cigre thesis award

Post-Doctoral Researcher

Princeton university.

My research aims to bridge climate science and energy systems, with a particular focus on enhancing the resilience of energy systems against climate extremes such as tropical cyclones, heatwaves, and wildfires. I develop integrated climate-energy risk analysis frameworks and resilience enhancement strategies, supporting climate-resilient energy transitions in a warming earth. My PhD thesis was recognized by both CIGRE and IEEE PES, the most influential and largest global organizations in the field of power and energy systems, receiving the 2023 CIGRE Thesis Award (only awardee worldwide in 2023) and the Best Research Award (two out of 54 finalists worldwide) from the IEEE PES PhD Dissertation Challenge 2023. I was also a recipient of the IET Premium Award in 2019, and the Best Conference Paper Award from the 2017 IEEE Conference on Energy Internet and Energy System Integration. I serve as a Young Editorial Board member of Applied Energy, Secretary of the CIGRE Working Group D2.56, and a Member of the IEEE PES EICC Committee.

Download my CV .

• Oct 13, 2024 , media interviewed by Science et Avenir for their recent article " Les réseaux énergétiques à la merci du changement climatique " , where we discussed the impacts of climat change on energy systems.
• Sep 26, 2024 , Our paper " Hazard Resistance-Based Spatiotemporal Risk Analysis for Distribution Network Outages During Hurricanes " is accepted by IEEE Transactions on Power Systems .
• Jul 22, 2024 , I chaired a panel session ‘Towards a Resilient Energy Internet in a Changing Climate’ and also delivered a talk at 2024 IEEE PES General Meeting in Seattle at 3:00 PM. Please join us! Panel Info .
• May 30, 2024 , I delivered a talk on “Energy Resilience of Local Communities Under Climate Extremes” at the 2024 Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub (MACH) Annual Meeting. Photo .
• Mar 16, 2024 , Our paper " Communication topology optimization for time-delay cyber-physical microgrids under distributed control " is accepted by IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid .
• Jan 11, 2024 , Our paper " Resilience of renewable power systems under climate risks " is published in the inaugural issue of Nature Reviews Electrical Engineerng . The inaugural issue is the only issue that can be free accessed.
• Dec 28, 2023 , The IEEE Technical Report PES-TR 119, titled " Cyber-Physical Interdependence for Power System Operation and Control " , to which I contributed, is now available online.
• Nov 8, 2023 , I chaired a panel session “Towards a Resilient Power System Under Climate Extremes: Risk Analysis and Resilience Enhancement” at the 2023 IEEE ISGT-LA in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Photo .
• Oct 16, 2023 , I co-chaired a panel session “Advanced Learning and Optimization for Carbon-Neutral Electricity” with Prof. Xin Chen at the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo .
• Oct 16, 2023 , I delivered a talk on “Resilience Oriented Robust Optimization for Smart Grids Under Extreme Events” at the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo .
• Sep 21, 2023 , I became a member of the Princeton University Badminton Team.
• Apr 13, 2023 , I received the Best Research Award (one of the top 2 out of 54 finalists from 38 universities across 13 countries) in the IEEE PES PhD Dissertation Challenge!
• Mar 28, 2023 , I received CIGRE Thesis Award 2023 , only one global recipient per year!
• Jan 1, 2023 , I joined the Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment, Princeton University as an Environmental Policy Associate .
• Nov 1, 2022 , I was starting at Princeton University as a Postdoctoral Researcher.
• October 1, 2022 , I was selected to join the Applied Energy Young Editorial Board.
• Jun 30, 2022 , I received my PhD degree from Tsinghua University!
• Oct 19, 2021 , Our paper “ Novel properties of heterogeneous delay in inverter-based cyber-physical microgrids under fully distributed control ” is accepted by Applied Energy .
• Oct 11, 2021 , I was awarded the Doctoral National Scholarship by the Chinese Ministry of Education.
• Aug 28, 2021 , Our paper “ On the resilience of modern power systems: A comprehensive review from the cyber-physical perspective ” is accepted by Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews .
• Aug 24, 2021 , this new personal website said “HelloWorld”.

Selected Publications

Recent & upcoming talks.

• [email protected]
• Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
• Engineering Quad, E223

2023.04.25 AAU Energy PhD wins prestigious CIGRE Thesis Award (1)

AAU Energy PhD wins prestigious CIGRE Thesis Award

Published online : 25.04.2023

Yicheng Liao has been awarded the 2023 CIGRE PhD Thesis Award for her PhD Thesis “Impedance Modeling and Stability Analysis of Grid Interactive Converters”. The award recognizes the importance of her research, and it is a major accomplishment for both Yicheng and the eGRID research group from AAU Energy where Yicheng was a PhD student.

By Ellen Tambjerg, AAU Outreach

Yicheng Liao receives the fifth annual CIGRE Thesis Award, which is awarded to recognize a student’s master or PhD thesis. CIGRE is a global community aiming to develop and share expertise and knowledge withing the field of power systems. The paper based on the PhD thesis will be peer-reviewed and published in the CIGRE Science and Engineering journal.

Before coming to Demnark, Yicheng Liao did her master’s thesis at Southwest Jiaotong University where she worked on stability analysis of railway systems, which is also a power-electronics based power system and paved the way for her subsequent research. This led to the PhD position in the eGRID research group at AAU Energy, and the CIGRE award is also a great recognition to the research group and Yicheng’s supervisor, Professor Xiongfei Wang:

“It was my great pleasure to work with Yicheng at AAU Energy. She was a diligent, talented, and productive PhD student in our eGRID group. Her PhD thesis has made important contributions to the dynamics analysis of ac power electronics systems. This CIGRE PhD Thesis Award is a timely and major recognition for her work. I am very proud of her accomplishment.”

Xiongfei Wang

After finalizing her PhD, Yicheng was a postdoc at AAU Energy for four months, before continuing to her current position as a Power System Engineer in the Department of Electrical System Design at Energinet, Denmark. Here Yicheng uses her expertise within the field of power systems to ensure fast and reliable integration of renewable energies to modern power systems, which includes designing the world’s first energy islands and participating in worldwide collaborations, such as the CIGRE working groups. She continues to use the knowledge and skills from her master and PhD studies to contribute and dedicate herself to what she calls the most important action of the 21st century – the green transition.

“It is a great pleasure to receive the CIGRE Thesis Award for my PhD thesis on “Impedance Modeling and Stability Analysis of Grid-Interactive Converters”. This is the second time to receive the recognition of my PhD work, and the first one was recognized by IEEE Power Electronics Society in the 2021 Ph.D. Thesis Talk. It is very exciting to work on some gaps between the power electronics and power system fields and I am glad that my work has contributed to both communities. This cannot be possible without the support from my supervisor, Prof. Xiongfei Wang, and my colleagues from AAU Energy and the eGRID research group."

Yicheng Liao

Read more on the ELECTRA website

• ELECTRA N°327 - April 2023

Yicheng Liao, [email protected]

Xiongfei Wang, [email protected]  

• About DTU Orbit

View Scopus Profile

PhD, MSc, BEng, CEng, SMIEEE, MCIGRE, MIET

• Associate Professor , Department of Engineering Technology and Didactics
• Energy Technology and Computer Science
• Phone 93518982
• Website http://engtech.dtu.dk/

Lautrupvang 15 , Ballerup, T1.14

2750 Ballerup

Accepting PhD Students

PhD projects

Willing to receive self-funded PhD students.

Personal profile

Gen Li received the B.Eng. degree in Electrical Engineering from Northeast Electric Power University, Jilin, China, in 2011, the M.Sc. degree in Power Engineering from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in 2013 and the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Cardiff University, Cardiff, U.K., in 2018.

He is now an Associate Professor at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark. From 2013 to 2016, he has been a Marie Curie Early Stage Research Fellow funded by the European Commission’s MEDOW project. He has been a Visiting Researcher at China Electric Power Research Institute and State Grid Smart Grid Research Institute, Beijing, China, at Elia, Brussels, Belgium and at Toshiba International (Europe), London, U.K. He was a Research Associate at the School of Engineering, Cardiff University from 2018 to 2022. His research interests include control and protection of HV and MV DC technologies, offshore wind, offshore energy islands, reliability modelling and evaluation of power electronics systems.

Dr. Li is a Chartered Engineer in the U.K., a Young Editorial Board Member of Applied Energy , an Associate Editor of the CSEE Journal of Power and Energy Systems and IET Energy Systems Integration , an Editorial Board Member of CIGRE ELECTRA and Global Energy Interconnection and an IET Professional Registration Advisor. He received the CIGRE NGN Significant Contribution Award in 2024. His Ph.D. thesis received the First CIGRE Thesis Award in 2018. He is now a Steering Committee Member of CIGRE Denmark NGN, a Member of CIGRE Working Group B4.96 and a Member of IEEE PELS Publicity Committee.

Research and teaching information

62760 Power Engineering 1

62761 Power Engineering 2

62775 Applied electrical engineering

62700 Protection of electrical power systems

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

• User defined:
• Offshore Wind Energy
• DC protection
• Energy Islands
• Power system protection

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• 1 Similar Profiles
• Distribution System Engineering 100%
• Direct Current Engineering 97%
• Energy Engineering Engineering 87%
• Energy Storage System Engineering 81%
• Electric Power Distribution Engineering 75%
• Current Distribution Engineering 72%
• Voltage Source Converter Engineering 69%
• Wind Turbine Engineering 49%

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Dive into details.

Select a country/territory to view shared publications and projects

Publications

• 26 Journal article
• 8 Article in proceedings

Publications per year

A Cascaded Multi-Port Converter with Energy Storage Units for Large-scale Photovoltaic Systems

Research output : Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

• Energy Storage 100%
• Photovoltaic Power 100%
• Photovoltaic System 100%
• Multiport Inverter 100%
• Multiplexing 66%

Adaptive Droop Control in VSC-based MT-MVDC Distribution Systems Considering ESS Participation

• Energy Storage System 100%
• Direct Current 100%
• Droop Speed Control 100%
• Voltage Source Converter 100%
• Distribution System 100%

Adaptive Droop Controlled-VSCs in MVDC Distribution Systems with ESS Engagement

Research output : Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

• Current Distribution 100%
• Storage System 100%

Analysis of Converter Valve-Side Single-Phase-to-Ground Faults in Symmetrical Monopolar MMCs

• Modular Multilevel Converter 100%
• Influencing Factor 20%
• System Protection 20%
• Dc Voltage 20%
• Grounding Scheme 20%

An Overvoltage-Averse Model for Renewable Rich AC/DC Distribution Networks Considering the Sensitivity of Voltage Violation Probability

• Renewables 100%
• Electric Power Distribution 100%
• Overvoltage 100%
• Voltage Source Converter 33%
• Simulation Result 16%

Projects per year

Coordinated control of energy storage units and grid-forming converters in energy islands

July, A. (PhD Student), Savaghebi, M. (Main Supervisor), Cutululis, N. A. (Supervisor) & Li, G. (Supervisor)

01/04/2023 → 31/03/2026

Project : PhD

Research Retreat on the Baltic Energy Island

Li, G. (PI)

01/05/2023 → 31/05/2023

Project : Research

• Energy Island 100%
• Business Partner 50%
• Bornholm 50%
• 11 Membership of commitees, commissions, boards, councils, associations, organisations, or similar
• 5 Journal editor

Activities per year

IEEE (External organisation)

Li, G. (Member)

Activity : Membership › Membership of commitees, commissions, boards, councils, associations, organisations, or similar

Global Energy Interconnection (Journal)

Li, G. (Editor)

Activity : Editorial work and peer review › Journal editor › Research

CIGRE (External organisation)

Applied energy (journal), 19th international conference on ac and dc power transmission (event), 2nd prize, excellent paper award, chinese society for electrical engineering, 2022.

Li, G. (Recipient), 2022

Prize : Prizes, scholarships, distinctions

2nd Prize, Student Presentation Competition, Energy Institute South Western & South Wales Branch, UK, 2014

Li, G. (Recipient), 2014

3rd Prize, Excellent Paper Award, Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering, 2021

Li, G. (Recipient), 2021

3rd Prize, IET RPG Best Conference Paper Award, 2019

Li, G. (Recipient), 2019

Best paper of 3rd IEEE Conference on Energy Internet and Energy System Integration, 2019

WISE Public Lecture

European Offshore Wind and HVDC

Europe is committed to an ambitious energy transition, aiming to become the world's first climate-neutral continent by 2050. Offshore wind energy and HVDC technology are pivotal to achieving this goal. In this presentation, the state-of-the-art of HVDC and offshore wind in Europe will be presented. Specifically, the driving forces, electrical design, and technical challenges of building the Danish Offshore Energy Islands will be discussed.

Gen Li received his Ph.D. degree at Cardiff University as a Marie Curie Researcher. He is now an Associate Professor at Technical University of Denmark. His research interests include control and protection of DC technologies, offshore wind, offshore energy islands and power electronics based power systems. Dr. Gen is a Chartered Engineer in the U.K., an IET Professional Registration Advisor, a Young Editorial Board Member of Applied Energy, an Associate Editor of the CSEE Journal of Power and Energy Systems and IET Energy Systems Integration, an Editorial Board Member of CIGRE ELECTRA. He received the CIGRE NGN Significant Contribution Award in 2024 and the First CIGRE Thesis Award in 2018. He is now a Steering Committee Member of CIGRE Denmark NGN, a Member of CIGRE Working Group B4.96 and a Member of IEEE PELS Publicity Committee.

Zoom Link: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4640082022?omn=85473484910

William G. Davis Computer Research Centre (DC), Room 1302

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The list of award winners (from year 2000 -2021) can be found: HERE

Award policy  (5.4.2022): HERE

Awards of international CIGRE Pairs

International CIGRE Paris confers several types of awards at different levels:

• The CIGRE Medal: is the highest award of this international organization, which began conferring in 2008.
• 2018 – mag. Krešimir Bakič
• 2004 – mag. Krešimir Bakič (for outstanding work in the field of SC C1 – Development and Economics of Electric Power Systems)
• 2012 – Janez Zakonjšek (for outstanding work in the field of SC B5 – Protection and Automation)
• 2020 –Tim Gradnik ( for outstanding work in the field of SC  A2- Power Transformers and Reactors)
• 2024 – Aleš Kregar (for outstanding work in the field of SC  C3- Power System Sustainability Enviromental Performance)
• 1998 – prof. dr. Anton Ogorelec
• 2000 – prof. dr. Ferdinand Gubina
• 2002 – MSc. Krešimir Bakič
• 2004 – prof. dr. Maks Babuder,
• 2004 – prof. dr. Franc Jakl
• 2010 – MSc. Maja Končan Gradnik,
• 2010 – Ivan Leban
• 2012 – prof. dr. Jože Voršič
• 2014 – MSc. Ladislav Tomšič
• 2016 – prof. dr. Rafael Mihalič
• 2018 – prof. dr. Jože Pihle
• 2020 – prof. dr. Igor Papič
• 2022 – Tim Gradnik
• The CIGRE Fellow Member: is attributed for active participation in the activities of the technical work of the study committees and for providing a lead technical role in the study committees (maximum five awards every two years)
• 2020 – prof. dr. Maks Babuder

6. NGN – Next Generation Network Significant Contribution award. This award is intended to recognize  outstanding contributions of NGN members  to CIGRE activities

• 2022 – Ana Lovrenčič, NGN CIGRE Slovenia Representative

Awards of Slovenian CIGRE-CIRED

• Award for lifetime achievement: is awarded biennially by one-person.
• Ambassador CIGRE: is awarded only at exceptional events and meetings. It is intended for persons of international reputation who have made a lot for spreading the operation of CIGRE in international dimensions and friendship among nations.
• Plaque CIGRE in plaque CIRED: for excellent work in Slovenian electric power system is awarded biennially (1-3 persons).
• Commendation: for successful work in the Slovenian CIGRE-CIRED, successfully implemented project in the last two years, successful research or successful representation of Slovenia abroad in energy institutions. The commendation can be given to several persons and also several times. It is awarded since 1999.
• Special award: for long and successful work in Slovenian energetics. It is awarded to retired energy experts who have done a lot for the power system. It is awarded since 2003.
• Award for journalistic work: for outstanding and objective media covering in the field of Slovenian electric power systems. It is awarded since 2005.
• Diplomas: for the most outstanding papers presented in Study Committees at conferences of Slovenian electrical engineers. It is awarded since 1995.
• prof. Bedjanič’s awards: for the excellence of bachelor’s thesis, master’s thesis or PhD. In collaboration with the University of Ljubljana and University of Maribor, CIGRÉ-CIRED took over sponsorship of this award from company Iskra.

Quick links

Contacts: Contact international CIGRE Contact international CIRED

Web pages: International CIGRE Paris CIGRE for mobile devices International CIRED

Knowledge systems: e-CIGRE KMS UMS

Tehnološki park, Ljubljana

Contact information.

Phone: 05 997 28 42 E-mail: [email protected] Office hours: Mon-Fri, 8h-12h

Slovenian Committee of Electric Power Engineers CIGRE-CIRED Tehnoloski park 20 SI-1000 Ljubljana Slovenia Tax number: SI83061991

Spletno mesto uporablja piškotke zaradi boljše uporabniške izkušnje. Z uporabo naše spletne strani potrjujete, da se z njihovo uporabo strinjate.

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Thesis defences — Nov. 4 to Nov. 8

Friday, November 01, 2024 | by The Brock News

The following is a list of thesis defences taking place between Monday, Nov. 4 and Friday, Nov. 8

PhD in Psychology thesis defence

Liam Doyle, a PhD in Psychology candidate, will defend the thesis “Situational Affordances and Psychopathy: Examining Contextual Influences on Exploitative Behavior in Economic Games” on Thursday, Nov. 7 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in PLZ 600F.

The examination committee members are Jeffrey Atkinson, Chair; Angela Book, Supervisor; Patrick Barclay, External Examiner (University of Guelph); Michael Savage, Internal Examiner; and Michael Ashton and Tony Volk, Advisory Committee.

Master of Science in Biological Sciences thesis defence 

Zoe Gagnon, a Master of Science in Biological Sciences candidate, will defend the thesis “The role of semaphorin 3A signaling underlying learning and memory formation in the postnatal mouse brain” on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 12:30 p.m. in closed format.

The examination committee includes Melanie Pilkington, Chair; Stephen Glasgow, Supervisor; Rebecca MacPherson, External Examiner (Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, Brock University); and Cheryl McCormick and Gaynor Spencer, Committee Members.

Read more stories in: Briefs , Faculty & staff , Graduate Students , Graduate Studies , Mathematics and Science , Social Sciences Tagged with: Department of Biological Sciences , department of psychology , faculty of social sciences , thesis defences

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