About us
SENSE, the Smart Energy Data Service, is the national service for smart energy systems data, unlocking the value of smart data (e.g., consumer behaviour, electric vehicles, consumption, networks) to enable high-impact cutting-edge multidisciplinary research. This supports innovation and joined-up policy solutions to the biggest sustainability, health and wellbeing and Net Zero policy challenges.
We gather and use Smart Energy Data to support research that benefits communities and the economy. SENSE helps accelerate the UK’s transition to Net Zero by unlocking crucial datasets and insights about electric vehicle access and energy use patterns across the country.
We are funded by Smart Data Research UK (SDR UK) part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Scroll down for more information on the SDR UK family of data services.
SENSE is led by the Energy Systems Catapult, leading a consortium including the Hartree Centre (part of STFC) as platform developers alongside AI model developers from Counting Lab and researchers from the University of Oxford, University College London, Birmingham University, University of Bristol, University of Reading, Leeds Beckett University and the University of Leeds.
Our consortium
Our mission
Fair accessto data
Access to data is critical. We ensure that accessing the data is as easy as possible for all, from researchers who are more comfortable downloading files to process in tools such as Excel, to those who want to use API access to big datasets and join across multiple datasets.
We strive to make our data as findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable as possible, in line with the FAIR principles for research data. We will aim to provide data as openly as possible, while maintaining adherence to licensing conditions and safeguarding sensitive data.
Research-ready datasets
We aim to be the place where researchers look for smart energy data. We provide safe and secure access to research-ready and customised datasets, combining smart energy data with contextual data. This includes smart mobility data, data from power networks, electric vehicles and charging networks and data from energy meters.
Alongside this, we host curated versions of open access data from sources such as the Office for National Statistics and Distribution Network Operators, making joining smart data to relevant contextual data easy.
Tackling critical policy challenges
The data we host is selected to facilitate research that tackles critical policy challenges around Net Zero, energy security and fairness.
Evidence-base for investment
Insights generated from our data will make it easier to decide where to invest in energy infrastructure by providing clear evidence to decision makers.
Meet the Team
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Richard Snape
Energy Systems Catapult
Co-director of SENSE
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Professor Peter Grindrod CBE
University of Oxford
Co-director of SENSE
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Stephen Haben
Energy Systems Catapult
Senior AI consultant
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Colin Singleton
CountingLab Limited
Technical Director
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Kez Sleeman
Energy Systems Catapult
Senior systems engineer
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Daniel Dimanov
CountingLab Limited
Principal Data Scientist
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David Meredith
STFC Hartree Centre
Research Software Engineering (RSE) group lead
Meet the Researchers
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Dr Phil Grünewald
University of Oxford
Energy data specialist, Department of Engineering Science and Tutor at Oriel College
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Dr Grant Wilson
University of Birmingham
Associate Professor
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Dr Jim Parker
Leeds Sustainability Institute
Reader
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Dr Caitlin Robinson
University of Bristol
Senior Academic Fellow, School of Geographical Sciences
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Dr Tina Fawcett
University of Oxford
Senior Researcher and Acting Leader
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Prof. Stefán Thor Smith
University of Reading
Professor
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Dr Marina Topouzi
University of Oxford
Researcher
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Prof. Peter Taylor
University of Leeds
Professor of Sustainable Energy Systems
Director of Energy Leeds
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Prof. Dimitrios Rovas
University College London
Professor of Building Simulation and Optimisation
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Paul Ruyssevelt
University College London
Chair of Energy & Building Performance
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Qian Fu
University of Birmingham
Data Engineer
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Dr Daniel Donaldson
University of Birmingham
Assistant Professor of Electrical Power Systems and Deputy Head of the Resilient Systems and Climate Action Research Group
Our network
The Smart Energy Data service is part of Smart Data Research UK, the UK’s national programme for smart data research. We are one of six data services in the SDR UK family.
