“I hope to transmit the curiosity and the fun of developing research”
Francesco Fuso-Nerini has recently been appointed professor at KTH. He researches how energy systems can evolve to meet climate and sustainability goals. Here, he talks about his path to becoming a professor, why he finds academia so much fun, and the questions he hopes to help solve in the years ahead.
Congratulations on your new professorship! What does becoming a professor mean to you – personally and professionally?
“I feel it’s a great honour to be promoted to professor. Not long ago, I was a student listening to KTH professors. Professionally, I feel more than ever the responsibility and duty to help new generations of students learn and grow in their careers.”
You’re currently the youngest professor at KTH. How did you get here so quickly?
“I think the main thing is that I’ve had the privilege of working with many good colleagues and mentors who have helped me grow in different roles – at KTH, but also in my previous positions at the International Energy Agency, University College London and the University of Oxford, among others.”
“In general, I think academia is fun. We can innovate, work with young people, and collaborate with researchers and practitioners from all over the world. That definitely helps me put a lot of energy into the job. I’m also a curious person, and I try to keep an open mind and develop new ideas and research as they emerge.”
Your research has evolved over the years. What has driven that change?
“My research area is energy systems. My work involves understanding how energy systems at regional and national scales can evolve in the coming years to achieve goals such as energy access, climate action and sustainability.”
“For example, some of my work has been developed in close collaboration with policymakers and practitioners in low-income countries, using research tools to support efforts to provide electricity access to the more than 700 million people who still lack it, and clean cooking access to the nearly 2 billion people who lack it.”
So how did your research expand beyond energy systems?
“In today’s hyperconnected world, it is difficult to focus only on energy systems without looking at their connections with other systems. My work has therefore expanded towards broader climate and sustainability transitions.”
“As director of the KTH Climate Action Centre, I work across disciplines with researchers from a variety of fields to understand how the climate transition can unfold in practice, while taking into account potential synergies and trade-offs with all the Sustainable Development Goals. In recent years, I have also done extensive work on the role of AI in achieving climate and sustainability goals.”
What are you most interested in solving right now?
“I think the most interesting part is how we can achieve all these complex goals together. How can energy systems change quickly enough to achieve both universal access to energy and net-zero emissions? How can we do that while leveraging synergies – and avoiding trade-offs – with the Sustainable Development Goals? And what role will AI have in all of this?
“These are some of the questions that really interest me.”
What do you see as the biggest challenge for your field over the next 5–10 years?
“On top of answering some of the questions mentioned above, I think it is about continuing to learn how to collaborate across research fields and silos. The challenges of the energy and climate transition span engineering, social sciences, medical sciences and other fields. Only solutions developed across all those fields can successfully drive such a complex transition.”
And what do you hope to give your students and younger researchers?
“I hope to be able to transmit the curiosity and the fun of doing research. More than any specific knowledge, I want to teach students the skills and flexibility of mind to help solve any problem in a world that is changing faster than ever.”
What’s coming up for you?
“I’m very excited to start working with the Stockholm Centre for Climate Transition (ClimTrio), a newly funded Strategic Research Area starting in 2027. It will bring together KTH, Stockholm University and Karolinska Institutet, with the goal of speeding up the transition to a net-negative emissions and climate-resilient society.
“The programme will bring together researchers across the three universities, and I expect many innovations to emerge from working together across all those fields.”
Text: Anna Gullers