Modeling the emergence of multi-utility service companies in the UK domestic energy market

Peter Allen is Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Complex Systems at Cranfield University. He has a PhD in Theoretical Physics, and worked with Professor Ilya Prigogine at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles from 1970 - 1987. Since 1987 he has developed and run the Complex Systems Research Centre at Cranfield University which, following his partial retirement is now run by Professor Liz Varga. He is a reviewer for many journals and project evaluator for UK Research Councils as well as for the EU. He has been working on the mathematical modelling of change and innovation in social, economic, financial and ecological systems, and the development of integrated systems models linking the physical, ecological and socio-economic aspects of complex systems as a basis for improved decision support systems. Professor Allen has written and edited several books and published well over 200 articles in a range of fields including ecology, social science, urban and regional science, economics, systems theory, low carbon energy production and supply. He co-edited the Sage Handbook of Complexity and Management and is co-author with Jean Boulton and Cliff Bowman of Embracing Complexity which is just out from OUP.

Liz Varga, Chair in Complex Infrastructure Systems, is Director of the Complex Systems Research Centre (CSRC), Cranfield School of Management (SoM), Cranfield University. Liz’s research focuses on explaining the economic, social, and environmental outcomes of interactions and interdependencies within critical infrastructure systems, i.e., energy, transport, water and waste, and telecommunications systems. Her skills are in creating abstractions of real-world systems, recognizing emergent phenomena and co-evolutionary effects, together with measurable systemic metrics, and working in trans-disciplinary environments. Using mixed methods approaches, embracing big data, and leading the design of computational agent-based models, the consequences of social behaviors, political interventions, and technological potentials are examined at multiple scales and assessed for impact upon resilience and adaptation and toward normative scenarios. She has over 60 publications and has been research investigator on 10 Research Councils UK and European Commission projects.

Stephen Varga is a Research Fellow with over 25 years’ industrial experience in the management of logistics systems. He has been involved in mapping, data collection and simulating UK industries in freight goods, and energy supply, with the aim of reducing carbon emissions, improving efficiency, and reducing resource consumption. His objective is to provide solutions to complex supply chain management challenges.