On Thursday 29 July 2021, the CSC Alumni Team hosted the latest webinar in the Knowledge Hub series with Commonwealth Alumnus, Dr Vishal Sharma presenting on the ‘Development of printable solar photovoltaic devices towards achieving net zero targets’. The webinar addressed the CSC theme, Science and technology for development.

The CSC’s Knowledge Hub webinar series aims to highlight the work and research of Commonwealth Alumni across different areas of development impact.

About the speaker

Dr Vishal Sharma is a Commonwealth Split-site Scholar from India. He completed his PhD in Physics at the University of Sheffield and University of Delhi. He is also a former Fulbright Climate Fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado, USA.

Dr Sharma currently works as Head of the Department of Electronics at the Government Maulana Azad Memorial (MAM) College, Cluster University of Jammu in Jammu and Kashmir, India. He is also a certified Peer Reviewer for Nature Research and Publons Academy, a part of the Web of Science Group. Additionally, he is the founder of International SoR Labs, a platform dedicated to the popularisation of science and to promoting scientific interest among children by connecting them with top scientists and academicians from around the world.

Dr Sharma is passionate about providing affordable, clean, and sustainable energy to the world, and raising public awareness about climate action. He is a trained climate reality leader under the former US Vice President and Nobel Laureate, Al Gore, and a Global Goals Ambassador at the United Nations Associations of USA. He is also one of the CSC’s Knowledge Hub Coordinators for the Science and technology for development Hub.

Development of printable solar photovoltaic devices towards achieving net zero targets

In this webinar, Dr Sharma discussed his research on the development of low-cost fully printable solar photovoltaic devices in ambient conditions for mitigating climate change and global warming.

Dr Sharma presented a range of evidence on climate change and global warming  worldwide and emphasised the need for action in areas such as solar technology. Dr Sharma outlined the urgent need to develop an alternative low-cost solar technology to replace the more popular mature silicon solar cells typically used in solar capture. He explained that the development of affordable solar devices, amongst other climate technology innovations, was central to achieving net zero targets as campaigned by United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The webinar presentation was followed by an interactive Q&A session with Commonwealth Scholars and Alumni.

You can watch the webinar and previous events in the series by visiting the CSC’s YouTube channel.

If you are a Scholar or alumnus who works in the field of developing solar technologies, you can get involved in the discussion by sharing your thoughts and experiences in the Science and technology for development Knowledge Hub. Please note, you must be a member of the Knowledge Hub to access the group.

Learn more about the CSC’s Knowledge Hubs

The CSC’s Knowledge Hub webinar series provides a platform for members of the CSC’s Knowledge Hubs to interact and discuss key topics related to the six CSC development themes.

To find out more about the CSC’s Knowledge Hubs and how to attend live webinars, visit the CSC website.