Dr Tony Heynen is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Chemical Engineering and Program Coordinator for UQ's Sustainable Energy postgraduate programs, which develop change-makers to lead the clean energy transition. Tony has responsibility for coordinating the program and its professional research projects, plus teaching into the Energy & Development and Energy Investment & Finance courses, amongst others.
Tony pursues cross-disciplinary research at the intersection of energy and sustainability across three major themes:
Tony has a strong operational background: he is a Chartered Professional Engineer with extensive management experience in the resources and consulting sectors, including as Country Manager for Italian energy company Eni in Timor-Leste. This gives him strong attributes when engaging with stakeholders and communities, including authenticity, diplomacy and leadership.
Impact and connections with stakeholders and decision-makers are the main motivations for Tony's research endeavours, and a core measure of his success.
In particular, he has forged strong collaborative relationships with Technical University Munich and the University of Lausanne through an Erasmus+ mobility grant in 2023. Tony is currently developing research partnerships with these universities to examine the sustainability and legacy of hosting mega-events such as the Olympics. This has built on his early 2023 work that produced a sustainability assessment tool to evaluate the composition of Climate Positive strategies for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Within the Energy Poverty field, Tony has used his research to inform discussions with government and business stakeholders. In India, this resulted in improved transparency regarding energy access for “Base of the Pyramid” consumers. In Timor-Leste, Tony's research suggested a number of recommendations to stimulate greater energy services in communities. In Papua New Guinea, Tony led a train-the-trainer program that provided youth leaders with the skills and techniques to engage with communities about energy needs and aspirations, contributing to a more democratic development process.
Tony’s research and engagement translates into the continual improvement of UQ’s Sustainable Energy postgraduate programs. For example, Tony's engagement with Ergon Energy over a number of years has resulted in students working on real-world projects on the energy transition in remote Queensland locations, with the best solutions presented back to Ergon Energy. This results in an improved student experience and greater industry relevancy.
Journal Article: Electrification in post-conflict Timor-Leste: Opportunities for energy services to enhance rural agricultural development
Heynen, Anthony P., MacGinley, Tamara J. and Aguilar, Luis E. (2024). Electrification in post-conflict Timor-Leste: Opportunities for energy services to enhance rural agricultural development. Energy Research & Social Science, 110 103433, 103433. doi: 10.1016/j.erss.2024.103433
Conference Publication: Sustainability leadership for the energy transition: a case study of role-playing to enhance authentic learning
Heynen, Anthony P. and Tonkes, Elliot J. (2023). Sustainability leadership for the energy transition: a case study of role-playing to enhance authentic learning. 51st Annual Conference of the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI), Dublin, Ireland, 11 - 14 September 2023. Brussels, Belgium: European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI). doi: 10.21427/4WY4-NM66
Journal Article: Sustainable legacies of a Climate Positive Olympic Games: an assessment of carbon offsets and renewable energy for Brisbane 2032
Heynen, Anthony P. and Vanaraja Ambeth, Prabhakaran (2023). Sustainable legacies of a Climate Positive Olympic Games: an assessment of carbon offsets and renewable energy for Brisbane 2032. Sustainability, 15 (2) 1207, 1-26. doi: 10.3390/su15021207
Overcoming barriers in achieving universal sustainable energy services
Doctor Philosophy
Heynen, Anthony P., MacGinley, Tamara J. and Aguilar, Luis E. (2024). Electrification in post-conflict Timor-Leste: Opportunities for energy services to enhance rural agricultural development. Energy Research & Social Science, 110 103433, 103433. doi: 10.1016/j.erss.2024.103433
Heynen, Anthony P. and Vanaraja Ambeth, Prabhakaran (2023). Sustainable legacies of a Climate Positive Olympic Games: an assessment of carbon offsets and renewable energy for Brisbane 2032. Sustainability, 15 (2) 1207, 1-26. doi: 10.3390/su15021207
Energy literacy: democratizing energy access initiatives in Papua New Guinea
Heynen, Anthony P., Herington, Matthew J., Jacobson, Craig B., Sar, Lilly P. and Lant, Paul A. (2023). Energy literacy: democratizing energy access initiatives in Papua New Guinea. Energy democracies for sustainable futures. (pp. 157-164) edited by Majia Nadesan, Martin J. Pasqualetti and Jennifer Keahey. London, United Kingdom: Academic Press. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-822796-1.00017-6
Heynen, Anthony P., MacGinley, Tamara J. and Aguilar, Luis E. (2024). Electrification in post-conflict Timor-Leste: Opportunities for energy services to enhance rural agricultural development. Energy Research & Social Science, 110 103433, 103433. doi: 10.1016/j.erss.2024.103433
Heynen, Anthony P. and Vanaraja Ambeth, Prabhakaran (2023). Sustainable legacies of a Climate Positive Olympic Games: an assessment of carbon offsets and renewable energy for Brisbane 2032. Sustainability, 15 (2) 1207, 1-26. doi: 10.3390/su15021207
The Papua New Guinea Electrification Partnership: Power and diplomacy in the Pacific
Sharma, Vigya, Heynen, Anthony P., Bainton, Nicholas and Burton, John (2021). The Papua New Guinea Electrification Partnership: Power and diplomacy in the Pacific. Energy Research and Social Science, 79 102186, 102186. doi: 10.1016/j.erss.2021.102186
Off-grid opportunities and threats in the wake of India's electrification push
Heynen, Anthony P., Lant, Paul A., Smart, Simon, Sridharan, Srinivas and Greig, Chris (2019). Off-grid opportunities and threats in the wake of India's electrification push. Energy Sustainability and Society, 9 (1) 16. doi: 10.1186/s13705-019-0198-z
Heynen, Anthony P., Lant, Paul A., Sridharan, Srinivas, Smart, Simon and Greig, Chris (2019). The role of private sector off-grid actors in addressing India's energy poverty: an analysis of selected exemplar firms delivering household energy. Energy and Buildings, 191, 95-103. doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.03.016
Yadav, Prabhakar, Heynen, Anthony P. and Palit, Debajit (2019). Pay-As-You-Go financing: a model for viable and widespread deployment of solar home systems in rural India. Energy for Sustainable Development, 48, 139-153. doi: 10.1016/j.esd.2018.12.005
Heynen, Anthony P. and Tonkes, Elliot J. (2023). Sustainability leadership for the energy transition: a case study of role-playing to enhance authentic learning. 51st Annual Conference of the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI), Dublin, Ireland, 11 - 14 September 2023. Brussels, Belgium: European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI). doi: 10.21427/4WY4-NM66
Heynen, Anthony P. (2023). (Un)sustainable reinforcing loops in a remote island community in Queensland, Australia: opportunities for local, community-based solutions. 19th International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 1 - 3 February 2023. Ljubljana, Slovenia: University of Ljublijana.
Heynen, Tony, Lant, Paul and Sharma, Vigya (2021, 03 19). Australia wants to send 1 million vaccine doses to PNG – but without reliable electricity, how will they be kept cold? The Conversation 1-2.
Heynen, Anthony (2017). Private sector electrification in Base of the Pyramid marketplaces in India: opportunities for energy and business to create Shared Value. PhD Thesis, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2018.12
Overcoming barriers in achieving universal sustainable energy services
Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
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