Yijun Liu has been named the winner of the 2026 Ken Dale Travel Bursary.
Yijun Liu, Mechanical Engineer at Warrington Borough Council, was selected for his proposal “Beyond the grid: Evaluating sand and gravity batteries as long-duration solutions for resilient heat and energy networks.”
The award provides up to £4,000 to support his research travel to China, the United States, Finland, Switzerland and Scotland.
His research will assess the technical and economic viability of non-chemical, long-duration energy storage systems — specifically sand batteries and gravity-based mechanical storage — as key components in the next generation of decarbonised district heating and power networks.
Yijun said: "Honestly, my first thought was ‘I’m not even supposed to be here’. Winning the Ken Dale Bursary still feels surreal, and I’m hugely grateful for the opportunity to bring world-leading energy storage research back to the UK."
The Ken Dale Travel Bursary awards up to £4,000 (or local equivalent) to early-career CIBSE members who wish to spend up to four weeks outside their own country researching global engineering innovations relevant to their work.
Candidates are shortlisted based on their proposals, with final selections made following presentations by shortlisted applicants during the interview stage.
CIBSE would like to thank the judging panel — Susan Hone-Brookes CEng, FCIBSE, Neil Panton CEng, FCIBSE and Sara Kassam — for their time, insight and support throughout the process, and for helping to champion the next generation of engineers.