Our people
Our executive
Dani Alexander
MBiotech, BBusMan, BSc
Chief Executive Officer, UNSW Energy Institute
Ms Dani Alexander is a passionate advocate for reshaping our energy system to be clean, affordable, reliable and equitable. Her experience in the energy sector is broad having held roles in universities, government including the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, and industrial co-operative research centres. Her background is multi-disciplinary in science and business, reflecting the nature of her work bridging the gap between new technology and transitioning markets.
Dani has a deep and broad knowledge of the energy transition, including energy system flexibility, renewable energy generation, clean fuels, energy storage, grid integration and energy consumers and markets. Her own research focuses on mainstreaming energy innovation across the value chain, accelerating the technology and commercial maturity of new technologies.
Energy Institute Management Team
Michelle Vaqueiro Contreras
Institute Manager
With over 8 years of expertise in solar energy technology, Michelle is deeply committed to advancing renewable energy initiatives and driving impactful change in the Australian energy transition. As an accomplished researcher, she has honed her skills in stakeholder engagement, strategic planning, and project management. Michelle’s experience includes significant contributions to impactful projects such as the Silicon to Solar (S2S) study, which played a pivotal role in establishing Australia’s $1 billion Solar Sunshot program. Michelle is passionate about research translation, with a goal to leverage her expertise and collaborative approach to foster innovation and drive sustainable energy solutions in Australia's evolving energy sector.
Mark Twidell
Professor of Practice
Mark is an impactful leader with over 35 years of experience as an executive or director of top-tier organisations including AGL, Tesla, SMA Australia and BP in global distributed energy markets. He holds deep financial, commercial, and governance expertise, having successfully guided solar photovoltaics, battery storage, and enabling control and orchestration technologies from their early stages to becoming bankable asset classes with widespread market adoption. Mark’s mission is to contribute to the sustainable energy transition.
