The IOM3 Energy Materials Group (EMG) is a cross-cutting group that provides a focus on the ever present materials issues in low carbon energy supply, whether it be materials supply or synthesis. This covers a wide range of topics including high temperature turbines for more efficient power generation, new generation of nuclear power stations, wind turbines, marine energy and solar photovoltaics. The EMG has an increasing and pivotal role with energy storage, including high efficiency batteries and the transition to electric vehicles that includes interest in magnetic materials and fuel cells. The UK low carbon energy agenda recognises the growing importance of hydrogen as an energy vector where the EMG has interest in electrolysers and hydrogen storage. The role of the EMG is to highlight the fundamental role of materials for low carbon energy.
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Meet the Energy Materials Group Leadership Team
Scott Lockyer
Professor Scott Lockyer is Technical Head of Materials and Corrosion in Uniper Technologies Limited’s Integrity and Quality Management Department. He provides technical leadership and oversight of materials R&D, failure investigation and component life assessment. Scott joined UTL in 2005 following technical management and principal engineer roles in two engineering consultancies. Prior to Uniper Scott was a Research Fellow in the Department of Materials at Oxford University. He holds a BEng in Metallurgy and Materials Science and a PhD in Metallurgy from the University of Liverpool. Scott is chair of the UK High Temperature Power Plant Forum and a Visiting Professor in Advanced Materials at Loughborough University.
Fiona Robinson
Fiona Robinson is currently Faculty Support Manager for the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science at the University of South Wales (USW) and is active in research and development of electrical steels for electric motor and power generation applications. Fiona’s research and consulting activities focus on soft magnetic materials and coatings for EV motors and transformers from initial composition design through to manufacturing process definition and customer application. She has over 25 research publications in the fields of advanced materials, materials characterisation, and industrial process technology. Fiona is passionate about STEM engagement and has recently established a dedicated STEM Outreach facility at USW. Fiona worked in the steel industry for 28 years in a variety of roles including RD&T, Product and Process Development and Process Technology. Fiona spent nine years at Cogent Power Ltd developing GO and NGO electrical steel products and processes with particular emphasis on magnetic and metallurgical properties for high performing, efficient EV motors and transformers. Fiona has expertise and experience in steel industry process and product development, data analytics including collaborative research with many industrial and academic institutions. Fiona has a BSc(Eng.) in Metallurgy and Materials Science from Imperial College, a PhD from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Liverpool, and a specialist Technology Management MBA from the Open University. She is a Fellow FIMMM of IOM3, vice chair of the WIM3 committee, lecture secretary of NCMS and a member of the Energy Materials Group Leadership Team.
Dan Scotson
Dan Scotson is a PhD candidate at the University of Manchester under the supervision of Prof. Ping Xiao. His PhD investigates the failure of Environmental Barrier Coatings (EBCs). These coatings are destined for more efficient, next-generation gas turbine engines, with Dan’s work focusing on the evolution of microstructure, residual stress and mechanical properties in high-temperature (>1200 ⁰C) steam environments.
Dan holds a First-Class Materials Science MEng from the University of Oxford, with his nine-month research project investigating the failure of graphite materials for nuclear reactors under the supervision of Prof. James Marrow. In this project, Dan used X-ray computed tomography, Digital Volume Correlation and Digital Image Correlation to evaluate the fracture toughness of graphite materials in small specimens representative of those extracted from nuclear reactors.
Dan is also keen in promoting science through outreach activities as a Discover Materials Ambassador. His ‘Porosity in Materials’ project promotes the study of ceramics and the effect of porosity on mechanical properties, having recently attended the British Science Festival, Big Bang Fair and Faraday Institute Conference in 2023.
Elizabeth Driscoll
Dr Elizabeth (Lizzie) Driscoll is a research fellow within the Energy Materials Group chaired by Prof. Emma Kendrick at the University of Birmingham, UK and working on the Faraday Institution’s ReLiB project. Lizzie obtained a PhD in Chemistry in 2022 from the University of Birmingham on the topic of “Novel Electrode Materials and Educational Resources for Li-/Na-ion Batteries”, where her work focused on the synthesis of novel sodium metal polyanion cathode systems, as well as high power niobium anode systems. Prior to this work, Lizzie’s research was in the form of energy generation, having interned with Oxford PV Ltd and completing a Masters in greener alternatives for photovoltaic materials.
Her work over the past 2 years has focused on the physical and chemical processing in the recycling of Li-ion batteries – with consideration towards reclaiming lithium, and now more recently understanding processing effects associated with the direct recycling of LiFePO4. As of May 2023, Lizzie is also working part-time on an Industrial Fellowship with Prof. Peter Slater with Echion Technologies.
Lizzie has won awards for the delivery of battery education and outreach, notably her ‘Battery Jenga’, which has been recognised by the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Faraday Institution. Her outreach work has been featured in the National Geographic, Discover magazine and The American Ceramic Society. Her most recent accolade is the award of the M. Zouhair Atassi thesis prize in September 2023.
Stuart Irvine
Professor Stuart Irvine is an emeritus professor at Swansea University having previously been Director of the Centre for Solar Energy Research (CSER) in Materials Science and Engineering. He is one of the pioneers for deposition of II-VI compound semiconductors by Metal-organic Chemical Vapour Deposition (MOCVD) for application to thin film solar cells and advanced thin film materials for the photonics industry. His career started out researching new methods for producing thermal imaging materials which is now a production process in the UK for very high performance thermal imagers. He pioneered early research for in situ monitoring of MOCVD which led to a spin-out company. In the past 20 years, Prof. Irvine has led major UK projects on solar PV research and consulted for First Solar Inc. This research has led to the publication of over 200 journal and conference publications and more than 10 patents. He has also published books on Solar PV and MOCVD. Professor Irvine received his B.Sc degree in Physics from Loughborough University, Ph.D in Physical Metallurgy and Science of Materials, and D.Sc in Physics, both from the University of Birmingham. Stuart was director of the £9.3M SPARC II WEFO project to build research capacity in solar PV technology. Professor Irvine is past chair of the Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining (IOM3) Energy Materials Group (EMG) that has a broad view over the application of materials in energy generation and the challenges faced with both renewable energy generation and large power generation.
Keith Barnes
Keith Barnes has been in the World of Packaging for over 55 years in Management roles within Ilford Limited and Boots and in recent years as a Consultant. Mintel is a major client where he helped organise their GNPD Packaging section. He is also the UK coordinator for Michigan State University (MSU) Packaging Summer School in the UK, and as such organises visits and lectures each July. He passed his Packaging Diploma exam back in the 1960’s. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Packaging, a past Chairman of National Council and Trustee of the Institute. The IOP has merged with The Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining and Keith is the past Chairman of the new Packaging Society and remains as a Global Packaging Ambassador. He is also on The Boards of the Sustainability Development Group and Energy Materials Group, part of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. He has lectured and written on many aspects of packaging and organised courses and conferences. He was awarded Chartered Scientist status and Chartered Environmental status By IOM3. In addition he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and IOM3. He has presented lectures at MSU in the USA and Chaired the Packaging Excellence Forum in Munich. Over the years many lectures have been given in the UK, Europe, USA, Singapore and South Africa.
Mike Eason
Dr Mike Eason, C.Eng, FIOM3, MIMechE holds a Ph.D. in Polymer chemistry from the University of Warwick, he is a chartered engineer, fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3), and a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (MIMechE). For the past 12 years Mike has been a member of the divisional board for James Walker where he leads product innovation and the technical and quality team. James Walker is a privately owned engineering company that specialises in the development of advanced materials and their application in high performance sealing products. A core focus is the development of novel elastomers. Mike’s team at James Walker are based across the UK, USA, Europe, India and Asia Pacific Under his tenure he established a professional development scheme for Engineers, introduced Agile hardware development and led the company wide product innovation strategy. Prior to joining James Walker Mike was the managing director for Oxford Advanced Surfaces Group PLC, now renamed Oxeco LTD. Oxeco is a spin out from the University of Oxford’s chemistry and materials engineering departments. Mike’s early career was spent at two of the world’s largest FMCG companies, Reckitt and Unilever. Throughout his career Mike has fostered partnerships with start-up companies, universities and institutes with a drive to disrupt technology convention. Equality, Inclusion and Diversity is a passion for Mike. In his early career he served as UK Diversity officer for Unilever. Mike has led James Walker’s graduate programme for the last 12 years bringing in talent from across the globe. Mike’s interest in EDI stems from his hidden disability, Type 1 Diabetes, which he was diagnosed with when aged 3.
Martin Lamb
Since 2009 Martin Lamb has worked for ONR where he is responsible for the safety of steel structures and components in new build. Martin is the ONR lead for advanced nuclear technologies and assesses small modular reactors and high temperature gas cooled reactors. Before joining ONR, Martin worked in the electricity supply industry where, inter alia, he provided recommendations on materials behaviour for use in structural integrity assessments and carried out root cause analyses to understand and resolve plant problems. Martin's early career was at Rolls-Royce where he worked on the outsourced manufacture of gas turbine disks. Martin was awarded his PhD for research on laser welding by Imperial College and his BSc in Metallurgy and Materials Science from the University of Nottingham. Martin is an active committee member of the West of England Metals & Materials Association (WEMMA).
Dr Tannaz Pak CEng MIMMM FHEI
Tannaz is a senior lecturer in Energy and Environmental engineering at Teesside University. She holds the Chartered Engineer status and is a professional member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (CEng MIMMM). Tannaz's research is mainly focused on porous materials in different applications including environmental remediation, water purification, and energy storage.
In 2021, Tannaz was selected as one of the Top 50 Women in Engineering by the Women's Engineering Society in the UK.
Prior to starting her academic career, Tannaz did a PhD in Geosciences at the University of Edinburgh in collaboration with Heriot-Watt University. She has done her MSc. in Reservoir Geoscience and Engineering at the IFP School in France and her BSc in Engineering in Iran.
Neil Witten
Neil Witten has been with Innovate UK since September 2020 where his role is Innovation Lead for Advanced Materials within the Materials and Manufacturing sector team.
Neil is a materials engineer with a strong polymer and polymer composites background. Prior to joining Innovate UK, Neil spent his entire career in senior technical leadership roles in the polymer and materials manufacturing industries with ICI plc, Cookson Group plc, Zotefoams plc, De La Rue plc and Hallite Seals International (part of Michelin S.A.).
Neil is passionate about materials, advanced or otherwise, and more specifically the role that materials research, development and commercialisation plays supporting all sectors - thereby fundamentally underpinning industrial and societal development.
Neil has a PhD in thermoplastic composites processing from the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and an MBA from Kingston University Business School. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining, a member of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) and a Chartered Engineer.
His LinkedIn profile is available at http://linkedin/in/drneilwitten please feel free to connect with him.
Alex Rettie
Alex Rettie is an Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering at UCL. His research focuses on the discovery, synthesis and characterisation of materials for energy conversion and storage. He is the UK’s alternate delegate to the IEA on Hydrogen and holds the EPSRC New Investigator (2022) and STFC Futures Early Career (2019) awards. He obtained his Ph.D. (Chemical Engineering) from the University of Texas at Austin in 2015 under the supervision of Prof. C. B. Mullins, where he studied metal oxides for (photo)electrochemical water splitting. Before coming to UCL, he was a post-doctoral researcher at Argonne National Laboratory (Materials Science Division; 2015-2018) with Prof. M. G. Kanatzidis working on the discovery synthesis of new superionic and two-dimensional materials. He received undergraduate training in Chemical Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
