Unite! creates a network of doctoral programmes to boost green hydrogen research in Europe
The Unite! alliance has created a network of doctoral programmes to explore the integration of hydrogen in the energy sector from the expertise of each university. Coordinated by the UPC and funded through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the Unite! Energy project is the seed of the alliance’s future doctoral school. The first 12 PhD positions have already been announced.
Jun 14, 2024
Born within the Unite! alliance, which includes the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC), Unite! Energy brings together universities, corporations and European institutions in an effort to harness hydrogen as a chemical energy storage medium, produced through cutting-edge electrolysis and photoelectrolysis methods. Coordinated by UPC professor Ignasi Casanova, the project has received some 3.2 million euros in funding from the EU’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme under Horizon Europe.
Beyond technological advancements, focused on integrating hydrogen into the energy sector by reducing the costs of production, storage and utilisation while maximising environmental efficiency, Unite! Energy aspires to nurture a new generation of entrepreneurial researchers by promoting the integration of hydrogen in the energy sector through interdisciplinary excellence.
This project is the seed of the alliance’s future doctoral school and aims to support the training and career development of researchers from around the world by funding doctoral programmes, individual postdoctoral projects and collaborative projects. The UPC takes part in this initiative with TU Darmstadt, Politechnika Wroclawska, Politecnico di Torino, Aalto University, Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and TU Graz, which are members of the Unite! university alliance. The project also involves industrial players such as the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg and non-university research institutions.
Unite! Energy coordinator Ignasi Casanova explains that “the project is designed to train highly talented individuals through research in an international setting, with the aim of addressing our energy future.”
The alliance has recently announced 12 PhD positions for MSCA Unite! Energy. Researchers will be exposed to scientific and technological excellence at prestigious European technological universities. The doctoral programme will be developed in an institutional setting of 200,000 students in Europe with cross-disciplinary research options, from the most fundamental science to research in state-of-the-art academic-industrial hybrid facilities. Quality assurance procedures will be implemented following those of the participating universities, whose long-standing relationship ensures a solid international network of universities, research centres and industries of all sizes, and comprehensive training on transferable skills, which has become one of the pillars of education and innovation in partnering academic institutions.
Towards green energy with hydrogen
A central problem of the energy transition is that the demand and production of renewable energies do not match sufficiently in time and space. Electricity can be produced in an environmentally friendly manner, for example, by converting wind, hydraulic or solar energy. However, the electricity generated in this way is not usually needed on site. Energy must be available when it is needed, reliably and independently of external factors. Therefore, it is essential to store energy, transport it and then release it again elsewhere.
Hydrogen is such a storage medium. Electricity is used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen in a process called electrolysis. When the electricity for electrolysis comes from renewable sources, the hydrogen produced is referred to as green hydrogen. Now the hydrogen obtained in this way can be stored and distributed. In the reverse process, like in a fuel cell, the stored hydrogen is allowed to react with oxygen to convert the energy stored in the hydrogen back into electricity.