Personal statement

Profile

Professor Stephen McArthur is Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde. He is also the Distinguished Professor of Intelligent Energy System and has a significant track record in creating and leading academic interdisciplinary research, knowledge exchange and innovation programmes and centres.

He has held a range of leadership roles at the University of Strathclyde including Associate Principal and Executive Dean of Engineering, Deputy Associate Principal (Research, Innovation and Knowledge Exchange) and Head of Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering.

As an internationally recognised research leader and expert in artificial intelligence and intelligent systems for energy applications, he has delivered over £60 million of collaborative industrial programmes. He won the 2021 IEEE Richard Harold Kaufmann Award for outstanding contributions in industrial systems engineering, “for innovative contributions to the advancement of intelligent systems for power engineering applications”. He is also a specialist in low-carbon energy technologies and has created and led academic centres, collaborative research programmes and industrial-facing innovation centres.

As co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Bellrock Technology, he has helped design and create the deckchar.ai product. This supports the effective and rapid deployment of AI, intelligent system and data analytic products and services, and is being used by customers in industry sectors including energy, fintech and rail transport.

Professor McArthur is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the IEEE and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). He is a Board Member of Scottish Enterprise and a Non-Executive Director of the National Physical Laboratory. 

Research Leadership
He was the Principal Investigator leading the UKRI EnergyREV programme. This brought together 22 universities and 32 investigators to deliver novel research and innovation aimed at accelerating the uptake, value and impact of Smart Local Energy Systems. EnergyREV was a key component of the UK Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund’s Prospering from the Energy Revolution (PFER) programme. PFER championed investable and scalable local business models using integrated approaches to deliver cleaner and cheaper energy services.

He was also the Director of the joint Strathclyde and Imperial College EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Power Networks and Smart Grids. This trained doctoral level engineers who can realise the future low carbon smart grid. Professor McArthur was also Academic Director of the Advanced Nuclear Research Centre at Strathclyde, which delivers academic and industry collaborative programmes focused on plant lifetime extension and improved operations in the nuclear industry.