Dr Long Seng To

PhD UNSW, BA UNSW, BEng UNSW, FHEA

  • RA Eng Engineering for Development Research Fellow
  • Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Development
  • STEER Joint-Director

Academic Career

  • 2022 - present: Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Development, Loughborough University
  • 2021 - Joint Director, Centre for Sustainable Transitions: Energy, Environment & Resilience (STEER), Loughborough University
  • 2018 - present: RAEng Engineering for Development Research Fellow, Loughborough University
  • 2021 - 2022: Lecturer in Resilient Energy Systems, Loughborough University
  • 2017-2018: Research Associate, Geography & Environment, Loughborough University
  • 2015- 2017: Research Fellow, Dept. of Science, Technology, Engineering & Public Policy (STEaPP), University College London (UCL)
  • 2014 - 2015: Research Fellow, Centre for Environment & Sustainability, University of Surrey
  • 2007- 2012: Associate Lecturer & Tutor, School of Photovoltaic & Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales

Professional Responsibilities

  • 2022 - present: Chair, Steering Committee, Framework for Energy Security & Resilience in the Pacific
  • 2022 - present: Member, Research and Enterprise Committee, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Loughborough University
  • 2021 - present: Chair, UN Economic Commission for Europe Expert Group on Resource Classification, Renewables Working Group, Solar Subgroup (member since 2018)
  • 2021 - present: Member, Advisory Board, Centre for Postdoctoral Development in Infrastructure, Cities & Energy (C-DICE)
  • 2021 - present: Member, Steering Group, Global Platform for Action on Sustainable Energy in Displacement Settings
  • 2018 - present: Member, Management Committee, Low Carbon Energy for Development Network
  • 2017 - present: Honorary Lecturer, STEaPP, UCL
  • 2017-2018: Editor, Low Carbon Energy for Development Network Briefing Paper Series
  • 2017: Member, Management Committee, Humanitarian Institute, UCL
  • 2016: Member, Equalities and Diversity Review Panel, STEaPP, UCL
  • 2016: Member, Research and Ethics Committee, STEaPP, UCL
  • 2015-2019: Visiting Researcher, Centre for Environment and Sustainability, University of Surrey
  • 2015-2016: Founding Chair, Energy & Development Group, UCL
  • 2007-2008: Founding Chair, Climate Group, Engineers Without Borders Australia

Prizes and Awards

  • 2022: Early Career Researcher Excellence Award, School of Social Sciences & Humanities, Loughborough University
  • 2017: Achievement Award for outstanding research performance, Loughborough University

Long Seng’s research tackles the challenge of providing access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all in the context of increasing long-term pressures and sudden shocks, such as climate change, disasters and conflicts. She holds an Engineering for Development Research Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering on enhancing community energy resilience using renewable energy in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

She is also Co-Investigator of the MECS programme where she leads work on modern energy cooking services in humanitarian settings, and Co-Investigator of the CESETproject which focuses on community energy in Ethiopia, Malawi and Mozambique. Dr To serves as Chair of the UN Expert Group on Resource Management Solar Subgroup (which developed the first UN standard for solar energy resource classification) and Chair of the Framework for Energy Security and Resilience in the Pacific Steering Committee (the overarching energy policy for the Pacific Islands in 2021-2030).

Her previous work includes providing capacity building support for the UK Aid funded Transforming Energy Access programme; mapping the synergies and trade-offs between energy and the Sustainable Development Goals; agro-industries and clean energy in Africa; capacity development for renewable energy projects in rural China and Indonesia; solar-powered water purification in remote areas in Australia; and local manufacture of solar photovoltaic systems in Nicaragua.

Long Seng’s teaching focuses on sustainable energy, international development and climate policy across a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules.

 

Current Postgraduate Research Students

  • Chukwudi Ogunna: A tool for adapting renewable energy solutions to enhance resilience building
  • George Foden: Sustainable Housing as a Contributor to Community Resilience
  • Carla Cannone: Climate compatible growth
  • Vincent Mwale:Harnessing the nexus between hydro mini-grids and community energy resilience: Case Study of Bondo Hydro Mini-Grid (Mzuzu University)
  • Kondwani Gondwe: Empirical Modelling of the Nexus between Solar Photovoltaic Irrigation Systems and Community Resilience in Malawi (Mzuzu University)