SPEAKERS AND CHAIRS

Director of the Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC), part of the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland. He is also Professor of Materials Technology in the Department  of  of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Strathclyde. Prior to coming to Strathclyde he spent 20 years at the University of Sheffield in the Department of Materials. He is internationally recognised for his innovative microstructure characterisation and processing solutions, particularly for titanium, but also in steels and extreme environment materials.

Demystifying Engagement with the High Value Manufacturing Catapult

The High Value Manufacturing Catapult (HVMC) was set up to enable UK businesses to improve their competitiveness through accelerating innovation. A key element in achieving this innovation cycle is connecting UK universities and industry through the translation of research into innovative products and services. Thus, engagement with academia is a fundamental element of the HVMC mission in helping to bridge ‘the valley of death’ of technology readiness levels by transitioning scientific breakthroughs into industrial adoption. In this presentation I will give a personal view of lessons learnt, coming from an academic background, about engaging with the HVMCs and maximising the opportunities collaboration could produce, particularly impact for the UK. This will include an overview of the key mechanisms of engagement with HVMC centres for academics and the potential advantages and disadvantages that they can bring. Moreover, I will endeavour to raise awareness of the wider research and innovation landscape, beyond academia, and the career opportunities it offers.

Charlotte currently holds the position of Technical Specialist in Advanced Engineering at Cummins Turbo Technologies. Her work focuses on developing emerging technologies targeting zero emissions. Charlotte gained her EngD from the University of Sheffield in 2018 in collaboration with Cummins. The subject of her research was selective laser melting of Ni-base superalloys for turbocharger applications, specifically investigating the feasibility of this processing route to high temperature rotating components. She graduated with a Master of Physics with first class honours with distinction from the University of York in 2014.

Applied Science: A career in industry, pioneering zero emissions technologies

Choosing between a career in academia or industry is a significant and often challenging decision facing many doctoral candidates. Peek into the professional life of Dr Charlotte Boig, a Technical Specialist at Cummins Turbo Technologies, as she describes how her doctoral training prepared her for a role in the development of cutting-edge technologies targeting zero emissions.

Zaheen is a Senior Engineer at Westinghouse Electric Sweden AB. His work focusses primarily on the manufacturing of zirconium-based products, which are then assembled and used in the cores of nuclear reactors.

Zaheen completed his doctoral training with the Advanced Metallics Systems CDT at the University of Manchester. His project was based on the characterisation and modelling of precipitation in zirconium alloys, sponsored by Westinghouse Electric Sweden AB and Alleima (formerly AB Sandvik Materials Technology).

Adapting to Address the Current Challenges to the Nuclear and Wider Energy Industry

With the ever-changing political and environmental situation, energy produced from carbon-free sources is becoming more and more important. Westinghouse Electric is a key player in ensuring that countries have access to nuclear energy, though what is Westinghouse’s role in the nuclear industry? Zaheen will describe an overview of the structure of Westinghouse Electric, the operations and services that the company provides, and how the company is adapting to address the challenges that nuclear and energy industries face in the current climate.

Michael is an Advanced Metallic Systems CDT alum, completing his course at the University of Manchester in 2018. His PhD project was based around the effect of increased impurity elements on the precipitation behaviour of dispersoids in Al-Mg-Si alloys sponsored by Novelis.

Now Senior Materials Engineer in the Materials Development group at Innoval Technology, a consultancy to the global aluminium industry, working across all aluminium series and sectors with a strong footprint in packaging, transport and process support, his work crosses numerous sectors including automotive, aerospace and packaging. He's also heavily involved in Innoval's Innovate UK-funded collaborative R&D projects, supporting innovative and sustainable solutions for the industry. He also represents Innoval within several institutes including the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) as a member of the Student and Early Career Committee, IOM3 Non-ferrous and Light Metals Group and Transforming Foundation Industries (TFI) Future Leaders Group. With a passion for promoting sustainable aluminium, Michael works on delivering Life Cycle Assessments as part of Innoval's strategic support, whether that's a single process or an entire supply chain of a product, allowing Innoval's clients to understand and improve their sustainability performance.

Aluminium; a contributor to environmental breakdown, or a critical material for a greener future?

The aluminium industry is forecast to grow rapidly, despite geopolitical events, increased energy prices and the breakdown of our climate. Will the production and use of aluminium contribute to climate collapse, or is it a necessity to meet environmental targets? Michael will introduce the key sectors for the use of aluminium moving forwards and will discuss the crucial innovation required for a more sustainable aluminium industry.

Dr Allan Harte is a Principal Materials Engineer at the UK’s national laboratory for nuclear fusion science and engineering - the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) – where he acts as the Section Lead for the Experimental Mechanics group and the Technical Lead for multi-scale mechanics of materials.

The U.K. Atomic Energy Authority - the U.K.’s national lab for nuclear fusion science and engineering

This talk will give an overview of the structure of UKAEA, its relationship to government, academia and industry, and the materials research activities in Dr. Harte’s group and beyond. The big vision at UKAEA is high impact R&D to advance fusion technology, to stimulate economic growth for the sector and to leverage innovation for other high-tech industries. Creativity in materials engineering is key to the success of this vision, as the conditions within a fusion tokamak are more extreme than anywhere else in the Solar System. The rise of fusion SMEs, particularly in the UK and the USA, is evidence of an exciting time for the sector – one of unprecedented growth. UKAEA maintains its national R&D programme while evolving into an enabling partner for these SMEs to support the qualification of fusion materials and components towards the realisation of commercial fusion power.

Professor of Metallurgy for the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Russell has extensive experience in the science of porous metals and the development of novel alloys of many types. 

He has worked for over 15 years on the processing, and thermal and mechanical characterisation of a range of new materials.

He joined the Department in 2008 from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland. He obtained his MEng degree from Oxford University and his PhD from the University of Cambridge, before carrying out postdoctoral research at EPFL. After this he returned to the UK as a lecturer at Sheffield, where he is now Professor of Metallurgy.

In 2019, Russell received the Sir Colin Humphreys Education Award by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IoM3). This award recognises Russell's contribution to enhancing students' scientific/technological literacy through the teaching or support of materials, minerals or mining topics within 11-19 learning, either in the secondary or further education sectors.

Joe is a professor of physical metallurgy in the Materials Engineering department.  He graduated in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge in 1993, and obtained his PhD from the same institution in 1996. Since then he has worked at Cambridge, Swansea, and Manchester universities, and in 2003 was appointed to a Lectureship. Joe is a member of the Light Alloy Processing group with research interests that are focussed on microstructural evolution and control in industrial alloys, with an emphasis on modelling.

Current work involves the coupling of thermodynamic models, based on Calphad methods, to novel kinetic models, enabling the time and temperature dependence of the microstructure (particularly second phase particles) to be determined for complex industrial alloys and processes. 

Joe has an active interest in developing a better understanding of the effects of processing and service on the microstructure of metals through the use of electron microscopy and X-ray analysis. Ongoing work includes investigating microstructure evolution during processing of zirconium alloys and the study of novel wrought magnesium alloys.

Dermot holds a Full Professorship of Materials Science and Engineering in the School of Mechanical Engineering. He received his BEng (Mechanical Engineering) and PhD (Materials Science) from University College Dublin. 

From 1995 to 2000 he worked with Materials Ireland, a state materials science research centre.  He was appointed as a Lecturer in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering in 2000, promoted to Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head of School in 2007, to Associate Dean for Research in 2009, and to Professor in 2014. Dermot was conferred with the President’s Award for Research in 2009, Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering in 2015, received Invent Commercialization awards in 2015 and 2017, and the AMPT Gold Medal for Contributions to Materials Processing Research and Education in 2018. 

Dermot's teaching and research activities are focused in the areas of materials and processing technologies with a particular emphasis on the development of advanced technologies to enable improved advanced materials science and  engineering knowledge to enable improved product and production,  capability and quality, for the benefit of companies and the broader society.

A Mechanical Engineer by education (B.Sc.), M.Sc. in Aerospace Materials in Sheffield in 2020, and has since worked for the Aerospace, Energy, and now Wind Energy sector. Graciela has had the chance to develop her career in different engineering roles from Tooling Design, Structures and Configurations for Jet engines, combined with Advanced Courses in Engineering as an Edison Program engineer and as a Structural Analyst (with GE Mexico). She completed her Masters through a Chevening Scholarship and then rejoined her career as a Condition Based Engineering Analyst to predict Life of gas turbines Rotors with Solar Turbines in San Diego, Tijuana, and the UK. At the beginning of this year she joined Vestas Wind Systems (DK) as a Strategic Tool Development Specialist, supporting the building of wind turbines. She is passionate about making components that will make our life easier with key simple and safe designs and all the different means from which they can be obtained.

Career reflections: Where is the connection for engineering design, personal skills and an academic background?

The pursuit of personal achievements and goals to contribute to professional development incentivises us to push ourselves into unknown situations. This can be deepening and acquiring more academic knowledge through research, developing careers in the private sector, or jumping into entrepreneurial endeavours. All these routes offer vast and diverse challenges that mould us as Engineers and continually reshape us as we face new questions in our day-to-day lives, or during a recap after a long time. What drives us to pursue those achievements? The love of science and engineering ... acknowledgments? How do we link what first lights the spark in our careers to our lives later down the line?

This talk promises compiled experiences from my different areas of expertise and some personal points of view to share with you a perspective on how those challenges have impacted the way I perform in my engineering career. It will also provide an outlook on readapting as a person, constantly developing and consolidating a career in technology and engineering.

Richard is the Research and Business Engagement Lead for the Advanced Metals Processing theme in the Henry Royce Institute based at the University of Sheffield. 

Richard brings a variety of industrial experience to the role, having worked in R&D and Operations for multinational Magnesium and Aluminium alloy manufacturing companies. His academic experience ranges from materials systems such as functional nanomaterials to traditional ferrous alloys, aligning well with the range of equipment sited in the Royce Discovery Centre at The University of Sheffield.

A resident of Sheffield for 11 years, Richard is keen to leverage his academic and industrial experience to accelerate materials translation in the region and beyond, as well as widening access to top-level research from large industries to SMEs. 

Royce facilities access scheme 

Royce Researcher and Student Equipment Access Schemes offer funding for UK based doctoral and research masters students, and researchers at all stages of their career from PDRAs through to tenured academics. The access schemes are designed to open up Royce facilities to the UK academic materials community, build relationships and develop future collaboration opportunities.

Applications should propose a single package of research work, allowing users to utilise state-of-the-art equipment and learn new techniques and should meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Development of new materials, systems or processes

• Improving understanding of the performance or failure of materials or materials systems

• A materials issue which is impacting the study in some way

• Method development which would widen the scope of Royce’s capabilities

• Alignment with any of the Royce Core Research Areas