Firdous Ul Nazir
Senior Lecturer
Department of EngineeringDr Firdous Ul Nazir is a Senior Lecturer in Electrical Power Engineering at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU), where he has been a faculty member since August 2022. He is also the Programme Leader for the Meng/BEng/BEng (Hons) Electrical Power Engineering programme at GCU. Previously he served as the Academic Director for the MEng Electrical Power Systems Engineering programme delivered at GCU in collaboration with the African Leadership College (ALC).
He is also a Research Fellow at Imperial College London. His research portfolio is supported by over £800k in personal grant funding from UKRI, Horizon Europe, and other sources, alongside £200k in consultancy awards.
Dr Nazir is currently Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on several major research projects:
- FITNESS (2024–2028): Horizon Europe MSCA Doctoral Network focused on smart grid innovation (£268k, GCU Lead)
- Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Smarter Grid Solutions (2024–2026): A two-year UKRI-funded initiative to enhance commercial power system tools (£179k, PI)
- CREAM (2025–2026): UKRI-funded project to provide clean rural energy for agriculture and medicine in low-income contexts (Co-I)
In recognition of his work at the academia-industry interface, Dr Nazir has been named a finalist for the 2025 UKRI KTP Best Academic Award.
Prior to joining GCU in 2022, he worked as a Research Associate and Visiting Researcher at Imperial College London, contributing to high-impact international projects such as the Joint UK-India Clean Energy Centre (JUICE) and the EU-India H2020 project RE-EMPOWERED. Earlier, he held a Lecturer position at NIT Srinagar and worked in industry as an Aviation Officer with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
Dr Nazir earned his PhD in Power Systems from Imperial College London, funded by the Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation and the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. He holds an M.Tech in Power Systems from IIT Roorkee and a B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from NIT Srinagar, where he graduated first in class in both programmes.
His research interests include:
- Power system operation, control, and optimization
- Integration of renewables and distributed energy resources
- Smart electric vehicle charging and V2G technologies
- Digital twins for modern power networks
- Probabilistic and robust optimization methods for smart grids
Dr Nazir has authored more than 25 publications, including multiple IEEE Transactions papers and a book chapter. He serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Modern Power Systems and Clean Energy (MPCE), is a Senior Member of IEEE, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
He supervises doctoral, postdoctoral, and MSc research projects, and teaches across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, delivering modules like electrical distribution systems and power electronic drives.