Contact Dr Pegah Mirzania
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 758566
- Email: P.Mirzania@cranfield.ac.uk
- ORCID
- ResearchGate
Background
Dr Pegah Mirzania is an Academic Fellow in Local Energy Systems at the Centre for Energy Systems and Strategy, Cranfield University, where she leads the Energy Economics and Policy module for the MSc in Renewable Energy course. She is an interdisciplinary researcher advancing socio-technical and techno-economic approaches to sustainable and equitable energy transitions, with a focus on governance, equity, and community participation. Pegah obtained her PhD from the Centre for Efficient and Renewable Energy in Buildings (CEREB) at London South Bank University in 2019, where she developed viable business models for integrating solar PV and energy storage into community-owned renewable projects under post-subsidy market conditions. She also holds an MSc in Energy and Economics from City, University of London, where she explored policy frameworks to promote energy efficiency in community and public buildings.
Since joining Cranfield University in 2019, Pegah has built a strong research portfolio spanning heat decarbonisation, hydrogen integration, and the socio-economic dimensions of energy system change. Her postdoctoral research examined the sustainability and livelihood impacts of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants on local communities, applying socio-technical systems theory to understand energy transitions and territorial energy networks. Dr Mirzania’s expertise lies in mixed-methods research—integrating qualitative, quantitative, and techno-economic modelling—to investigate the interplay between technology, governance, and society in energy transitions. She has published widely in leading journals and is recognised for her interdisciplinary contributions to just, inclusive, and low-carbon energy systems in the UK and internationally.
Research opportunities
I am interested in supervising / co-supervising research (PhD) students with a research interest in:
Smart local energy system
Community renewable energy
Demand-side management
Decentralised energy system
Multi vector energy systems
Green Hydrogen Economy
Current activities
Pegah's overall research interests focus on developing ways to achieve a sustainable, fair and clean socio-technical energy system. She is particularly interested in developing innovative business and techno-economic models for local energy systems and investigating how communities fit in and function in processes linked to scaling up renewables.
Completed Projects:
- Empowering Communities: The Green Hydrogen Network (2024). I am working as the Principal Investigator on this project funded by the Cranfield Global Research Fund. The project aims to explore the potential and challenges of community-driven hydrogen projects by examining existing initiatives in Germany and the UK.
- Prototype Planning Tool for Green Hydrogen Generation and Use in UK Agriculture (2022-2024). The project funded by EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account. The project aims to explore the potential and challenges of integrating hydrogen into agricultural technologies and farming practices to help reduce emissions from the sector.
- Protecting Minority Ethnic Communities Online (PRIME) 2022-2025: EPSRC funded project. This project aims to understand online harm and explore how it can be mitigated through new systems, tools, and processes. The focus is on the experiences of Middle Eastern (ME) communities with digitalized services, particularly in the areas of housing, health, and energy.
- MACRO Project (2021-2023), Understanding and managing cyber security risks for low-carbon mobility-as-a-service applications. For this EPSRC-funded project, I worked on WP4, exploring the social, behavioral, regulatory, and market opportunities and barriers to the development of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) in the UK. This involved analyzing the implications for the governance of the MaaS ecosystem.
- TRILEMA (2022), Transition to low emission airport infrastructure from an energy systems perspective: worked on this project which is funded by HEIF as a Co-I researcher, the overall aim of the project is to create knowledge exchange activities between the energy and aviation sector.
- LOCESA- Department for Transport and Connect Places Catapult (2021-2022)- Low Carbon Energy Demand Scenarios For Aviation.
- Network H2, UK Research and Innovation - Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Councils (2021-2021) Techno-economic feasibility study of hydrogen-fuelled freight transport
H2020-LCE-11-2017, Project number 792103, SOLWATT , Solving Water Issues for CSP Plants-Sustainability and livelihood impacts of CSP plants
- JET-SEMLEP-Higher Education Innovation Fund- HEIF (2019-2020)- 'Just' Energy Transitions within SEMLEP Region (JET-SEMLEP)
Research Grants:
- Empowering Communities: The Green Hydrogen Network, (Cranfield Global Research Fund, 2024-2025, PI: £14,998)
- Navigating EDI Complexity: Addressing Challenges in Energy Research Sector (IGNITE Network, 2024-2025, Co-I: £ 19,998)
- Sustainable energy transitions in South Africa: socio-economic aspects (Global Challenges Research Fund, 2019-2020, Co-I: £19,921)
- Beyond the Technical: Social and Political Implications of Delivering a Low Carbon Heat Future in the UK, The UK Energy Research Centre, UKERC Networking Grant,2019, Co-I, £3,900)
Module Leading:
- Energy Economics and Policy (MSc Module)
- The Socio-Economic Acceptance of Low Carbon Technologies (PhD Module)
Selected Teaching:
- Cost-Benefit Analysis
- Socio-Economic Aspects of Solar Projects
Current PhD Students:
- Mirac Celik - Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading with Community-Level Virtual Storage Units
- Rilwan Usman - Optimising Residential Electricity Demands Through Innovative Demand Side Management Strategies in Nigeria
Clients
European Community-H2020 programme
Energy UK
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC)
Brits Energy
Water Resources East (WRE)
Connected Places Catapult
London Borough of Hounslow Council
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Mirzania P, Balta-Ozkan N, Rothe H & Gratton G. (2025). Navigating barriers to decarbonisation of UK’s aviation sector through green hydrogen: a multi-scale perspective. Sustainability, 17(13)
- Mirzania P, Balta-Ozkan N & Whitmarsh L. (2025). Improved convenience or a cyber security threat? Public acceptance of mobility-as-a-service in Great Britain. Energy Research & Social Science, 127
- Mirzania P, Huo D, Balta-Ozkan N, Panigrahi N & Knox JW. (2025). Decarbonising agriculture with green hydrogen: a stakeholder-guided feasibility study. Sustainability, 17(20)
- Mabele B, Marais L, Balta-Ozkan N, Mirzania P, Mbobo B, .... (2024). Renewable energy, social disruption and formalising the social licence to operate in South Africa. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 31(1)
- Mirzania P, Gordon JA, Balta-Ozkan N, Sayan RC & Marais L. (2023). Barriers to powering past coal: implications for a just energy transition in South Africa. Energy Research and Social Science, 101(July)
- Usman R, Mirzania P, Alnaser SW, Hart P & Long C. (2022). Systematic review of demand-side management strategies in power systems of developed and developing countries. Energies, 15(21)
- Parent P-A, Mirzania P, Balta-Ozkan N & King P. (2021). Post subsidy conditions: evaluating the techno-economic performance of concentrating solar power in Spai. Solar Energy, 218(April)
- Mirzania P, Balta-Ozkan N & Marais L. (2020). One technology, two pathways? Strategic Niche Management and the diverging diffusion of concentrated solar power in South Africa and the United States. Energy Research & Social Science, 69
- Mirzania P, Balta-Ozkan N & Ford A. (2020). An innovative viable model for community-owned solar PV projects without FIT: comprehensive techno-economic assessment. Energy Policy, 146
- Mirzania P, Ford A, Andrews D, Ofori G & Maidment G. (2019). The impact of policy changes: The opportunities of Community Renewable Energy projects in the UK and the barriers they face. Energy Policy, 129
Conference Papers
- Karim M, Almond H, Sansom C, Balta-Ozkan N, Mirzania P, .... (2020). The effect of concentrated solar power plants on the socio-economic and livelihood assets of the local community and environment
- Mirzania P, Ford A, Andrews D & Maidment GG. (2018). Breakthrough without Feed-in-Tariff: Techno-economics assessment of battery storage as potential business case for commercial and community renewable energy projects
- Mirzania P, Ford A, Andrews D & Maidment GG. (2017). Community energy in the UK: The end or the beginning of a brighter future?
- Mirzania P, Ford A, Akhavan Farshchi M & Maidment G. (2016). Investigating business models for the UK 's community renewable energy
- Mirzania P, Balta-Ozkan N & Marais L. Spatial divergence of South Africa’s energy transition and its implications for energy justice
- Mirzania P, Balta-Ozkan N & Ford A. For Post-Subsidy Solar PV Uptake in the UK: Techno-Economic Assessment of Integrating Solar PV and Battery Storage
- Makanga J, Mirzania P & Balta-Ozkan N. Concentrated Solar Power in South Africa: A Techno-Economic Assessment
Books
- Guder M, Balta-Ozkan N, Huo D & Mirzania P. (2026). Data-driven decision making: Harnessing energy data for policy In Simulation and Machine Learning Models for Energy Policy Design. Elsevier.
- Akporhonor GK & Mirzania P. (2025). Assessing energy flexibility: a comparative review of Nigeria and the United Kingdom In Onyeneke RU(ed.), Energy Transition, Climate Action and Sustainable Agriculture. Springer.
- Ford A, Gillich A & Mirzania P. (2020). Sustainable Energy and Energy Efficient Technologies In Letcher TM(ed.), Future Energy (3). Elsevier.
- Ford A, Gillich A & Mirzania P. (2020). 28 Sustainable Energy and Energy Efficient Technologies In Future Energy. Elsevier.
