycle management across the network.
Before National Grid, Angela worked across high-voltage transmission networks in India, in a variety of roles spanning commissioning, operations, and maintenance. She started her career as a Commissioning Engineer at an HV GIS substation and moved through asset maintenance roles at an HVDC terminal station for a considerable period before transitioning into asset management at a portfolio level.
Angela holds a BEng in Electronics & Communications Engineering and brings over 15 years of experience in the power transmission sector. She is an active CIGRE member and contributes to B5.81 WG and CIGRE Women in Energy.