Oxford, 18 November 2025
The ZERO Institute’s Thesis Awards recognise outstanding postgraduate students in the zero-carbon energy transition and related subjects, at the University of Oxford.
In this year’s inaugural edition, we were delighted to partner with the MSc in Energy Systems (Department of Engineering Science), the MSc in Environmental Change and Management (Environmental Change Institute / School of Geography and the Environment), and the MSc in Sustainability, Enterprise and the Environment (Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment / School of Geography and the Environment).
In a joint decision with the course directors, the 2025 ZERO Thesis Award winners are:
Joy Hou, with her dissertation “Holding Methane Majors Accountable: Climate Discourse, Greenwashing, and Litigation in the U.S. Meat Industry” (Environmental Change and Management), supervised by Dr. Benjamin Franta.
This work makes a pioneering contribution to understanding the climate accountability of the U.S. meat industry, an often overlooked but significant emitter of methane. It bridges communication analysis with legal and regulatory perspectives, identifying pathways for climate litigation under consumer protection and accountability frameworks. The dissertation demonstrates originality, a sound mixed-methods approach, and practical impact, aligning with the ZERO Institute’s mission to address energy generation, use, and just transition. Its emphasis on holding powerful agricultural actors’ accountable highlights the importance of justice in achieving a zero-carbon future.
Sunshine Tanphiphat, with dissertation “Beyond Steady-State CCES: Modelling Frictional Losses and Dispatch Dynamics” (Energy Systems), with supervisors Profs B Rosic and A Yang.
The dissertation investigates the complex question ‘How can the Liu-Gulen Model be extended into one which reveals system integration insights?’, which extends a foundational model in the domain of variability management at scale, a problem that the UK is already experiencing and can have significant real-world impact around compressed gas energy storage and carbon capture and storage. It is an extremely high-quality dissertation, with complex modelling addressing such a challenging topic. A worthy winner of this year’s ZERO Thesis Award.
Morgan Smith (Sustainability, Enterprise and the Environment), supervised by Prof Sam Fankhauser and Dr Pete Barbrook-Johnson, with the dissertation “Power, Price, and Place: Modelling how electricity market pricing reform influences generation investment and siting”.
Against the backdrop of a rapidly evolving electricity grid, with a growing share of variable renewable energy sources, the dissertation evaluates the potential advantages of locational electricity pricing. The dissertation is carefully structured, elegantly written, and thoroughly substantiated. It demonstrates strong analytical ability, rigorously comparing outcomes under locational and uniform pricing frameworks and offering a thoughtful interpretation of their implications. This is an impressive, well-executed piece of scholarship that reflects significant effort, intellectual depth, and academic maturity, addressing themes that are at the core of the ZERO Institute’s priorities.
Our Honourable Mentions go to:
Jessica Ibanes (Energy Systems), for her dissertation “Best practices and innovations in the heating sector to achieve net zero buildings by 2035 and 2050”, supervised by Prof Jesus Lizana. This is an extremely important topic and crucial in terms of energy demand for future building developments, allowing us to understand which key standards are required to be met and how other standards must be surpassed.
Clara Cecil (Sustainability, Enterprise and the Environment), for her dissertation “Silicon Desert: The Political Ecology of Digital Infrastructure and Agricultural Displacement in Arizona’s Era of Limits”, supervised by Dr. Aoife Bennett. The study adopts a political ecology lens to trace how authority, influence, and decision-making operate across multiple levels of governance amid territorial–digital transformations. The dissertation is carefully conceived, rigorously executed, and deeply relevant to contemporary debates.
Case studies based on the Award winners’ work will be published on this website soon.
