Section News

IEEE UK and Ireland Section PES Chapter Forms Women in Power Committee

The main mission of Women In Power (WiP) is to advance the world through the creativity and innovation of diverse leadership, and to foster the careers, connections and talent of women in the power industry to achieve their full potential and become leaders of the future.

The WiP initiative serves ambitious, professional women in the power and energy industry looking for leadership positions and career advancement – the skills, networking and mentorship offered benefit women throughout the industry, whether they are engineers, attorneys, policy makers or accountants but, this initiative is not exclusive for women! Therefore, everybody is welcome to join and participate.

Get to know the WiP UK and Ireland Committee

Our role is to promote female power engineers in academia and industry, liaising between those who have established themselves in their respective area and are now serving as role models or mentors, and early or mid-career engineers who seek guidance and advice on their way to becoming leaders themselves.

Chair – Jelena Ponocko

Jelena Ponocko is a Lecturer in Distance Learning at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Manchester, UK. Her research focuses on data analytics and the analysis of the effects of wide-scale demand side management on distribution and transmission network performance.

Vice Chair – Kelly Loukatou

Angeliki Loukatou is a research engineer in the Smart Energy Systems team of EDF R&D UK centre, developing optimisation tools for optimal valuation of battery storage. Prior to that, Angeliki was working as a Modelling Analyst at Energy Systems Catapult, and previously, she pursued her PhD in battery storage co-located with renewable generation, in the CDT in Power Networks at the University of Manchester.

Secretary – Ana Radovanovic

Ana Radovanovic received the BSc and MSc degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of Belgrade, Serbia. She is currently working toward the PhD degree at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Manchester, UK in the areas of renewable energy sources and power system dynamics.

Media Co-ordinator – Rosa Serrano

Rosa Serrano is a PhD researcher at the University of Manchester. She is working on developing tools for improving the resilience of power systems against wildfires. Rosa obtained her title of civil engineer of industries and her MSc at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. She had performed different roles in the Chilean public and private sectors.

Industry Liaison – Despina Yiakoumi

Despina Yiakoumi is a researcher in energy economics at the Cyprus Institute in Cyprus. Prior to this, she worked as a Lecturer at the University of Aberdeen and as a Transport Analyst at Energy Systems Catapult (ESC) in the UK. Previously, she pursued her PhD in electricity market design at the University of Aberdeen.

We invite you to become a WiP member (it’s free!) by clicking here and benefit from assistance in finding a mentor/mentee, free webinars, access to special panels at PES conferences, networking opportunities and much more.

WiP in the UK and Ireland will be organising workshops, webinars and similar events to facilitate knowledge exchange, networking and collaboration within and between academia and industry. Be free to get in touch with our committee if you wish to learn more or suggest an event.