Dr Donal Cotter is a Research Associate in the School of the Built Environment at Ulster University and a member of the Centre for Sustainable Technologies (CST). His research expertise lies in low-carbon thermal energy systems, with particular expertise in thermal energy storage, advanced and high-temperature heat pump technologies, and the electrification and decarbonisation of heat for building and industrial applications.

Dr Cotter holds an MEng in Energy and Building Services Engineering and a PhD in Building Energy Storage, both awarded by Ulster University. His doctoral research concentrated on modelling, experimental characterisation, and performance optimisation of building-integrated thermal energy storage systems, contributing to enhanced efficiency, flexibility, and system integration.

Dr Cotter has contributed to the development and testing of high-temperature heat pumps and sensible and latent storage solutions through research projects funded by the EU and the UK. He acted as the technical lead in designing, building, and experimentally evaluating a high-temperature heat pump system capable of operating at up to 150 °C, aimed at decarbonising low-temperature industrial process heat. He is currently investigating how heat pump technologies can be integrated into geothermal energy systems.

Dr Cotter is a Chartered Engineer with the Institute of Engineers of Ireland (IEI), a member of the Institute of Refrigeration (IOR), and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA). Through his research, he supports CST’s mission of delivering scalable, industry-relevant solutions aligned with UK and EU net-zero targets, providing strong experimental capability and system-integration expertise for collaborative research under Horizon Europe and UK EPSRC programmes.