Steven Griffiths
Senior Vice President for Research and Development and Professor of Practice
Khalifa University of Science and Technology

Dr. Steven Griffiths is currently senior vice president for research and development and professor of practice at the Khalifa University of Science and Technology. KU is the recently established university in the United Arab Emirates that resulted from the 2017 merger of the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, the Petroleum Institute and the Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research. At KU, Griffiths advances the work he did in his prior role as vice president for research at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, which includes establishing and developing large-scale, collaborative research partnerships, programs and centers, research grants and contracts, technology management and transfer, research computing and research laboratories.

Outside of KU, Griffiths is advisor to the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science, a Zayed Future Energy Prize Selection Committee member, an elected member of the Global Energy Prize International Award Committee, member of the UAE Executive Team for R&D Expenditure Indicators and additionally engaged as an evaluator and mentor in regional and international research and innovation competitions and programs. He served as a member of the Middle East Solar Industry Association board of directors from 2012 to 2015 and advised the government of Alberta, Canada on provincial innovation system structuring during 2014.

Griffiths is associate editor and editorial board member of Elsevier’s international journal Energy Strategy Reviews as well as associate editor and editorial board member of Springer’s international journal Energy Transitions. He further is a non-resident fellow of the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines, which is a leading institute focused on energy, natural resource and environmental policy. In addition to these roles, Griffiths serves as advisor to journals and magazines focused on energy systems and technology innovation while regularly providing insights on innovation, energy policy and energy strategy for international peer-reviewed journals and think tank publications.

Prior to his role at the Masdar Institute and now KU, Griffiths was executive director of the Technology and Development Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology while simultaneously serving as the founding executive vice president of Light Pharma Incorporated.

Griffiths holds a PhD in chemical engineering from MIT and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.