ORCID iD: 0000-0002-7382-7784
Scopus Author ID: 57205074692
ResearcherID: R-8605-2018
Google Scholar Profile: OiwCfZQAAAAJ

Dr. Manoj Kumar NALLAPANENI, PhD, is an author, transdisciplinary researcher, and practitioner working on systems design and analysis at the intersection of circular economy, renewable energy, electrical and electronics, AI-powered digitalization, and environmental sustainability in critical infrastructure sectors, with a strong foundation in engineering disciplines and interests in business and social aspects of engineering systems.

Dr. Nallapaneni holds a Bachelor of Technology in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from GITAM University, Visakhapatnam, India, providing a strong foundation in understanding the critical role of electrical and electronics in powering modern society and its essential infrastructure. Driven by a passion for sustainable energy and environmental, and inspired by his industrial training on biomass to electrical power, he pursued a Master of Technology in Renewable Energy Technologies from Karunya University, Coimbatore, India, followed by a Master of Arts in Environmental Economics from Annamalai University, Chidambaram, India, which equipped him with a comprehensive understanding of the economic dimensions of environmental challenges. Dr. Nallapaneni further honed his expertise through a Doctor of Philosophy in Circular Power System and Digital Circular Economy from the School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, where his research focused on leveraging blockchain, internet of things, and smart contract technology for sustainability and resilience of circular economy business models inspired systems and solutions, especially the emerging ones such as swap-pay-go battery service, spent electric vehicle batteries in interconnected power system, material recovery from end-of-life solar photovoltaics, circularise wastewater streams in industrial symbiosis, dynamic grapevoltaics farms, industrial symbiosis-based multi energy systems by applying the performance assessments, life cycle assessments, techno-economic assessments, circularity assessments, and resilience assessments.

After earning his PhD, Dr. Nallapaneni served as an Institutional Postdoc and Hong Kong’s Innovative Technology Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong. During this time, he contributed to projects focused on a wide range of topics, including Si+ based-green hydrogen, carbon neutrality in higher education institutions, technology-driven reusable cup systems, advanced wastewater treatment technologies, food waste to medical textiles, energy-efficient low-carbon cooling technologies, and plastic waste to activated carbons. Across all these projects, Dr. Nallapaneni was responsible for system design, process modeling, sustainability assessment, and techno-economic assessments. Prior to pursuing his PhD degree, Dr. Nallapaneni served as a Research Fellow at Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia, focusing on the integration of solar photovoltaics into urban and rural infrastructure, enabling applications such as electrification, water pumping, lighting, and building materials. Earlier in his career, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Bharat Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, India, where he taught and mentored students in renewable energy and electrical engineering, while also managing the related experimental and simulation laboratories. His experience also includes working as an Energy Engineer at Atiode Solar Systems Limited, Benin City, Nigeria, where he contributed to projects promoting the adoption of solar energy systems across Nigeria.

While working as a postdoc at City University of Hong Kong, Dr. Nallapaneni started serving as an Adjunct Professor at Swiss School of Business and Management Geneva, Switzerland where he currently supervises and mentors the DBA and PhD students in business-related areas, demonstrating his commitment to nurturing the next generation of sustainability leaders. Also, demonstrating his commitment to circularity, Dr. Nallapaneni co-founded and currently directs HICCER – Hariterde International Council of Circular Economy Research, a non-profit R&D foundation dedicated to promoting circular economy education across various STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) courses and assisting organizations in transitioning to a circular economy in India. He envisions a future where circularity and sustainability are seamlessly integrated into all aspects of society, creating a resilient and equitable world for generations to come. He is an active member of the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE), USA, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), USA.