GIOIA FALCONE

I champion the Sustainable Net-Zero challenge in engineering and beyond. I regard energy as a service to sustainable development and I am particularly interested in sustainable solutions that bring together people, places and the environments.

I hold a Laurea Summa Cum Laude in environmental-georesources engineering from Sapienza University of Rome, an MSc in petroleum engineering from Imperial College London and a PhD in chemical engineering from Imperial College London.

In July 2018, I joined the University of Glasgow, where I am the Director of the Glasgow Centre for Sustainable Energy, Associate Director of the Centre for Sustainable Solutions, Deputy Head of the Energy and Sustainability Research Group and member of the University's Sustainability Working Group. 

I was previously Professor and Head of the Geo-Energy Engineering Centre at Cranfield University. Between 2011 and early 2016, I held the W3 Endowed Chair and Professorship in Geothermal Energy Systems at Clausthal University of Technology, Germany, where I was also Head of the new Department of Geothermal Engineering and Integrated Energy Systems, and Director of the Institute of Petroleum Engineering. I was formerly an assistant and then associate professor in petroleum engineering at Texas A&M University, Chevron Corporation Faculty Fellow and faculty member of the Ocean Drilling and Sustainable Earth Science (ODASES) partnership. Prior to joining academia, I worked with Eni-Agip, Enterprise Oil UK, Shell E&P UK and Total E&P UK, covering both offshore and onshore assignments.

I am Vice-Chairperson of the Bureau of the Expert Group on Resource Management of the United Nations Commission for Europe (UNECE) and Co-Chair of its Renewables Sub-Group.  I have served on the BEIS (UK Government Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. now DESNZ) Energy Working Group, chaired by the Chief Scientific Advisor to BEIS, advising on the development of Technical Screening Criteria in the energy sector for the UK Green Taxonomy. I serve on the Board of the Energy Technology Partnership (ETP) and on the Directorate of Scottish Carbon Capture and Sequestration (SCCS). I have served on the 2020-2023 Board of Directors of the International Geothermal Association (IGA), the Scientific Committee of the 2022 and 2025 European Geothermal Congress (EGC), and the Scientific Committee of the 2023 and 2025 International Conference on Multiphase Flow and Heat Transfer (ICMFHT’23, ICMFHT'25). Until June 2021, I was Chair of the Academic Panel of Oil and Gas Technology Centre (OGCT) and, following its repositioning, I became Member of the Net Zero Technology Centre Academic Advisory Panel until early 2023. I am Member of the UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Centre (UKCCSRC) and University liaison for its membership to the Life Cycle Initiative, hosted by UNEP, and the European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC).

Given my blend of international industry, research and teaching experience, I have an interest in a variety of engineering problems across the field of energy and sustainability.