Dave Pearson appointed visiting professor

Star Refrigeration group sustainable development director, Dave Pearson, has accepted a visiting professorship at Edinburgh Napier University’s School of Computing, Engineering and The Built Environment, as part of a scheme designed to advance student understanding of the potential applications of renewable heat using heat pumps.

The tenure follows Star Refrigeration’s longstanding support of the university’s engineering undergraduate programme alongside a number of activities with the university over several years, including a series of guest lectures on industrial heat pumps for district heating and industrial processes.

The three-year professorship, awarded by The Royal Academy of Engineering, will involve looking at heat pump types and their application, as well as the factors affecting adoption, and will examine future development work to assess how heat pump technology can be improved.

Pearson said: “I am honoured to be the recipient of the visiting professorship at Edinburgh Napier University. As we move towards heat decarbonisation, we must prepare the next generation of engineers to create energy infrastructure designed to shift the sector in the right direction quickly enough to achieve net zero.”

As part of the programme, BEng Energy and Environmental Engineering students will visit a large scale working water source heat pump for district heating designed by Star’s engineering team and take part in a class project evaluating the usage of heat pumps in the community.