Professor Roger Kemp, who has been at Lancaster University since 2003 and has lectured on postgraduate safety engineering and programmes and on energy systems, will be awarded the MBE.

Professor Kemp’s recent work has researched the engineering changes necessary to Britain’s electricity system as it moves from a network dominated by a few dozen large power stations to one that can accommodate thousands of small generators producing electricity from the sun, wind and waves that will be needed to meet the commitments made last month in Paris.

He had a long career in industry before moving into academia. This has included running the international consortium producing the £1billion Eurostar project during its design and development phase, which included coordinating the work of 17 major companies in France, Britain and Belgium.

He said: “The great thing about engineering is seeing all the design calculations and drawings turned into something as impressive as the Eurostar fleet. The scariest day of my career was 6 May 1994 when the Queen and hundreds of politicians and journalists set off from Waterloo Station for the opening of the Channel Tunnel on a train for which I had been responsible. Luckily there were no serious mishaps!”

During his long distinguished career Professor Kemp has influenced government policy including through the Royal Academy of Engineering, where he researched options for meeting the UK’s carbon emissions targets. He is also a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, an organisation he has represented at the Parliamentary Select Committee on Energy and Climate Change.

Over a career spanning more than 4 decades, Professor Kemp has worked extensively in the Far East, Australia, South America and Africa as well as many other European countries.

Undergraduates and postgraduates at Lancaster have benefitted from Professor Kemp’s teaching on energy use, transport engineering, project management, power engineering as well as safety engineering.

Professor Peter Atkinson, Dean of Lancaster University’s Faculty of Science and Technology, said: “I am absolutely delighted for Professor Kemp. He is a special breed of senior academic: someone who has made a sustained contribution to policy formulation and decision-making, who undertakes high quality research and who is highly regarded by students. Roger’s work has made a difference and it is great to see it recognised in this way.”

Blogs by Professor Kemp can be read by visiting http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/blogs/roger-kemp/