Maria Sharmina

Maria Sharmina is a Professor in Energy and Sustainability at The University of Manchester’s School of Engineering, affiliated with the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and Policy@Manchester. She holds roles including Co-Director of Policy@Manchester, UKRI Digital Security & Resilience Theme advisor, and Sustainable Robotics Committee member at BSI. Her work focuses on low-carbon business models, circular economy, and climate policy, with leadership in projects like the £6M UKRI BuildZero programme.

Education: PhD in the Tyndall Centre, background in economics and statistics. She advises governments (e.g., UK Government Office for Science, BEIS) and has served on University Senate and Departmental Research Leadership roles.

Research Interests: Energy systems transformation, food-energy-water nexus, emission scenarios, and policy design. She emphasizes sustainable innovation, net-zero housing, and plastics circularity. Key projects include analyzing hydrogen’s role in decarbonization, SME compliance with plastics policies, and financing smart local energy systems.

Awards: 2024 Social Responsibility Medal and Making A Difference Award for contributions to social/environmental impact via entrepreneurship. Her work bridges academia and policy, with outputs including 79 research publications and 16 projects.

Grants/Consultancy: Principal Investigator on BuildZero (UKRI £6M), funded studies on community energy finance, and consultancy with Oxfam, Manchester City Council, and the Co-operative Group.

Labs/Teams: Lead researcher at Tyndall Manchester, collaborates across disciplines (e.g., Digital Futures Institute) to address sustainability challenges through systemic approaches.