Susan Krumdieck was Professor in Mechanical Engineering at University of Canterbury in New Zealand for 20 years. She is now Chair in Energy Transition Engineering at Heriot-Watt University. She has a track record of building interdisciplinary research groups and building programmes that integrate research and education with industry, society and governance needs in understanding and navigating sustainable and renewable energy systems transitions.

Susan is Research Director of the UK Islands Centre for Net Zero. She is theme leader for HWU Systems Transition Engineering Processes (STEPs) Programme. She co-founded and is trustee for the Global Association for Transition Engineering (GATE). She was appointed by the Minister of Transport to the Upper North Island Supply Chain Strategy Working Group in New Zealand 2018-2019. She has provided consulting and strategic advice on future transition strategy to cities, local governments, industry organisations and companies.  

Recently, Susan has spearheaded a major initiative at HWU to provide on-line, self-paced professional education in systems transition engineering processes and practices. The modules provide new insights, approaches, methods, tools and case studies through A11TZ Transition Engineering and A11ET Energy Transition Lab through the MSc ReSET programme.

Susan has a particular interest in understanding the dynamics of anthropological systems and developing practical transition engineering approaches to achieve systemic co-evolutions in the 21st century to build the foundations for a sustainable future. She has published over 100 papers in journals and provided nearly 200 invited keynote, seminar, webinar presentations. She has received research, consultancy and training funding worth over £7.5m from government, charities, NGOs and the private sector, and has led energy transition programme developments worth more than £52M. She has put the Transition Engineering design approach into practice by inventing the world first no-travel conference, Signs of Change (2010) and subsequent global Convergence conferences.

Susan has written the first book on Transition Engineering, Building a Sustainable Future, as well as contributing author and providing chapters on Transition Engineering to eight books, including the Frank Krieth books, Principles of Sustainable Energy (2014, 2018) and Richard Heinberg’s Our Renewable Future (2016). She has provided more than 150 popular articles, podcasts, and regularly appears on radio and media, including the film, Living the Change (2018).

Susan was awarded Queens Honours of Order of Merit in 2020 for services to sustainability and engineering.