Alycia Leonard

Alycia is a Senior Research Associate in Energy Systems at the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on the spatial design of sustainable and inclusive energy systems which account for both large-scale economic opportunities and local community needs. She uses mixed-method and multi-disciplinary approaches which combine data-driven spatial analysis and machine learning with nuanced consideration of policy context and stakeholder perspectives to investigate culturally, financially, and environmentally sustainable energy access solutions. Presently, Alycia works on the Climate Compatible Growth (CCG), Strategic Hydrogen Integration for Low-Carbon Development (SHIELD), and UK Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions (UKPACT) research programmes. Within CCG, she focuses on subnational energy systems planning and spatial cost modelling of green hydrogen development opportunities. Her current geographies of focus are Kenya, Zambia, and Ukraine.

Alongside her research, she has also taught Oxford undergraduate students in circuit analysis, digital electronics, communication networks, computer vision, signal analysis, project management, and engineering ethics. Alycia completed her DPhil in Engineering Science at the University of Oxford as a Clarendon Scholar, and her BEng in Electrical Engineering at the Memorial University of Newfoundland.

• Geospatial design of energy access systems.
• Green hydrogen development and export.
• Economic, environmental, political, and cultural sustainability of energy services.
• Resource curse dynamics in renewable energy systems.
• Subnational energy planning (i.e. at district or county levels).
• Application of machine learning in energy system planning.
• Practical strategies to incorporate local values and needs in energy system design.

For a full listing, please refer to Google Scholar and ORCID.

Müller, L. A., Leonard, A., Trotter, P. A., & Hirmer, S. (2023). Green hydrogen production and use in low-and middle-income countries: A least-cost geospatial modelling approach applied to Kenya. Applied Energy, 343, 121219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.121219

Leonard, A., Ahsan, A., Charbonnier, F., & Hirmer, S. (2022). The resource curse in renewable energy: A framework for risk assessment. Energy Strategy Reviews, 41, 100841. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esr.2022.100841

Leonard, A., Wheeler, S., & McCulloch, M. (2022). Power to the people: Applying citizen science and computer vision to home mapping for rural energy access. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 108, 102748. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2022.102748

Hirmer, S. A., Mazzone, A., Leonard, A., & Conforti, C. (2022). The power of language: Exploring values, empowerment dynamics and communication strategies for gender-inclusive energy service design in rural Uganda. Energy Research & Social Science, 85, 102379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102379