COP26 & beyond... the pathway to Net Zero

Emma Wilcox

Chief Executive, Society for the Environment

Emma joined the Society for the Environment as CEO in July 2015 and over the last six years has successfully overseen growth in the number of registered environmental professionals whilst also ensuring the reputation of Chartered Environmentalists and Registered Environmental Technicians has been enhanced and maintained. Particular recent success includes ensuring registered environmental professional’s collective voice has influenced policy, the introduction of the REnvP Register for Environmental Practitioners and enhancing the Society's governance.

Emma began her career at the National Physical Laboratory after completing her PhD in physical metallurgy at the University of Surrey and her degree and Masters in Materials Science at Brunel University.

Building on her academic background, Emma’s career has spanned knowledge transfer, training and skills across various technical disciplines. Having established the Energy and Efficiency Industrial Partnership and playing critical roles in creating two Skills Academies, Emma became the Chief Executive of the Society for the Environment, the Chartered Organisation responsible for registering environmental professionals, in 2015.

Emma is a Chartered Environmentalist and Fellow of IOM3 as well as a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10k Small Business Programme.
As well as the Chair of the IOM3 Sustainability Development Group (SDG), Emma is a member of the UK Government’s Green Apprenticeships Advisory Panel (GAAP) and a Board Member of the Future Water Association.

Emma is passionate about sustainable development, noting that ‘many of the environmental challenges we face stem from our use of materials’.
 

: https://socenv.org.uk/

Christian Spano

Director, innovation, International Council on Mining and Metals

Christian started his career in Peru and Latin America in the forestry sector, before moving to power generation and  renewables and then, for the last ten years, to the mining and metals industry. When working for Anglo American, Christian gained experience working on innovation in the socio-economic development area. Christian subsequently expanded his innovation focus to cover broader themes such as new business models, regulation and finance at World Economic Forum and Systemic. He has also been exposed to impact investing where he has had the chance to support disruptive technologies entering the mining and metals space.

Christian is an economist with a MSc degree in International Development from the London School of Economics and a postgraduate diploma in Strategy and Innovation from the University of Oxford. Christian loves cycling and cooking and spending time with his family.

: christian-spano-7697104

Ian Bowbrick

Director of Membership and Professional Standards, IOM3

With degrees in Materials Technology and Geology, Ian Bowbrick has enjoyed a broad and global career in the Materials Cycle sectors. A turning point in his career came when he worked on one of the first Urban Mining projects in the UK, which opened his eyes to the profligacy that was, and still is, applied to the use of natural resources by humankind. Since then he has been an advocate of the circular economy and more effective applications of natural resources. He is a Chartered Engineer, Chartered Environmentalist and a Fellow of IOM3. He was Chair of the Society for the Environment from 2014 to 2015 and a Visiting Teaching Fellow at Aston University from 2013 to 2016. He is currently Director of Membership and Professional Standards at IOM3.

Dr Laura Cohen MBE CEng FIMMM

Chief Executive, British Ceramic Confederation

Laura has been Chief Executive of the British Ceramic Confederation, the trade association for the UK ceramic manufacturing industry since 2009. She joined BCC after a degree and PhD in Materials Science at Cambridge University and 20 years in the Chemical and Pharmaceutical industry in technical and regulatory roles. 

She chairs UKRI’s Transforming Foundation Industries Advisory Group and has chaired the Energy Intensive Users’ Group. Laura is a member of Cerame-Unie (European Trade Association) Directors’ committee and was Chair of their Environment committee for 7 years. She chaired the group developing Cerame-Unie’s ‘Ceramic Industry Roadmap to 2050’ published in 2012. Laura founded and chairs the Manufacturing Trade Remedies Alliance, a group of 7 manufacturing associations, 3 trade unions and the TUC, working collectively to develop the UK’s policy in this area in a way that supports UK manufacturers after Brexit. She is a member of the CBI Trade Association Council and a life member of the Council of Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce.

Laura was awarded an MBE in June 2015 in recognition of services to the ceramic industry.  She was appointed as a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor  in the University of Manchester Department of Materials  and the Henry Royce Institute in September 2020.

: www.ceramfed.co.uk
: laura-cohen-9a964b8b/

Chris McDonald

Chief Executive Officer, Materials Processing Institute

Chris McDonald is the Chief Executive Officer of the Materials Processing Institute.  The Institute is a not-for-profit, industrial research institute, which has develops new technologies, primarily for the steel and metals sector in the areas of advanced materials, digital technologies, industrial decarbonisation and the circular economy.  Chris led the divestment of the 75yr old Institute in 2014 from its then parent company, returning the organisation to independent ownership.

Chris’s background is in industrial research and manufacturing, where he has worked internationally.  A graduate of Cambridge University, Chris is a Fellow the Institute of Chemical Engineers and of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. He is Chair of the UK Metals Council, a member of the North East Council of the CBI and policy chair for Innovation & Enterprise at the Federation of Small Businesses.

Chris is often called on to commentate in the media and speak on topics such as industrial strategy, digital technologies, steel and decarbonisation.  He provides expert opinion and support to companies, government and non-governmental organisations in these areas, to support policy development, growth and inward investment.  He has a strong interest in the wider social impact of business, including issues such as employee participation, community involvement and environmental sustainability, all of which are covered on his Youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/c/chrismcdonald

: www.mpiuk.com
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-mcdonald-7292676
: @MrChrisMcDonald

Neil Glover

Head of Materials Research, Rolls-Royce

Neil is Head of Materials Research at Rolls-Royce, based in Derby, and is a Fellow and President of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

Neil has 25 years of experience of materials engineering for aerospace and other high integrity applications.  His current role is focused on materials technology to support new product opportunities in Rolls-Royce including electric and hybrid flight.  Previous roles have spanned multiple business sectors and materials engineering across the product life-cycle. 

For many years Neil was responsible for Rolls-Royce’s aerospace materials research portfolio, including the company’s extensive external network for materials research.

He is a regular speaker at national and international events and has been a member of numerous national advisory groups. He is a strong advocate of STEM education and a regular speaker at schools events.

 

: neil-glover-67896b14

Flavie Lowres

Associate Director, Research and Strategic Advisory Group, BRE

Flavie Lowres joined BRE in June 2003, chairs the Construction Materials Group and is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. Flavie sits on the steering committee for the development of the Natural Capital of the Value Toolkit and on the Construction Leadership Council indicators group. She is also a visiting lecturer at the University of Bath. As an associate director in the research and strategic advisory group at BRE, Flavie is responsible for running the LCA and circular economy section of the group. She is also leading a project related to biophilic and health and wellbeing of office occupants and is developing the environmental impact evaluation method for a circular building assessment tool. She has been working in the field of materials sustainability since 2007 and has been involved in a number of UK and international projects related to sustainability in the built environment.

Mark Jolly

Professor and Director of Manufacturing, Cranfield University

Mark is Professor and Director of Manufacturing. He has almost 40 years’ experience in manufacturing. He spent 13 years working in industry in automotive and tier 1&2 suppliers into manufacturing both in the UK and abroad before moving into academia in 1995. In 2012 he joined Cranfield after 17 years at the University of Birmingham. He has managed over £17.5 M of research projects since 1999 and has over 350 publications, technical reports, articles and books. He is Director of the recently announced UKRI Transforming the Foundation Industries Research and Innovation Hub (TransFIRe), co-Director of the Circular Economy Network plus in Transport Systems (CENTS), and co-Director of the Engineering and Physical sciences Research Council Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing which offers a triple degree with the Universities of Warwick and Exeter. Mark has sat on the EPSRC Peer Review College since 2003 and sits on the council of the Cast Metals Federation, is a reviewer for the European Space Agency (ESA) and Enterprise Ireland. He is a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Environmentalist and sits on the Society for the Environment Honorary Fellows Panel. He is a Trustee, Member of the Executive Board and Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3), and is the current chair of the Materials Science and Technology Division. He also sits on the IOM3 Sustainable Development, Casting and Solidification and Light Metals Groups. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Cast Metals Engineers (ICME). He was Chair of the Solidification Committee of The Mineral Metals and Materials Society (TMS, USA) for two years until 2018. Mark is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Founders and Freeman of the City of London.

Mark is the recipient of the 2019 John Campbell Gold Medal awarded by ICME for “continual advancement in sustainable manufacturing and promotion of excellence in casting technologies”. He was the 2010 Winner of the University of Birmingham Josiah Mason Founder’s Award for Business Advancement and in 2008 was the recipient of the Oliver Stubbs Medal (ICME).

His main areas of current research are in circular economy and sustainability including resource efficient manufacturing, process modelling and novel casting processes. He has worked with many well-known names across a number of sectors including Rolls-Royce, Depuy-Synthes (Johnson & Johnson), Bentley, Aston Martin, BAES, Finmechanica, GKN and Coca-Cola. He has also championed working with many small companies especially SMEs who supply to large companies.

: https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/people/professor-mark-jolly-1325515
: @@MarkRJolly

Professor Serena Cussen FRSC

Chair of Functional Nanomaterials, University of Sheffield

Professor Serena Cussen FRSC is Chair of Functional Nanomaterials at the University of Sheffield. Recipient of multiple awards from learned societies, her research breaks new ground in the design and synthesis of functional materials, deepening our understanding of the synthesis-structure-property interplay. She leads multi-institutional, interdisciplinary research activities, including the UK Faraday Institution FutureCat project, a consortium of >55 researchers delivering next-generation Li-ion battery cathodes. Director of Research and Innovation for her department, Serena was recently appointed to the RSC Materials Division Council and co-chaired the successful international MC15 conference. Her significant research contributions are regularly highlighted (e.g. Top Women in Materials) and her public engagement activities have had global reach (e.g. her Royal Institution lectures garnering >140K views). She is deeply committed to career sustainability, ECR mentoring, and the promotion of women in STEM. She sits on the Faraday Institution Training & Diversity Panel, EPSRC Materials Working Group, RSC’s Equity in Publishing group (contributing to their recent "Is publishing in chemistry gender biased?" report) and featured in the recent “The Chemical Ladies” report. In response to the Covid pandemic, she founded The Recharge Network to support those working in academia with caring responsibilities. She is associate editor of IOP Progress in Energy and editorial board member of J.Mater.Chem.A, Nanoscale and Chemistry of Materials. 

W: http://cussengroupsheffield.com

W: https://futurecat.ac.uk/

W: https://therechargenetwork.com/

: http://cussengroupsheffield.com
: serena-cussen-6b702b208

Dr Adam Read

External Affairs Director, SUEZ recycling and recovery UK

Dr Adam Read has been External Affairs Director at SUEZ Recycling & Recovery UK for just over 3 years after a successful career in academia, local government and consultancy. He has been jointly leading SUEZ’s work with the UK Government on the development of the new English Resources & Waste Strategy and associated consultations, is lead author on all of the SUEZ evidence submissions, and has co-hosted 50 plus workshops in the last 24 months working with the value chain to assess the changes needed to meet higher recycling targets and deliver sector decarbonisation. Adam commissioned the invisible pollutants report, and participated in the expert panel workshop, to draw attention on another emission that society must deal with collaboratively.  Adam sits on numerous industry technical working groups is a Fellow of the CIWM, the RSA, IOM3 and the Royal Geographical Society and is the CIWM ‘s incoming President, taking up the reigns in June 2020 when his presidential theme will be skills for a green recovery.

: www.suez.co.uk/en-gb
: adam-read-3337517
: @AdamRead74

Dr Colin Church

Chief Executive, The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining

Dr Colin Church FIMMM CEnv MCIWM is Chief Executive of IOM3 since 2018. He is also Chair of the Circular Economy Task Force, a business led group convened by Green Alliance that aims to lead policy discussions with ambitious business thinking. He is a Fellow of IOM3, a Chartered Environmentalist and a Chartered Resource and Waste Manager.

Previously, Colin was the CEO of CIWM, the UK professional body for resources and waste management. Before that, he spent 21 years in the UK Civil Service working in a range of areas including climate change, the theory and practice of regulation, and environmental protection including resource and waste management. He also held several environment-related non-executive roles.

Rachel Stonehouse

Policy Research Fellow, Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining

No bio provided