Mr David Ryan is a senior researcher in the Walton Institute for Information and Communication Systems Science which is a research institute with in the SETU undertakes multi-disciplinary research and innovation to advance the role and application of ICT and software in several specialised fields, including the smart energy sector. David holds a Masters by Research from the SETU with the topic of his thesis centring on Enabling the Convergence of Traditional Electrical Regulatory Framework Documents and Smart Grid Functions Using Digitalisation. Mr Ryan also holds a BSc in Software Systems Development (Hons) from SETU.  He leads up a small team in the Walton Institute that focus on using proven ICT techniques and software techniques and methodologies to aid the digitalisation of the smart grid.  He has been involved in Smart Grid projects for a number of years with the most relevant to the panel being RE-SERVE (Renewables in a Stable Electric Grid) and edgeFLEX. In RE-SERVE he was involved in ICT requirements gathering to ensure voltage and frequency control techniques could be applied to the project trial sites and defining architectures to implement these techniques with an aim of overcoming interoperability hurdles in an environment with an increased number of Renewables and DERs (Distributed Energy Resources). In edgeFLEX, a project centred on Providing Flexibility to the grid by enabling VPPs to offer both fast and slow dynamics control services,  he is leading the work package centred on the development of a software platform to enable the integration of the VPP, grid, and flexibility market to enable fast dynamic ancillary services such as voltage, frequency and inertial control, and driving research into the concept of Policy Based Grid Management to manage the operation of these services through user-defined policies which can be dynamically updated depending on the needs of the System Operator.