Dr Benjamin Robinson
IAS Residential Fellow
Energy Team Lead at Outsight International
Ben has a passion for innovations which can create transformative pathways to a sustainable future for all. His interdisciplinary background as an academic, practitioner, and entrepreneur enabled him to develop strategic and technical skills that cover a range of energy technologies and methodologies.
Through his work alongside international development and humanitarian initiatives ranging from 20K to 2M USD he has cultivated a diverse range of practical skills as well as a deep appreciation of the people and cultural systems that influence project sustainability. Ultimately, Ben has devoted his working life to creating, managing, and coordinating energy systems and services that benefit others to accelerate climate solutions and create a more just world.
Currently, Ben’s main roles are as the Energy Team lead at social innovation consultancy, Outsight International, and as an independent Energy Expert working with the International Development and Humanitarian energy sector to create and deliver innovative ecosystems that embed the voices of the marginalised groups directly in the conceptualisation, implementation, and evaluation of energy programs. He is presently a co-investigator on the 1.55M USD InnovateUK Smart Biogas III Project. In the last few years Ben has worked on three large scale projects, the Humanitarian Energy and Energy for Displacement Project, the InnovateUK Smart Biogas II Project, and IOMs market-based Humanitarian Energy project in Mozambique (in partnership with NORCAP).
In addition to other smaller energy projects (such as with the Humanitarian Innovation Fund), he is an Honorary Research Fellow at Coventry University, an Honorary Research Associate at the University of Nottingham, and a fellow at the ZINC Venture Builder Environment program.
During their IAS Residential Fellowship, Dr Robinson is collaborating with Professor Ed Brown from the School of Social Sciences and Humanities.