Hey there! I am a PhD candidate at the Department of Computer Science & Technology, University of Cambridge. My research, funded by the Gates Cambridge Trust, focuses on meta reinforcement learning (RL) for the decarbonisation of buildings.

Previously, I have explored the design and operation of sustainable energy systems for residential homes, incorporating technologies such as solar PV, stationary batteries, and bidirectional EVs.

Currently, my research is centred on meta RL, in-context RL and model-based RL to optimise the operation of HVAC systems, energy storage and EV charging in commercial buildings. I am visiting David Rolnick's and Yoshua Bengio's labs at Mila - Quebec AI Institute from March to August 2025.

Scholarships & Awards

  1. Gates Cambridge Trust
    The most prestigious postgraduate scholarship at the University of Cambridge, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. (October 2023 - September 2027)
  2. Heidelberg Laureate
     The Heidelberg Laureate Forum brings together the recipients of the most prestigious awards in mathematics and computer science with 200 selected exceptional young researchers from all over the world. (2024)
  3. Lauréate du Concours Général
     The Concours Général is an academic competition held every year between students in French High schools all over the world. Students who show great ability in one field are selected by their headmaster to represent the school internationally. Winners of the competition become life-long members of the Association. (2018)
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Education

  1. University of Cambridge, Jesus College
    PhD in Computer Science (October 2023 - Present)
    Developing a holistic AI-driven framework for the decarbonisation of buildings.
  2. ETH Zürich
    BSc Computer Science (2019 - 2023) Focus: Machine Learning, Computer Systems.
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Working Experience

  1. Mila - Quebec AI Institute
    Montreal, Canada
    Visiting Researcher (March 2025 - August 2025)     Supervised by Prof. David Rolnick, Prof. Yoshua Bengio and Dr. Donna Vakalis, working on model-based RL leveraging latent spatio-temporal world models for HVAC control.
  2. Wingman Campus Fund
    Zürich, Switzerland
    Partner (September 2021 - October 2022)     Part of the founding partners of the Campusfund, investing in student founders from ETH, EPFL and HSG.
  3. Archlet
    Zürich, Switzerland
    Quality Assurance Engineer (June 2021 - September 2022)     Working in the Product Team on the automation of end-to-end tests for the Archlet platform. Oversight of the software release processes.
  4. ETH Zürich
    Zürich, Switzerland
    Teaching Assistant for the Computer Science Network of Women (CSNOW) (2021)     Teaching an introductory programming course to female High school students.
  5. ETH Zürich
    Zürich, Switzerland
    Teaching Assistant for Digital Design and Computer Architecture (Feb 2021 - July 2021)     Teaching labs for the course Digital Design and Computer Architecture run by the SAFARI Research Group and led by Professor Onur Mutlu. I taught around 100 students on a weekly basis, correcting lab reports and supervising labs. I have also prepared and taught the exam preparation course for the entire student cohort.
  6. Ghelia - Sony Computer Science Laboratories
    Tokyo, Japan
    Machine Learning Software Development Intern (March 2019 - June 2019)     R&D Section of the Professional System Solutions Division. I created a prototype for an adjusted WaveGAN implementation for synthesizing raw audio using generative adversarial networks. This prototype was later integrated into a larger AI-based solution used by Ghelia´s customers.

Publications

  1. HVAC-DPT: A Decision Pretrained Transformer for HVAC Control A. Berkes
    38th Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS 2024) - Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning Workshop & Women in Machine Learning (WiML) Workshop
  2. SOPEVS: Sizing and Operation of PV-EV-Integrated Modern Homes A. Berkes, S. Keshav
    ACM E-Energy'24 (2024)
  3. SPAGHETTI: a synthetic data generator for post-Covid electric vehicle usage A. Berkes, S. Keshav
    Energy Informatics, 7(1), 1-21. (2024)
    The SOPEVS Webapp is available here.

Talks

  1. SOPEVS: Sizing and Operation of PV-EV-Integrated Modern Homes Energy and Environment Group, University of Cambridge
    24th of May 2024
  2. Reimagining Residential Microgrids: Policy Implications of Bidirectional Electric Vehicles, Solar Energy and Work-from-Home Trends Energy and Environment Group, University of Cambridge
    16th of February 2024
  3. The Optimal Design of PV-EV Integrated Domestic Microgrids - A Post-Pandemic Perspective Energy and Environment Group, University of Cambridge
    24th of January 2024
  4. Designing PV-EV integrated Residential Microgrids in the post-COVID World Energy and Environment Group, University of Cambridge
    16th of June 2023

Poster

  1. HVAC-DPT: A Decision Pretrained Transformer for HVAC Control 38th Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS 2024) - Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning Workshop & Women in Machine Learning (WiML) Workshop
    December 2024
    Download Poster
  2. Decarbonising Residential Homes in the UK: Synergy Benefits of PV, EVs and Work-From-Home The Architecture of Green Energy Systems: The Underlying Problem and Its Challenges Poster Session, IMSI Institute, University of Chicago
    17th of June 2024
    Download Poster
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Extracurricular Experience

  1. UNECE Expert Group on Energy Systems
    Young Member (November 2024 - Present) Advisor in the Energy Systems Young Member Group of the United Nations Economic Comission for Europe (UNECE).
  2. COP 29
    University of Cambridge delegate (November 2024) I represented the University of Cambridge at the UN Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.
  3. women@CL
     Tech Event Chair (September 2024 - Present) Women@CL supports women in computing research at the University of Cambridge.
  4. Momentum
    Founding Member (September 2021 - Present) Connecting young entrepreneurs with tech and business backgrounds to create a network of like-minded individuals across European universities.
  5. CSNOW – Network of Women in Computer Science at ETH Zürich
    Committeee Member and Teaching Assistant (February 2021 - October 2022) CSNOW was founded in 1993 and is part of the Computer Science Department. Women are strongly underrepresented at the department with 15% (see statistics). Our goal is to draw attention to the problematic effects of this unequal gender distribution and to counteract them. To this end, we organise various events and support female students with offers such as the mentoring programme, career workshops, interview series and networking events.
  6. VIS - Verein der Informatik Studierenden an der ETH Zürich
    University Policy Committeee (March 2021 - October 2021) The official Association of Computer Science Students at ETH Zurich (VIS) was founded in 1984 and is a professional association of the Association of Students at ETH (VSETH). For the more than 1,900 Bachelor and Master students of Computer Science, Data Science and Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, the VIS is the first point of contact for events, excursions, support during their studies and representation vis-à-vis the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich.
Download CV Linkedin GitHub Google Scholar Email: amcb6[at]cam.ac.uk