Irene has over 20 years of experience in the energy sector, with a robust engineering background and an industrially-sponsored PhD in Metallurgy. She has spent most of her career to date at Engie where she was a global Key Expert, leading strategic programmes for the operational and commercial performance optimisation of assets within the Engie global thermal generation portfolio. Whilst at Engie, she gained a number of Innovation Trophy awards through her direct involvement in some ground-breaking technology programmes which delivered multi-million-dollar savings. Prior to Engie, she worked at QinetiQ on some cutting-edge technical projects for aerospace engines. More recently, Irene worked at the World Energy Council, leading an international programme on energy blockchain and authoring a report that has been widely referenced across the sector. Irene is now leading Amp X – a digital energy platform business with a range of technology and product offerings to enable the grid edge to become the locus of provision of network visibility, stability and flexibility for the whole energy system.