Ozak Esu

Ozak Esu was born in Kaduna, Nigeria. She completed her A-Level examinations in mathematics, physics and geography in Lagos.[3] She has said that the energy problem in Nigeria inspired her to study engineering at university.[4] The "frequent power cuts which I experienced that made me decide to take a keen interest in Physics".[3][5]

In 2008 she moved to the UK, where she earned a bachelor's degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering.[3] She was president of the Nigerian Society.[6] She secured a £54,000 scholarship for postgraduate study, and earned her PhD in 2016, working on wind turbine blades supervised by James Flint.[1][6] Her PhD demonstrated the opportunities for instrumenting low-cost sensors in consumer electronics for vibration-based condition monitoring of wind turbine blades.[1][7] Alongside publishing her work in scientific journals, (Renewable Energy, System, REWE), Esu presented at renewable energy and vibration testing international conferences across Europe and in the USA. In 2013 she presented at the Harnessing the Energy – Women’s Engineering Society conference.[8]

Esu joined Cundall Johnston and Partners in November 2014 as a graduate engineer whilst completing her PhD at Loughborough University.[9] She contributed to the technical design, and supervised construction of over sixteen primary and secondary schools across the UK within her first two years at the company.[10] She was also part of the design team for the Energy Systems Catapult office in Birmingham, awarded the prestigious British Council for Offices ‘Fit Out of Workplace’ Midlands Regional Award 2017.[11][12][13] In 2017 she was promoted to electrical engineer.[14] In this role Esu was responsible for leading, managing and coordinating the appraisal of existing electrical infrastructure, and the design of new electrical building services, as well as acting as a mentor for students.[15]

In January 2019, Esu joined the BRE (Building Research Establishment) as technical lead at the BRE Centre for Smart Homes and Buildings (CSHB).[2] The CSHB describes itself as "a collaborative hub for industry, academia and government. It works to accelerate the use of smart products and services within the built environment, to maximise the benefits for all and address common challenges in the Internet of Things (IoT) market".[16]

In this role Esu is responsible for performing research on a range of topics around smart buildings, scoping new projects and developing proposals and propositions. This gives her the opportunity 'to bring her PhD expertise to bear on the subject of “smart cities” '.[2]

Alongside her job, Esu serves as a guest lecturer at the University of Bath, University of Lincoln, Loughborough University and London South Bank University.[17]