Media releases

Alongside winners in six other project categories, the two ‘individual’ awards both went to women. Dr Charlotte Adams, Assistant Professor at Durham University was awarded Energy Champion. Mariah McKavanagh, Managing Director of Verv Energy became the Young Professional of the Year.

Opening the evening’s gala ceremony, EI President Steve Holliday FREng FEI said:

“The EI Awards are a celebration of the very best our industry has to offer to society, here in the UK and around the world.

“The ‘ask’ of our profession – meeting both emissions reduction and energy demand – can only realistically be ‘answered’ if we draw on all of the talents society has to offer. We need all of the brains, regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability and orientation.

“Progress opening up our sector is glacial. Society is watching us, scrutinising and demanding change - and I’m glad to say these awards are a part of the answer. They recognise and encourage diversity, ambition and innovation in our industry.”

The gala ceremony was hosted by Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, CEO and Co-founder of the Stemmettes, who work to inspire and support young women into science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) careers.

Anne-Marie commented:

“Girls and young women are not growing up in a vacuum, they grow up in a world of technology and energy...we need to make sure lots of people are providing the future of energy together”.

The winners of the EI Awards 2019 are:

Health and Safety - sponsored by Shell

Winner: Step Change in Safety for animated materials to improve understanding of major accident hazards.

www.stepchangeinsafety.net

Public Engagement - sponsored by POWERful Women

Winner:  USEF Foundation for an interactive ‘serious game’ helping to explore the consequences of decisions for future market design.

www.usef.energy

Innovative Technology - sponsored by Northern Gas Networks

Winner: Viking Cold Solutions for thermal energy storage solutions for refrigeration and cold storage.

www.vikingcold.com

Community Initiative - sponsored by Energy Industries Council

Winner: UK Power Networks for an initiative to ensure people living in social housing can access the benefits of smart meters.

www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk

Environment - sponsored by Drax

Winner: Yanbu Refinery of Saudi Aramco for reducing by 30% consumption of desalinated water, conserving resources and spreading environmental awareness.

www.saudiaramco.com

Energy Management - sponsored by BSSEC

Winner: Dublin City University for a best in class university energy management system.

www.dcu.ie

Energy Champion - sponsored by Arenko Group

Winner: Dr Charlotte Adams, Assistant Professor, Durham University

www.dur.ac.uk/earth.sciences/staff/?id=7556

Young Energy Professional - sponsored by Chrysaor

Winner: Maria McKavanagh, Managing Director, Verv Energy

verv.energy

Notes for editors

1.The EI Awards is a competition run by the Energy Institute for those shaping the world's energy future. The awards celebrate the achievements of the energy industry across the globe, giving recognition to individuals and organisations who take an innovative and responsible approach to solving the industry's challenges of providing society with clean, sustainable, low cost and dependable energy.

2.For more information and images of the winners, please contact EI Communications Officer, Robyn Wainwright, rwainwright@energyinst.org, 07815542288

3.The Energy Institute (EI) is the chartered professional membership body bringing global energy expertise together.

We gather and share essential knowledge about energy, the skills that are helping us use it more wisely, and the good practice that keeps it safe and secure.

We articulate the voice of energy experts, taking the know-how of around 20,000 members and 250 companies from 120 countries to the heart of the public debate.

And we’re an independent, not-for-profit, safe space for evidence-based collaboration, an honest broker between industry, academia and policy makers.

www.energyinst.org

@EnergyInstitute