DAFNI Newsletter, July 2026

Introduction

We are pleased to announce to the community that our new feature called ‘DAFNI Pages’ is now available on the DAFNI platform. This enables users to showcase their work in one central place, highlighting any stand-out assets, linking to any publications, affiliations, external sites and more.

Our project work with the NERC Digital Solutions Hub (DSH) project is nearly complete and we’re excited to soon launch our new DAFNI ‘Data Bridge’ tool. This piece of work has been led by Saiful Khan, Senior Data Scientist, who has collaborated with STFC’s JASMIN and the Centre of Environmental Analysis (CEDA) to build a tool which enables the sharing of data between the DAFNI and CEDA platforms.

This benefits academics manually handling data and significantly accelerates research workflows. We look forward to sharing more details on this next month, if you would like to use this tool or have any queries please contact info@dafni.ac.uk.

Following our DAFNI 2026 Conference update last month that we will be running a Clean Energy workshop in partnership with EPSRC’s Supergen Energy Networks Hub, I am delighted to announce that Cadent Gas and Kraken Technologies will be joining us!

Professor Robin Preece will lead the workshop. He is the Deputy Director of the Supergen Energy Networks Hub, and leads on research focused on making power systems more resilient. Based at the University of Manchester, he works with industry, government, and academic partners to tackle the challenges of the energy transition. His research focuses on the operation, stability, and resilience of future low-carbon power systems, with particular emphasis on integrating renewable generation and inverter-based technologies into secure and reliable electricity networks. Cadent Gas is the UK’s largest gas distribution network, bringing gas to 11 million homes and businesses. Kraken Technologies is the industry’s leading operating system for energy, powered by Utility-Grade AI TM. Kraken Technologies has been developed specifically to overcome the unique and evolving challenges facing the industry today and works with global giants, including EDF, Tokyo Gas and Octopus Energy.

This workshop is an excellent opportunity to bring together perspectives from academia, government and industry to explore shared challenges, opportunities and priorities in this area. Insights gathered will inform a report and impact report, which will be shared with UKRI Councils and government to help shape future thinking and activity.

In case you missed it, you can catch up on our latest webinar ‘Optimise your LinkedIn use for researchers’ with our Media Manager, Catherine Dhanjal. Catherine shared practical guidance on using LinkedIn effectively to increase impact and engagement of your work and to enhance your professional profile whether you are at the start of your journey with LinkedIn or further along.

Dr Brian Matthews, DAFNI Programme Lead