The Solar Jobs – Careers in the Solar Sector Beyond Academia webinar took place on 2 November 2022. A panel of speakers drawn from the wide variety of organisations with a stake in UK solar came together to share their career experiences with the goal of highlighting the great diversity of exciting career pathways beyond the academic sector that are possible for Early Career Researchers in the field of solar photovoltaics.
The webinar recording is available to view here
Speakers from governmental bodies, industrial research, think tanks and market analysts shared insight and reflection on their own career journey, with the aim of inspiring young researchers to target careers in UK solar.
The Webinar was chaired by Sabine McGinley, Commercial Manager at the Department for International Trade and featured:
Dr Richard Hall, Clean Energy Sector Specialist, UK Government Department for International Trade (DIT)
Cam Witten: Senior policy adviser, Green Alliance
Molly Morgan: Senior Research Analyst, Exawatt
Dr Laura Schade: Senior Energy Engineer, NZSI Science & Innovation for Climate & Energy, UK Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)
Dr Neil McSporran, Global Portfolio Manager – Incubator Program, NSG Pilkington
Event Organiser Dr Richard Hall has compiled a list of useful links and info for those considering careers in the public sector.
Solar Governance Related Jobs: Use search terms like Net Zero or Electricity. Also search by department: DIT or BEIS or UKRI
- Civil Service Jobs: https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/
- FCDO Jobs: https://fco.tal.net/candidate
- Civil Service Fast Steam: https://www.faststream.gov.uk/
- OECD Jobs (for IEA): https://www.oecd.org/careers/
IEA Solar Heating and Cooling (SHC) New UK Task 69: https://task69.iea-shc.org/ (SubTask C)
This new project, led by the UK, will look at how many solar electric water heaters will be needed to achieve Net Zero by 2050 (where the UK has a competitive advantage). The results will feed into the International Energy Agency Net Zero by 2050 report (https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050). Some initial work has been done on this question (https://www.iea.org/reports/solar-thermal-technologies-deployed-in-around-400-million-dwellings-by-2030) and this project will build upon this work. Feel free to get in contact with Richard Hall to discuss further. Richard.Hall2@trade.gov.uk
Richard’s Reading List:
- Marriott, James, and Terry Macalister. Crude Britannia: How Oil Shaped a Nation. Pluto Press, 2021. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1n9dkgb.
- Gregory F. Nemet. How Solar Energy Became Cheap: A Model for Low-Carbon Innovation. ISBN 9780367136598
- IEA Solar PV Global Supply Chains (2022) https://www.iea.org/reports/solar-pv-global-supply-chains
- Helveston, J.P., He, G. & Davidson, M.R. Quantifying the cost savings of global solar photovoltaic supply chains. Nature (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05316-6
- CSIS. Reshore, Reroute, Rebalance: A U.S. Strategy for Clean Energy Supply Chains https://www.csis.org/analysis/reshore-reroute-rebalance-us-strategy-clean-energy-supply-chains