It is with huge sadness that we have to communicate the death of our wonderful colleague, Professor Malcolm McCulloch.

Malcolm came to Oxford from Witwatersrand University in South Africa in 1993. He created the Energy and Power Research Group here and did some amazing and highly technical innovation work – he was one whose brain truly was the size of Jupiter. Alongside that, though, he had a fine understanding of the need to engage people in the energy-system transition, and this is how we knew him at West Oxford Community Renewables and the Low Carbon Hub. 

We first met him in 2008 when we were working with households as part of the Big Green Challenge at the very start of WOCoRe’s life. He took part as one of the households, then came onto the board as we developed the solar rooftops at The King’s Centre, Aldi and Matthew Arnold School, and then as we developed Osney Lock Hydro. His was a wise and humane presence as we battled with the inevitable difficulties that come with innovation of any sort – he was particularly good at offering a hug when needed.

Having seen us safely through that period, he stepped off the board and was  instrumental in inviting the Low Carbon Hub into the Project LEO team. The Osney Supercharge trial that was our part of LEO has been hugely influential in demonstrating the importance of the grid edge to the energy transition and to all the people who live and work here.

Above all, and something we will miss forever, he believed in community energy and in us. He will be sorely missed.