Professor Effa (Aoife) Foley is Chair in Net Zero Infrastructure at The University of Manchester and leads the AVANTERN Group. A globally recognised expert in sustainable energy systems and infrastructure planning, she brings nearly 30 years of experience across industry and academia. Ranked among the top 2% of scientists globally (h-index 55, 14,000+ citations), she has secured over £25 million in research funding.
From 2014 to 2023, she managed Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, serving as Editor-in-Chief for the final five years and guiding its impact factor from 5.9 to 16.3. She publishes in leading journals, including Nature, Nature Energy, and npj Urban Sustainability, and frequently features in media outlets such as the BBC, RTÉ, Le Figaro, TV5, and The Times.
She holds a BEng in Civil Engineering, an MSc in Transport and Environmental Engineering, and a PhD in Energy Engineering. A former adjunct at MIT, she advises governments and industry on energy transitions, climate resilience, and policy.
She has chaired or evaluated proposals for the EU, A*STAR, UKRI, US NSF, Swiss National Science Foundation, Academy of Finland, and others. Professor Foley received the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Bill Curtin Medal for outstanding work in civil engineering, particularly for innovation and real-world impact, and the Jose Maria Sarriegi Major Catastrophe Research Award from the Queen of Spain in 2019. More recently, in 2024, she was awarded the Chinese Academy of Sciences President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) award.
She is widely recognised as a leading authority on sustainability and climate-aligned technologies in energy systems, with research spanning hydrogen, energy storage, digital twins, energy justice, and equitable net-zero transitions.
