Michael Fell

Michael Fell is a Senior Research Fellow at the Bartlett School of Environment, Energy & Resources at University College London (UCL), focusing on social and behavioral aspects of energy use. His work explores household flexibility in electricity systems, energy justice, and decentralized energy markets, with a particular emphasis on peer-to-peer trading and consumer behavior. Since 2016, he has been a key researcher at the UCL Energy Institute and co-investigator on UKRI-funded projects like the Energy Demand Research Centre.

• PhD in Human Geography (UCL, 2016)
• MRes in Sustainable Resources (UCL, 2012)
• BSc in Physics (University of Southampton, 2004)
• Maitrise in Social Sciences (Universite de Bordeaux, 2003)

His research spans energy demand reduction, smart grid integration of renewables, and serious games like Watts the Deal? (peer-to-peer trading board game) and Should I Bake? (renewable timing tool). He also examines distributional impacts of energy innovations and equity in flexibility provision, supported by grants from UKRI and EPSRC. Fell’s work bridges energy policy, behavioral science, and technological experimentation, including the pump:chic heat pump simulation platform. He frequently contributes to energy justice discourse and advises on regulatory frameworks for decentralized systems.

Scientific awards include the POST/EPSRC Fellowship in the House of Commons Library. He supervises Masters students on UCL’s Smart Energy and the Built Environment and Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment programs. Fell has collaborated with Nesta and BEIS, and his projects address SDGs 3 (Good Health) and 7 (Clean Energy). His publications analyze topics like energy services, transactive energy models, and collective action theories, with a focus on empirical human behavior data.