Written by Professor Peter Wilson, Head of Department, Dept of Electronic and Electrical Engineering:

Professor Raj Aggarwal BEng, PhD, DEng, CEng, FIET, SMIEEE received his BEng and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Liverpool in 1970 and 1973 respectively and joined the University of Bath thereafter, where he served as Head of the Power and Energy Systems Group, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering. Professor Aggarwal led a large number of major research grants in collaboration with industry and many of the techniques developed have culminated in commercial products now marketed by major manufacturing companies in the UK.

Raj was an internationally renowned expert in power-system modelling, protection and control for improving the security of supply and faster integration of renewable energy. During his academic career, he authored more than 300 refereed technical papers, was co-editor/co-author of five textbooks. Raj was the early pioneer in applying artificial neural network in power systems, particularly related to Fault detection and isolation, and co-authored two widely acclaimed AI books in the power sector- Computational Intelligence Applications to Power Systems, and Artificial Intelligence in Power Systems. Raj was the recipient of the prestige IEE Crompton Premium awards for papers in 1983 and 1995.

He had a strong impact on the wider academic community through his membership of the IEE Professional Groups (9 and 11) in Power Systems. Prof. Aggarwal was a Fellow of the IET, Senior member of the IEEE and a member of several CIGRE WGs on Power Systems Protection and Control. He was awarded the degree of DEng by the University of Liverpool for an original and outstanding contribution to Electrical Power Systems.

He supervised a large number of PhD students, many of whom went on to become distinguished industrialists or academics. He founded the Centre for Sustainable Power Distribution in 2008 in response to the reform and decarbonisation challenges faced by the power sector. The Centre became a home for Raj for several decades, he led the Centre from its formation through to 2015 and during this time he transformed the Centre to focus on sustainability and mentored many early career researchers, who became researchers leaders in their own right, such as Professors Weijia Yuan and Min Zhang at the University of Strathclyde, Professor Furong Li at Bath and many others.

He never failed to represent Bath at key national and international conferences. Following his retirement he was often on campus, taking the time to share his wisdom and experience with current members of staff over coffee or lunch. Alongside his research, Raj was an enthusiastic member of the Staff Badminton Club and also played squash in his younger days.

To many colleagues within and outside the University, Raj was a great friend, mentor, collaborator, a fun person to be around, and respected by collaborators and competitors alike.

We will miss him very much and our condolences go to his family and friends.

There is an online book of condolence for anyone wishing to leave a message about Raj.