PhD Studentship: Social Value of Electrical Network Investment

Project summary:

In this project we partner up with Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Transmission to examine the social and economic value of major investment in electricity network aimed at supporting a fair and inclusive net zero transition through the use of macroeconomic models.

Start date: 1^st October 2026

Deadline: 30^th April

Duration: 36 months

Funding: Funded

Funding towards: Home fee/international fee

Stipend -UKRI stipend rate for UK students.

Funding details: Fully-funded scholarship for 3 years covers all university tuition fees (at UK level) and an annual tax-free stipend. International students are also eligible to apply, but they will need to find other funding sources to cover the difference between the home and international tuition fees. Exceptional international candidates may be provided funding for this difference. 

Number of places: 1

Number of places extra: There will be a shortlisting and interview process.

RCUK eligibility: No 

Eligibility:

• A strong performance at master’s level focussed on Economics, with the expected completion date of no later than September 2026.
• A background and an interest in applied economics analysis, environmental and energy economics.
• An aptitude to undertake research and develop into an independent researcher.
• Experience in coding applied to the solution of economic numerical models is highly desirable.

For full details please see advert: https://www.strath.ac.uk/studywithus/postgraduateresearchphdopportunities/business/economics/socialvalueofelectricalnetworkinvestment/ 

Study modes eligibility: Full-time

Fee Status: 

• Home
• International

Project Details:

The overarching aim of this project is to work in collaboration with SSEN to understand the economy-wide impacts of the large-scale investment in electricity networks required to support the net zero transition. As electricity networks expand and are reinforced to accommodate renewable generation, electrification of heat and transport, and increased system resilience, these investments will have significant implications across sectors, regions, and households. This project seeks to provide robust, policy-relevant evidence on these impacts. There are three key objectives:

1. Detailed analysis of the electricity network supply-chain and assess how supply chains respond to increased investment, identify capacity constraints, and explore opportunities for supply-chain optimisation that could enhance domestic economic benefits
2. Improve the representation of electricity networks within Scotland’s Input–Output tables, enabling a more accurate disaggregation of network activities and a stronger empirical basis for economy-wide modelling.
3. Assess the distributional impacts of network investment using macroeconomic models such as Input Output and Computable General Equilibrium.

There is a unique the opportunity to gain hands-on industrial experience alongside academic research. The successful application will have access to SSEN facilities and spend time working from its Glasgow offices, gaining first-hand insight into how academic evidence informs real-world investment decisions

Primary Supervisor: Dr Kevin Connolly (University of Strathclyde).

Additional Supervisor/s: Dr Gioele Figus (University of Strathclyde);  Dr Jon McFarlane (SSEN Transmission).

Further information: If there is any further information related to the opportunity you would like to include, please use this space to do so.

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