Dr Mary Ann Q Franco, BA (cum laude), MSc, PhD

Expert Consultant

Mary Ann’s academic research includes energy security, renewable energy technology development in Southeast Asia, and science, technology and society (STS) studies. Her current research focuses on how energy-poor communities in developing countries adopt clean energy technologies to achieve sustainable development. Specifically, she studies the impact of renewable energy (RE) on energy access and equity of off-grid, remote and coastal communities in the Philippines. A part of her RE portfolio looks at the societal and policy implications of relatively novel RE technologies, like marine renewables, in island communities.

She previously worked as a Programme Lead of Security of Supply and a Research Fellow at the Energy Studies Institute, National University of Singapore (NUS). She was also with the Energy Research Institute at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) as the Lead Coordinator of two major programmes: Southeast Asian Collaboration for Ocean Renewable Energy (SEAcORE) and the Joint PhD-Industry Programme.

She has also been involved in different energy-related research, development and demonstration projects funded by international universities and government agencies across Southeast Asia. She completed her MSc in Asian Studies from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, NTU and her PhD in Political Science from NUS.