Nirmal-Kumar Nair is an associate professor at the University of Auckland, with previous professional and research experience in the U.S. and India. His current focus is integration of distributed/renewable resources, with an emphasis in protection (IEC 61850 and small power system islanding), economics (demand-side management and ancillary services) and innovation (storage, large-scale electric vehicles and photovoltaic integration). He serves in various capacities for the IEEE Power & Energy Society, as secretary for CIGRE New Zealand and as a representative on CIGRE Study Committee B5 Protection & Automation.