When Zoran Grahovac, a PhD candidate at the University of Banja Luka, joined the ENPOWER Summer School at KU Leuven, he was eager to explore how technical innovation could help address energy poverty. Over the course of four days, the programme at KUL offered him the chance to deep dive into both the technical and human dimensions of the issue, alongside peers from across the ENPOWER consortium.
Zoran describes the sessions on building modelling and dynamic optimization as particularly transformative.
“The lecture on dynamic energy modelling was eye-opening, it showed how digital twins and predictive control can turn buildings into active players in the energy system”, he explains.
By making buildings smarter and more efficient, these technologies can play a direct role in lowering energy costs and improving comfort, especially for vulnerable households who are most affected by energy poverty.
But it wasn’t only the technical content that made an impression. Zoran emphasizes the value of interdisciplinary learning, where engineers, economists, lawyers, and social scientists brought their perspectives together in one room. This crossed sharing of ideas helped him better understand how technical solutions must align with social realities and policy frameworks to have real-world impact.
“It’s not just about the models, but about understanding who they serve and how”, he reflects.
The Summer School also created an important space for connection. From formal workshops to informal conversations, Zoran found opportunities to discuss research, share ideas, and identify possibilities for collaboration with colleagues across Europe. These exchanges, he says, will continue to shape his academic journey long after the summer.
Looking ahead, Zoran is eager to bring what he learned back to Bosnia-Herzegovina, applying new tools and approaches in his ongoing research and sharing them with peers at the University of Banja Luka. For him, the ENPOWER Summer School was as much about learning as it was about building bridges between disciplines, institutions, and countries, which will be essential in the collective fight against energy poverty.
