MSCA GECKO Innovation and Training Network

“Navigating the Energy Transition: Everyday practices with photovoltaics and energy feedback in island communities” 🏝️   🎓 PHD DEFENCE BY CHIARA TELLARINI 🎓     We are thrilled to announce that Chiara Tellarini will defend her PhD dissertation on March 6th, 2025! 👏     Chiara's research explores how photovoltaic (PV) systems reshape daily routines, social dynamics, and energy practices in island communities. Based on studies in the Aran Islands, it highlights challenges and opportunities in the renewable energy transition, emphasizing the interplay between technology and everyday life. The findings offer insights into energy adoption and strategies for improving transitions in similar communities.   📅 Date: 6th March, 2025   🕙 Time: 13:00-16:00   📍 Location: Seminar room 4.043, A. C. Meyers Vænge 15, 2450 København SV / ONLINE     SUPERVISORS - Supervisor, Senior Researcher Toke Haunstrup Bach Christensen, Department of the Built Environment, Aalborg University - Co-supervisor, Professor Kirsten Gram-Hanssen, Department of the Built Environment, Aalborg University - Co-supervisor, Senior Researcher Anders Rhiger Hansen, Department of the Built Environment, Aalborg University   ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE   - Senior Researcher Lars Kjerulf Petersen, Aarhus University, Denmark - Associate Professor Senja Susanna Laakso, University of Helsinki, Finland - Senior Researcher Jesper Ole Jensen, Department of the Built Environment, Aalborg University, Denmark (chairperson) MODERATOR   - Senior Researcher Hans Thor Andersen, hansthor@build.aau.dk, Department of the Built Environment, Aalborg University Further information about the PhD defence (and link to participate online): 👉 https://lnkd.in/gmdnXiKz   Join us in wishing Chiara the best of luck as he takes this significant step in his academic journey! 🎓🎉     📷 Photos: Aalborg University and Chiara Tellarini

Read about a study carried out by Joe Llewellyn , PhD student at Kungliga Tekniska högskolan and one of the early stage researchers in the MSCA GECKO Innovation and Training Network.

MØD FORSKEREN: KIRSTEN GRAM-HANSSEN UNDERSØGER, HVORDAN RAMMERNE OMKRING OS FORMER VORES HVERDAG 💬 “Vores hverdagsforbrug er ikke bare et personligt valg. Det er formet af de institutioner, normer og fysiske rammer, vi lever i.” Sådan forklarer professor på BUILD Kirsten Gram-Hanssen, der med en baggrund i både socioteknologi og samfundsvidenskab forsker i, hvordan vores hverdagsliv hænger sammen med større strukturer i samfundet🔍 💬 “Hvis vi vil skabe en reel grøn omstilling, skal vi forstå, hvordan vi kollektivt kan forandre de rammer, der former vores hverdagsforbrug.” Med en voksende bekymring for fremtiden begyndte Kirsten sin karriere som ingeniør på DTU. Her undersøgte hun, hvordan energi og miljø spiller sammen med vores sociale og fysiske omgivelser, og en vigtig indsigt begyndte at forme sig: Teknologi alene skaber ikke forandring – det gør de strukturer, vi bygger vores samfund op omkring🏡 💬 “Vi taler meget om at ændre adfærd, men adfærd opstår ikke i et tomrum. Vi skal ændre det, der gør bestemte forbrugsmønstre til normen.” Hvor politiske initiativer ofte fokuserer på teknologiske løsninger, viser Kirstens forskning, at rammerne omkring vores liv har afgørende betydning for, hvordan vi bruger ressourcer i hverdagen🌱 💬 “Vi kan selvfølgelig justere vores individuelle forbrug, men hvis vi virkelig vil skabe en forandring, skal vi tænke i større skala. Hvordan gør vi det nemt og attraktivt at leve bæredygtigt på samfundsniveau?” For Kirsten handler den grønne omstilling ikke om at diktere, hvordan vi bør leve, men om at forstå, hvordan de valg, vi træffer, formes af de systemer, vi er en del af – og hvordan vi kan ændre dem♻️ 💬 “Løsningen på klimakrisen handler ikke kun om at forstå, hvornår nok er nok, men om at ændre de strukturer, der definerer, hvad der er nok.”

"New Year, New Paper! 🎉 Presenting our latest work, 'Towards edge-computed NILM: Insights from a Mediterranean Use Case'. 🌍 This study leverages the Plegma dataset ( https://lnkd.in/dQiA6h2e ) , one of the first from the Mediterranean region, capturing local devices and consumption patterns. Our structured pruning approach achieves up to 48.85% MFLOPs reduction while maintaining strong disaggregation performance. This demonstrates the transformative potential of edge NILM for energy efficiency and real-world applications. 🚀 Check our paper: https://lnkd.in/dDrM7Vzr #AI #NILM #EnergyEfficiency #PlegmaDataset #EdgeComputing"

I’m happy to share our new paper in Nature Scientific Reports: ‘Assessing the impact of energy coaching with smart technology interventions to alleviate energy poverty' https://lnkd.in/eNNg9VWg Or read more about it from MIT News here: https://lnkd.in/eC2aDQri   I’m very proud of the work as a collaboration between MIT Senseable City Lab, AMS Institute, City of Amsterdam, Stichting !WOON and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, as part of the MSCA GECKO Innovation and Training Network. Thanks to co-authors Titus Venverloo, Fábio Duarte, Carlo Ratti, Cecilia Katzeff, Daniel Pargman & Fredrik Johansson. Feel free to reach out if you want to learn more!

🎉 Excited to share that our work 'Plegma Dataset' (https://lnkd.in/dQiA6h2e) is gaining remarkable traction in the scientific community! 🌍📊 In less than a year since its release, the dataset has been utilized in several groundbreaking studies, including: 🔹 A Semi-Supervised Low-Complexity Appliance Identification and Monitoring System for Residential Houses (https://lnkd.in/dTXw2mda) Nimantha Madhushan 🔹 Towards edge-computed NILM: Insights from a Mediterranean Use Case (https://lnkd.in/dDrM7Vzr) Nikos Ipiotis 🔹 XNILMBoost: Explainability-informed load disaggregation training enhancement using attribution priors (https://lnkd.in/dTSRaYAZ) Djordje Batic, Lina Stankovic 🔹 Artificial intelligence in environmental monitoring: in-depth analysis (https://lnkd.in/djjPZpne) Emran Alotaibi, PhD It’s also inspiring to see our work influencing other dataset initiatives like: 📌 Descriptor: A Norwegian Positive Energy Neighborhood Dataset of Electrical Measurements and Interviews on Energy Practices (NorPEN) (https://lnkd.in/dqdMUYM7) Apostolos Vavouris, Vladimir Stankovic 📌 Year-Round Appliance Electricity Monitoring of a Hybrid Ventilated Single-Family Residence in Hyderabad, India (https://lnkd.in/dvwk6A5r) Jyotirmay Mathur The potential of the Plegma Dataset to drive advancements in energy efficiency, NILM, and the energy transition excites me. Can’t wait to see more innovative applications and studies leveraging this resource! 🚀💡 Here’s to a sustainable future powered by data-driven insights! 🌱✨ Paper link: https://lnkd.in/dQiA6h2e Dataset link:https://lnkd.in/d6mwhawz #EnergyTransition #ResearchImpact #DataForGood #AI #EnergyEfficiency

Congratulations to Apostolos Parasyris who secured Best Scholar Award for his multidisciplinary research, bridging the gap between Civil Engineering, Machine Learning and Earth Sciences https://lnkd.in/eUeGHdtX This is exemplified by recent articles https://lnkd.in/eX-at9Az and https://lnkd.in/e6ZZezvF

I’m happy to share our new paper ‘Citizen perceptions and interactions towards self-sufficiency, community plot ratio and civic generosity within sustainable neighbourhoods’ https://lnkd.in/eyNxx__c The work is from a collaboration between KTH Royal Institute of Technology, as part of the MSCA GECKO Innovation and Training Network. Thanks to co-authors Cecilia Katzeff, Daniel Pargman & Fredrik Johansson and the citizens that helped make this paper possible!  🔍 Our paper at a glance:  United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) design indexes for sustainable neighbourhoods, include self-sufficiency, community plot ratio and civic generosity. These novel indexes were explored using video ethnography from a citizen perspective showing how their actions contribute to their development. Feel free to reach out if you want to learn more!   

On November 11th, Nickhil Sharma participated in an interview with BBC Norfolk Radio, where they explored the rollout of smart meters in Great Britain. Despite being one of the most expensive government-initiated programs in British history, these internet-enabled energy meters have faced criticism for failing to meet targets and not performing as expected. During the interview, Nickhil shared insights from his doctoral research on why the meters might not work, how to identify potential issues, and discussed my research on how overly optimistic narratives that present technologies as quick fixes for complex problems—like optimizing household energy use—often fall short. He emphasized the importance of researchers, citizens, policymakers, and technology developers being cautious about perpetuating such narratives. Recording available until November 30th at https://lnkd.in/etZpqNbp

🎉 Excited to announce that I presented my last paper as a Marie Curie PhD Candidate in the GECKO project at the IEEE SyNERGY MED 2024 conference in Cyprus: "Towards Edge-Computed NILM: Insights from a Mediterranean Use Case." This work was a collaboration between Plegma Labs, Intracom Telecom, and National Technical University of Athens, conducted as part of the MSCA GECKO Innovation and Training Network and ODEON project. Together, we explored our first edge-computed NILM approach using the Plegma Dataset ( https://lnkd.in/dQiA6h2e ) , one of the first from the Mediterranean area capturing local devices and energy consumption patterns and one of the basic outcomes of the GEKCO project. In this paper, we introduce a structured pruning methodology tailored for Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring (NILM). Our approach combines unstructured pruning to identify optimal sparsity in each layer with structured pruning to remove units accordingly. This dual approach preserves essential feature information, achieving up to a 48.85% reduction in model MFLOPs while maintaining high disaggregation accuracy—significantly optimizing inference without compromising performance. The SyNERGY MED 2024 IEEE conference was an inspiring venue to exchange ideas on energy transition in the Mediterranean. It was exciting to discuss critical issues like flexibility, interoperability, and energy conservation with peers dedicated to advancing this field. Ending this journey on such a high note has been truly fulfilling, and I’m thrilled for what’s next. 🚀 #NILM #EdgeComputing #EnergyTransition #MarieCurie #SynergyMEd #Mediterranean #EnergyConservation #Research #Collaboration #PlegmaLabs #ICOM #NTUA