People

Principal Investigator

Can Cui, Ph.D. 

Presidential Assistant Professor of Environmental Science
College of Integrative Studies, Singapore Management University

Email ORCID Google Scholar ResearchGate LinkedIn

Dr. Cui studies the global supply chains of renewable energy technologies (solar PV, wind, heat pumps, and batteries), net-zero energy transition pathways, and carbon emissions accounting, with a focus on climate and energy policy for emerging economies. The work has appeared in Nature Communications, National Science Review, and Earth System Science Data.

Before joining SMU, Dr. Cui was a postdoctoral researcher in the Reliability and Risk Engineering Laboratory at ETH Zurich (2023–2026).

Education

  • Ph.D., Ecology (Global Change Economics), Tsinghua University, 2023
  • M.Sc., Environmental Science, Wuhan University, 2020
  • B.Sc., Environmental Science, Wuhan University, 2017

Supervised students

Research assistants

  • Tianxing Shang (Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences): Critical elements for energy storage technologies in China, Spring 2025
  • Fiona Kriwan (ETH Zurich): Optimizing the global heat pump supply chain for net-zero transition, Spring 2025
  • Tim Kopka (ETH Zurich): Investigating the global battery supply chain via agent-based modelling, Spring 2024

Master’s students (ETH Zurich)

  • Lisa Bueler: Quantifying global dependencies in fossil fuel and clean energy supply chains, Summer 2025 – Spring 2026
  • Marvin Schwander: Measuring the complexity index of the global energy industry, Autumn 2025
  • Felix Tobler: Supply risks of Swiss renewable energy devices, Summer 2025
  • Nicola Laubscher: Linking renewable energy models to device supply, Spring 2025
  • Fiona Kriwan: Optimizing global supply chains of heat pumps, Autumn 2024. Selected as one of three students representing ETH Zurich at CERAWeek 2025
  • Matthias Vogt: Supply chains of solar PV based on the ZEN-garden framework, Spring 2024

Bachelor’s students (ETH Zurich)

  • Mattia Barbaza: Optimizing the global battery supply chains, Spring 2025
  • Adriano Airaldi: Linking renewable energy device supply to energy models, Spring 2025
  • Varun Agarwal: Optimizing global supply chains of wind turbines, Autumn 2024
  • Lucas Ehl: Satellite account for supply chains of renewable energy devices, Spring 2024. Now in the Master of Engineering programme at UC Berkeley