Prof Daniel Kirschen (PhD, CEng, FIET, FIEEE) - personal details

I am currently Professor of Electrical Energy Systems and Head of the Electrical Energy and Power Systems Group in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. 

I obtained my Electrical and Mechanical Engineer's degree from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) in 1979 and my Master's and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA) in 1980 and 1985 respectively.

The introduction of competitive electricity markets has created a whole new set of interesting and challenging problems in the operation and development of power systems. I have been working in this area for fifteen years and I have written a widely used postgraduate textbook on this topic.

The security of power system is another topic on which my students and I have been actively working. I am particularly interested in power system blackouts, why they happen and what can be done to reduce their probability of occurence. 

Before joining the university in 1994, I worked for ten years for Control Data Corporation and Siemens Energy and Automation in Minneapolis, USA. My responsibilities there included the development of advanced application software for electric utilities control centres. In particular, I worked on computer programs for Optimal Power Flow, Unit Commitment and on the development of Artificial Intelligence applications such as the "Restoration Assistant", as software tool to help operators reconnect the power system  following a blackout. 

My personal interests include travel, canoeing and running.

• IEEE

• EPSRC Supergen Flexnet

Ir, MSc, PhD (Wisconsin)