Brendan Wright

Dr. Brendan Wright is a researcher at the University of New South Wales, affiliated with the Faculty of Engineering and the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering. His work bridges photovoltaics and machine learning, focusing on electrochemical defect mechanisms in silicon solar cells and generative representation learning for complex physical systems. With a PhD in Physics (2018) and a B. Nanotechnology Honours (2011) from the University of Wollongong, his research spans charge carrier dynamics in organic PV systems to computational chemistry.

Research Interests:

• Machine learning applications for utility-scale photovoltaic systems
• State-space dynamics modelling using generative algorithms
• End-of-life classification of solar panels
• Deep learning for electroluminescence image analysis
• Surface polarization effects in silicon solar cells

Grants:

• Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) R&D Project Grant (RG220681, 2022)
• Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP) Industrial Collaboration Grant (2022)

Scientific Contributions:

• Developed polarizable force field models for polymer electrolytes
• Created deep learning frameworks for photovoltaic defect analysis
• Innovated perspective correction algorithms for solar module imaging
• Applied latent ODE networks to predict PV degradation trends

Advising: Currently supervises Chukwuka Madumelu in photovoltaic engineering and provides secondary guidance to doctoral candidates. His mentorship extends to computational material science and AI-driven energy systems research.