Professor Priti Parikh, University College London

Priti Parikh is a Professor in Infrastructure Engineering and International Development at the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction at UCL. She is the founder director of UCL’s Engineering for International Development Centre. This centre focuses on engineering solutions for water-sanitation-energy in low-middle income countries.

Priti was named as one of the 100 most influential academics in the UK Government for her work in climate and sustainability and top 50 women in engineering in UK in 2022. She is a Council member at the Institution of Civil Engineers and sits on the board of Engineers Against Poverty and Happold Foundation. Her work has influenced policy and practice especially on evidencing links between infrastructure and Sustainable Development Goals.

Her fellowship research looks at energy access in resource challenged settings in sub-Saharan Africa through solar solutions. Working closely with industry partner Bboxx the research uses machine learning models combined with qualitative methods to understand uptake of clean energy solutions in communities. It explores how communities move up the clean energy ladder, fuel poverty and barriers for scaling up solar solutions.