Technical Advisor, (envisaged subject to contract)
Chris Sansom is the Professor of CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) and the Head of Zero Carbon Research Theme, at the University of Derby. He is one of the UK’s leading specialists in the field leading a team of PHD doctoral students in research and actively engaged in developing industry tie-ins. Dr Sansom’s current research activities are in CSP (Concentrating Solar Power), solar thermal materials and applications, thermal energy storage, and thermal energy harvesting.
Spearheading UK research on CSP, his current projects include concentrating solar power for electrical power generation, solar collector characterisation and ageing evaluation, polymer films for solar power plant heliostats and line-focus solar collectors, linear Fresnel community scale CSP, heliostat design and manufacture, solar thermal heating and cooling, solar driven desalination and water purification, thermal storage, and nanostructured thermo-electric devices for energy harvesting.
Dr Sansom currently supervises PhD students on CSP or solar thermal related research topics. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA); a Member of the International Solar Energy Society (ISES), and the sole UK representative on the EERA (European Energy Research Alliance) Joint Programme on CSP (Concentrating Solar Power).