Hisham Zerriffi Joins MSL Advisors

MSL is pleased to announce that Dr. Hisham Zerriffi has joined our Advisors, further strengthening our resources focused on solutions to energy poverty and clean energy development in the emerging economies. Hisham is an  Associate Professor in Forest Resources Management, Faculty of Forestry, at UBC. Hisham’s research is at the intersection of technology, energy and the environment, with a particular focus on rural areas of the developing world.

Much of Hisham’s research focuses on institutional factors impacting the diffusion of new technology, determinants and patterns of household energy choice, and welfare implications of rural energy use. His research on institutional factors and business models influencing success and failure of distributed rural electrification was published as Rural Electrification: Strategies for Distributed Generation (Springer).  He has also published on the use of carbon offsets for cookstoves, adoption of advanced biomass cookstoves in India, and financing and business models for energy access. 

He is currently leading or co-leading research on adoption of clean cooking technologies in India, the use of agricultural residues for rural electrification, and the nexus between water poverty and energy poverty.  Outside of the energy domain his research has been on socio-ecological systems and payments for ecosystem services.  

Hisham has also been working with the Mountain Societies Research Institute of the new University of Central Asia on establishing a long-term socio-ecological research program in the area.  He was a member of the World Health Organizations Indoor Air Quality Guidelines Development Group and a lead author on the Energy Access for Development chapter of the Global Energy Assessment.  Prior to joining the UBC Faculty, Hisham was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, Stanford University. He holds a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in Engineering and Public Policy.