Emma is a PhD researcher in the School of Chemical, Material and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield. She is supervised by Dr. Brant Walkley and Dr. Clare Thorpe as part of the Sustainable Materials at Sheffield (SMASH) research group. She also has industrial supervision from the UK National Nuclear Laboratory (UKNNL).
Emma completed her undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering (BEng) in 2024 at Sheffield Hallam University. During her undergraduate studies she founded the Sheffield Hallam Students Union Women's Engineering Society (SHSU WES) and served the society as president for 2 years. She then was awarded the SSE Richard Walton Scholarship to study Environmental and Energy Engineering (MSc) at the University of Sheffield, graduating in 2025. Her masters project investigated how sustainability can be integrated into undergraduate concrete practicals, focusing on the reuse of spent samples as recycled concrete powder.
Emma’s research is focused on waste-cement interactions in future encapsulants (blended cements) to ensure near and medium-term security of supply and capability. Her research is funded by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and the EPSRC as part of the SATURN (Skills And Training Underpinning a Renaissance in Nuclear) CDT.