IDRIC Annual Conference 2023
16th-17th May, The Oval, London
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© IDRIC 2022 | Website: Tangent & Duncan Weddell & Co
IDRIC’s second annual conference brought together industry, academia, policy makers and wider stakeholders to collaborate on the acceleration of industrial decarbonisation across the UK’s clusters and beyond..
“Industry attendance and participation was impressive.”
“There wasn’t anything that wasn’t useful… I thought every element played a good role in the event, from the boards with information about projects, to the panel sessions and the keynote speeches.”
“I work in government, and it certainly provided intelligence for stakeholder engagement and views on certain high profile obstacles to decarbonisation, such as electricity costs for certain sectors, which we’ll consider in policy development.”
“New research ideas were generated and can be included in the current research project.”
“I got a better understanding on how multidisciplinary research can be further developed in projects and take this into consideration for future funding applications”
“I got a wider understanding of the work happening in the clusters.”
“Connections made at this conference will enable more collaborative working on future projects.”
Speaker and Panellist Biographies
Keynote Speakers
Ben Burggraaf
Chief Executive Officer, Net Zero Industry Wales
Native of the Netherlands, Ben began his career in 2002 at the Corus/Tata Steel research and development facility in the Netherlands and was appointed as the Energy Optimisation Manager at the Port Talbot Steelworks in 2007. In 2014, he made the switch to Welsh Water and was responsible for the day-to-day energy costs and carbon management of more than 4000 of the company’s sites across Wales and Herefordshire. Four years later, he was appointed as the Head of Energy, leading on all aspects of energy management for Welsh Water, including developing and leading the company’s Net Zero Strategy. In 2022 Ben was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer for a newly established body called Net Zero Industry Wales, supporting the industrial clusters in Wales on their Journey to Net Zero.
Oonagh O’Grady
Director of Power to X at SSE Renewables
Oonagh O’Grady is Director of Power to X at SSE Renewables, part of the FTSE-listed SSE plc and a leading developer, owner and operator of renewable energy across Ireland, UK and now internationally. Oonagh leads SSE Renewables new Power-to X-function, with a key focus on Green Hydrogen to accelerate the transition to net zero and provide a new route to market for renewable generation. Oonagh has nearly 15 years’ experience in the energy and infrastructure industry in the UK and Ireland, having held a variety of roles in SSE, EirGrid and AECOM. Oonagh is a graduate of Civil and Environmental Engineering from UCC, with an MSc in Construction Law from King’s College London, and an MBA from the UCD Smurfit Business School.
Chris Skidmore MP
Chair, Net Zero Review
The Rt Hon Chris Skidmore MP has been the MP for Kingswood since 2010. He has served in five government departments between 2015 and 2020 including as Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation twice between 2018 and 2020. In 2019, he was also appointed Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth, attending Cabinet, during which time he signed the UK’s commitment to Net Zero by 2050 into law, and helped secure the UK Presidency of COP26. Most recently, he served as the Chair of the Government’s Independent Net Zero Review, and published the 340 page ‘Mission Zero’ report in January 2023. He is currently Chair of the All Party Group on the Environment and is also a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Maxine Akhurst
BGS
Maxine is a geologist at the British Geological Survey with extensive experience in offshore and onshore geological research and modelling, specialising in CO2 storage research since 2008. Currently, Maxine leads effective and optimal use of subsurface geological resources for offshore subsurface energy storage in the MOET project and site selection for the BGS and UKRI CO2 Storage Research Facility. She leads science development for the CO2Stored UK national CO2 storage database and is Principal Investigator for the CO2Stored 2.0 and the Scottish Academic Cluster Lead in IDRIC.
Lindsay-Marie Armstrong
University of Southampton
Dr Lindsay-Marie Armstrong is an Associate Professor within Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Southampton and the Chair of the Clean Carbon University Strategic Research Group which is a network of over 150+ academic and industrial partners driving researcher and innovation towards a decarbonised future. She sits on the UK Industrial Decarbonisation Multi-cluster Committee and is an adviser and member of the Industrial Key Stakeholder forum supporting BEIS with the scoping of the industrial decarbonisation agenda. Her research is heavily multidisciplinary bridging the fields of chemical engineering, mechanical engineering and mathematics as she develops computational tools for accelerating scale-up of reactive technologies. She has extensive knowledge of reactive multiphase modelling, particularly for carbon capture and utilization technologies.
Alison Auld
Scottish Environment Protection Agency
Alison is a carbon reduction specialist in the Carbon Reduction Energy and Industry team, part of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). She is policy lead for Industrial decarbonisation and CCUS. She is a member of European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law (IMPEL).
Her career in energy has led her to work across industry, government and academia in practical delivery, advisory and research capacities. Her roles have included energy reduction and compliance in the Scotch whisky sector and senior engineering roles in UK government. Her PhD research focused on using industrial waste heat and geothermal heat low temperature power cycles,
Amarinda Bazeley
DESNZ
Amarinda Bazeley is the Head of International Buildings and Industry Decarbonisation at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. With a background in architecture and experience delivering net-zero policy across climate and energy, Amarinda has a keen focus on developing solutions to accelerate decarbonisation in key sectors.
Dimitri Christopoulos
Heriot-Watt University
Prof Dimitris Christopoulos is Director of Research for the Edinburgh Business School and Director of the Centre for the Networks and Enterprise at HWU. He lead two projects on the estimation of finance risk in decarbonization for IDRIC1 and a project on opportunities in finance with IDRIC2. He has expertise in policy analysis and multilevel networks and is working on projects on venture capital syndication, estimating innovation via patent networks and objective estimates of expertise.
Diarmaid Clery
University of Manchester
Diarmaid is a Research Associate at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, which he joined in 2019 upon completing his PhD at the University of Leeds. He now works as part of IDRIC with stakeholders from CCUS clusters and the UK public to establish a social license for industrial decarbonisation. His background is in engineering, having worked as an engineer in the energy industry and completed his PhD in technical aspects of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).
Zoë Colbeck
The Solent Cluster
Zoë Colbeck is the Project Manager for The Solent Cluster driving the vision for the Solent to become a leading centre for decarbonisation and low carbon investment and innovation. The Solent Cluster is a cross-sector collaboration of international organisations, including manufacturers and engineering companies, regional businesses and industries, leading logistics and infrastructure operators and academic institutions, with decades of proven expertise in carbon capture and storage and hydrogen technology. It aims to grow the regional economy, protect skilled jobs, and create new employment opportunities in the energy technologies and industries of tomorrow. Zoë has extensive experience in climate change mitigation, sustainable management and projects in the heritage and conservation sector and is driven to make a difference for communities and the planet. Zoë is quickly becoming an expert in decarbonisation. In previous roles, Zoë developed, executed and led funding plans for sustainable projects, engaged and influenced various stakeholders, and represented high profile organisations across broadcast and live events
Paul Davies
7CO
Paul Davies is a director of 7CO; The Severnside Carbon Capture and Shipping Hub, based at Avonmouth. He has over 30 years experience in infrastructure and in recent years has chaired the CCS Advisory Group - the industry group that helped develop the CCS business models - was CCS adviser to BEIS, and now advises energy from waste company, Viridor on CCS and chairs their ESG Committee. He is also a leader of the Coalition for Negative Emissions - an industry group of capturers and purchasers looking to develop the market for carbon removals - and chairs a CCSA working group looking to develop Non Pipeline Transportation for CO2. Paul, with fellow director Keith Birch, established 7CO2 to be a hub for regional emitters to capture and ship CO2 to geological storage. 7CO2 includes piped CO2 from local emitters, regional CO2 through rail transportation, storage at the port and onward shipping to stores, with a potential of over 4MTCO2pa shipped from Avonmouth.
Patrick Devine-Wright
University of Exeter
Patrick Devine-Wright is an IPCC Lead Author whose research has been ranked in the world’s top 1% of social science according to citation of publications in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. With expertise spanning Human Geography and Environmental Psychology, he conducts theoretically-driven research with real-world implications. Patrick is Director of the £6.25m ACCESS (Advancing Capacity in Climate and Environment Social Science) leadership team for environmental social science funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
Sarah Dhanda
Enginuity
Sarah has many years experience working on Education. Training and Skills across a number of sectors and is now Head of Policy and Partnerships at Enginuity, where she is responsible for Enginuity’s work on Standards and Frameworks, as well as taking the lead on Enginuity Policy work across the 4 Nations and working with regional and local stakeholders. One of her key objectives is the sharing of knowledge and good practice across sectors to ensure connectivity on key skills and workforce development challenges.
Caspar Donnison
University of Southampton
Caspar Donnison is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Southampton, UK, and University of California, Davis, USA. His research addresses the sustainability of Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS): bioenergy land-use scenarios, quantifying environmental and social impacts, and optimal locations and scales for BECCS deployment. Within IDRIC his project is exploring this topic with several industrial partners.
Mark Ellis-Jones
Environment Agency
Mark is the Climate Change & Energy Manager at the Environment Agency, leading a national team working on net zero and climate change adaptation. Mark’s team is focussed on enabling a sustainable and resilient net zero transition, working with government and industry to shape the policy and regulatory framework. Mark joined the Environment Agency in 2007 and has led teams focussed on climate change, renewable energy regulation, and onshore oil and gas. He recently spent two years on secondment to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office working on COP26 and in his early career worked for a number of non-government organisations, including WWF-UK and the National Trust.
Agnès Estibals
DESNZ
Agnès is Deputy Director Business Decarbonisation and Energy Transformation policy in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. She was previously Programme Director in the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy leading the national delivery of some of the Government’s emergency response to the energy crisis and recovery from the COVID pandemic. Before that, Agnès was Deputy Director Science, Technology and Innovation analysis, including on the creation of UKRI. She held previous roles in HM Treasury covering a range of economic policy and analysis. She is a professional economist.
Justine Fosh
Cogent Skills
Justine Fosh is Chief Executive at Cogent Skills , the UK’s science and technology skills body representing the skills needs of the life sciences, nuclear, industrial biotechnology and chemical industries. A graduate in industrial relations and marketing Justine started her career in food & drink manufacturing working for companies including Grolsch, Sara Lee and McCain Foods before establishing the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink where she was Chief Executive and oversaw the acquisition of OAL, the awarding organisation. She moved to Cogent Skills in 2020 and together with the National Composite Centre established the Hydrogen Skills Alliance to bring together all those involved in supporting the developing hydrogen economy to access the skills needed for success.
Julian Gregory
University of Manchester
Dr Julian Gregory is connected to the University of Manchester, where he carries out research within the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research. He is currently working with Professor Frank Geels on IDRIC MIP 7.6 : ‘Low-carbon reorientation in steel, oil refining and chemical industries’. Before returning to academia, Dr Gregory was an investment Banker, working in both Australia and the UK.
Kate Hearnden
Welsh Government
Kate is based in the Business and Regions Department of Welsh Government leading on industrial decarbonisation, steel and business development of floating offshore wind. Kate’s team lead the interface with Net Zero Industry Wales and Marine Energy Wales
Ruth Herbert
CCSA
Ruth Herbert, Chief Executive, Carbon Capture and Storage Association
Ruth joined the CCSA in 2021 following a public sector career spanning two decades. As Director of Strategy at the Low Carbon Contracts Company, Ruth implemented two key features of today’s electricity market – the CfD and Capacity Market – establishing LCCC as a trusted advisor to government on decarbonisation. At the Department of Energy and Climate Change, Ruth headed the EMR Programme Office, pre-White Paper through to the Energy Act 2013, negotiated the EU Directive on CO2 storage and delivered the 2009 Ministerial Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum. She was an economic adviser at HM Treasury and City of London Corporation.
Laura Herraiz-Palomino
Heriot Watt University
Dr Laura Herraiz is a research associate at the Research Centre for Carbon Solutions (RCCS), Heriot Watt University. Her research interest is focused developing and integrating operation strategies and design synergies to minimise investment and operation cost incurred by the carbon capture processes. Laura has a MEng in Chemical Engineering from Complutense University of Madrid (Spain), a MEng in Energy Generation from the University of Liverpool (UK) and a PhD in Power plant engineering and Carbon Capture and Storage from the University of Edinburgh (UK).
Gardiner Hill
Consultant
Gardiner Hill is an independent advisor on carbon management and the energy transition, with over 20 years’ experience. He currently holds the position of Chair of the UK Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre’s (IDRIC) Independent Advisory Board (IAB) and is collaborating with Harvard University, NGO’s and businesses on the topics of climate change, CCS/Hydrogen and energy transition. He has deep experience in climate change, low carbon strategy and the energy transition. Prior to this, Gardiner was Vice President of Carbon Management at bp, responsible for leading bp’s strategy on Carbon Management and developing the company’s carbon aims. In addition to this, Gardiner led the OGCI CO2 Capture, Use and Storage (CCUS) Commercialization Work Group and participated in the National Petroleum Council (NPC) CCUS project. Gardiner possesses more than 32 years of technical and managerial experience that is directly relevant to technology, policy, business and strategy.
Ed Hough
BGS
Ed has over 25 years of involvement in geological projects relevant to geo-energy in the UK and internationally, including hydrocarbons exploration and appraisal, gas storage and energy systems research. Ed is committed to building and delivering innovative, multi-disciplinary projects that have a positive impact on the future of energy science. Current projects include furthering the understanding of the potential for Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage in the UK in rural and urban settings, assessing the potential for very high-pressure Compressed Air Energy Storage in solution-mined caverns, and mapping out the UK’s subsurface energy storage potential. Ed is a geologist with expertise grounded by field experience, which has provided the foundation for activities related to energy science and an understanding of basin evolution.
Joe Howe
University of Lincoln
Joe Howe is the University of Lincoln professor and academic lead for the Humber Industrial Cluster. He is particularly passionate about STEM skills and supply chain requirements for industrial decarbonisation. Joe is PI or CI on several IDRIC funded projects on skills and workforce planning. Externally he sits on the Humber Energy Board and is a trustee of Cogent Skills and the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board. Joe is also a member of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association skills working group.
Bryony Livesey
UKRI Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge
Bryony leads the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge (IDC), which forms part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF). IDC is a £210m programme with £261m match funding from industry, designed to deploy low carbon technologies and enabling infrastructure in heavily industrialised regions of the UK. Bryony was previously Head of Technology at Costain, with responsibility for the identification and development of new technology. She was a member of BEIS’ CCUS Cost Challenge Task Force, a Director of the CCSA (where she co-chaired the Technical Working Group) and chair of the Independent Advisory Panel for the UKCCSRC.
Ian Livingston
Equinor
Ian is a Project Manager delivering some of Equinor’s low carbon activities in the UK with a focus on the Humber region. Ian co-ordinates Equinor’s Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge activities for Zero Carbon Humber, H2H Saltend and Humber Industrial Cluster Plan as well as supporting the wider development of UK hydrogen value chains. He is a Chartered Engineer with a broad energy industry background in operations & technical leadership and project development across petrochemicals, oil & gas and gas storage and is now applying that experience to industrial decarbonisation and the energy transition.
Michael Lord
Climate Change Committee
Michael Lord is Senior Industry Analyst at the Climate Change Committee. He has 15 years’ experience of working on climate change strategy and policy, in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.
In recent years Michael has focussed on the decarbonisation of manufacturing. He produced a ground-breaking report on eliminating emissions related to cement production, as well carbon-reduction strategies for industries including mining, steel, aluminium, glass and brick.
Before joining the Committee, Michael was Principal Consultant at 3Keel where he advised businesses on Net Zero strategies. Michael was previously Head of Research at Beyond Zero Emissions, an Australian climate think where his work won international recognition. Two of his reports on industrial decarbonisation won the Prospect Think Tank award in the climate change and energy category. He also wrote the Million Jobs Plan - a national strategy for boosting the economy through emissions reduction.
Keith MacLean
Providence Policy
Keith has broad experience of the energy industry, including 20 years at energy utility SSE where he was Policy and Research Director. After 8 years, he has recently stepped down as Chair of UKERC but continues as Policy Advisor to IDRIC and Carbon Connect. Keith is founding director of Providence Policy providing independent energy advisory services, e.g. to the UK and Scottish Governments. He has published a number of research papers on decarbonising the energy system with a particular focus on the challenges of the heat sector and long-term storage. He was awarded an OBE for services to energy in 2017.
Jon Maddy
University of South Wales
Jon Maddy is the Director of the University of South Wales’ Hydrogen Centre at Baglan, where he leads the University’s R&D activities on hydrogen production, purification, storage, and application across several sectors. He has four decades of experience in hydrogen in industry and academia, supporting the mission of the USW Hydrogen Centre to focus on industrial facing hydrogen and fuel cell research, with a strong emphasis on industrial and academic collaboration. Jon is the academic lead for the South Wales Industrial Cluster, collaborating with over 40 industrial partners, and is also a member of the UK Government Hydrogen Advisory Council.
Jaime Massanet-Nicolau
University of South Wales
Dr Jaime Massanet-Nicolau is a senior lecturer at the University of South Wales. His research interests involve adapting microbial processes to produce fuel and other useful compounds from waste materials and biomass. He develops anaerobic digestion methodologies that can cope with ‘real world’, structurally complex biomass types including, food waste, crop residues and wastewater biosolids.
Dame Heather McGregor
Heriot-Watt University
Professor Heather J. McGregor is the Provost and Vice Principal of Heriot-Watt University Dubai. Previously the Executive Dean of the Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University, as well as a Professor of Management Practice, Professor McGregor is a qualified accountant and had an earlier career in investment banking, and then spent 17 years as an entrepreneur prior to her move into higher education. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. In 2010 Professor McGregor was a co-founder of the 30% Club, which seeks to increase female representation on public company boards, and she also founded the Taylor Bennett Foundation which offers opportunities for minority ethnic graduates. She was awarded a CBE in 2015 for her services to business, especially diversity in the workplace.
Marcelle McManus
University of Bath
Prof Marcelle McManus is a professor in Energy and Environmental Engineering with expertise in Life Cycle Assessment of bio-based systems and has particular interest in using LCA to help minimise the impact of emerging and existing systems. She is a Research Director in the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC). She has won awards for her work e.g. she was awarded the IMechE George Stephenson Medal (2008) for her work on LCA of wind power, won “Most Inspirational Woman” in the West Woman Awards, 2019, and won the Academic Award in the 2020 FDM Everywoman in STEM Awards.
Graeme Miller
2Co Energy Limited
Since 2005, Graeme’s career has focused on clean energy and CCUS, working in senior positions at BP Alternative Energy, Hydrogen Energy California LLC, 2Co Energy Limited, Petro Harvester Oil & Gas, and Rockall Energy. He is an experienced commercial leader on multiple projects in the UK and USA with complex technical, commercial and political content.
Oonagh O’Grady
SSE
Oonagh O’Grady is Director of Power to X at SSE Renewables, part of the FTSE-listed SSE plc and a leading developer, owner and operator of renewable energy across Ireland, UK and now internationally. Oonagh leads SSE Renewables new Power-to X-function, with a key focus on Green Hydrogen to accelerate the transition to net zero and provide a new route to market for renewable generation. Oonagh has nearly 15 years’ experience in the energy and infrastructure industry in the UK and Ireland, having held a variety of roles in SSE, EirGrid and AECOM. Oonagh is a graduate of Civil and Environmental Engineering from UCC, with an MSc in Construction Law from King’s College London, and an MBA from the UCD Smurfit Business School.
Philippa Parmiter
Crown Estate Scotland
Philippa joined the Crown Estate Scotland in November 2022 as Development Manager Gas Storage & Pipelines and is responsible for the management of leasing for CO2 storage. She has a PhD in Physical Electronics and transitioned via a MSc in Environmental Protection and Management in 2009 to working in the environmental sector. Philippa ran the national research consortium for CCS in Scotland, Scottish Carbon Capture & Storage (SCCS), for ten years, delivering knowledge exchange, policy analysis, techno-economic and business development for the network, and multiple European and international projects. She has worked for government, academia, an environmental consultancy and for a start-up, resulting in a patent, and an entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the world’s smallest TV screen!
Carlo Procaccini
North Sea Transition Authority
Carlo Procaccini is the Chief Technical Officer of the UK North Sea Transition Authority, and his remit covers technology and innovation for the UKCS, ranging from oil & gas projects and operations to emerging net zero solutions. Carlo has over 25 years of experience in oil and gas industry, having worked in both downstream and E&P. Prior to joining the OGA, he was at Schlumberger focusing on projects to improve asset performance in mature offshore basins, in the UK and internationally. Carlo holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT and is a Chartered Petroleum Engineer.
Ronnie Quinn
NECCUS
Ronnie is Chief Executive of NECCUS, the membership organisation supporting and representing members through the challenge and opportunity of the industrial decarbonisation of Scotland. He has over 30 years’ experience in the energy and renewables industries. Ronnie’s professional career began as a solicitor where he worked both in private practice and in local government. He then moved into the electricity markets’ sector where he was Managing Director of the company administering the market in Scotland. Ronnie has worked for The Crown Estate where he led the transfer of its functions in Scotland to Scottish Ministers, being Crown Estate Scotland’s first Chief Executive. Ronnie also sits on the Board of Management of City of Glasgow College and is a Commissioner on Scotland’s Just Transition Commission.
Jonathan Radcliffe
University of Birmingham
Dr Jonathan Radcliffe is a Reader in Energy Systems and Innovation at the University of Birmingham; and leads the ‘Resilient Cities’ theme of the university‘s Institute for Global Innovation. His research focuses on policy and techno-economic analysis of energy systems in the context of a wider socio-technical transition. He is investigator on several major research projects, covering the integration of energy storage and heat pumps in local energy systems, and on infrastructure for industrial decarbonisation. Jonathan is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for UKRI’s Energy Programme, and was Advisor to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee on Clean Growth Technologies. Jonathan is also IDRIC’s Academic Cluster Lead for the Black Country cluster.
Imogen Rattle
University of Leeds
Imogen Rattle is a research fellow working on low carbon industrial strategy at the University of Leeds, UK. Her work for IDRIC focusses on the factors driving the decarbonisation of industrial clusters globally. Her previous experience includes roles at the department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Environment Agency.
David Reid
Fuel Change
David Reid is the Co-founder of business transformation enterprise, Fuel Change. A former Vice-President of global professional services company Jacobs, David decided 3 years ago to spend time on roles which allows him to focus on opportunities which ‘ignite his passion’. This culminated in establishing Fuel Change, an organisation which systematically embeds sustainability in schools, colleges and business through truly engaging the next generation.
Tony Roskilly
Durham University
Prof Tony Roskilly is Chair of Energy Systems at Durham University and a Director of Durham Energy Institute, leading on Industry and Internationalisation. He is the UK lead for the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) Joint Programmes for Energy Efficiency in Industrial Processes (EEIP) and Energy Systems Integration (ESI). Tony has over 30 years of experience in the design, control, and operational optimisation of energy systems. He leads a net zero research group at Durham University with on-going research in solar, geothermal and industrial power, cooling and heating systems; transitioning to hydrogen, alternative hydrogen carriers and liquid fuel use; power and thermal energy storage systems; energy system modelling and industrial planning tools; CCUS; and syngas and hydrogen production. He was appointed by Tees Valley Combined Authority as the Academic Lead for the Teesside Industrial Cluster, and is a member of the North East Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) Decarbonization Innovation Special Interest Group and the Northern Powerhouse (NP11) Hydrogen Forum.
Omid Shahrokhi
Heriot-Watt University
Dr Omid Shahrokhi holds a PhD in Petroleum Engineering with a focus on the physics of multiphase flow in porous media. His research focuses on employing subsurface storage capacities to allow the production of low and zero-carbon emission energy sources. Since 2018, when he joined the Research Centre for Carbon Solutions (RCCS) as a postdoctoral researcher, he has been working on solutions for optimizing permanent CO2 and temporary hydrogen storage in subsurface reservoirs. His ultimate career goal is to help minimize the economic cost of energy transition (i.e., reducing carbon emissions to zero) for the public by informing policy decisions and optimal use of subsurface resources for carbon and energy storage.
Emily Sidhu
UK Infrastructure Bank
Emily Sidhu is a Director in the Banking and Investment team in UK Infrastructure Bank. She is responsible for the CCUS business sector as well as looking at hydrogen and other clean energy sectors. Emily was previously at UK Export Finance for 17 years, where her last role was as Head of Project Finance risk, having credit risk responsibility for project finance transactions from initiation, deal negotiation, monitoring the portfolio and restructuring.
Kirstie Simpson
University of Chester
Within Chester Business School at the University of Chester, Kirstie has overall responsibility for colleagues engaged in strategic economic development. Alongside her academic role as Deputy Dean, she oversees a number of significantly-sized externally funded projects, totalling almost £40m. More recently Kirstie’s work has focussed on the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge and the requirement and importance of the development of skills throughout the decarbonisation supply chain.
Kirstie is chair of the Skills, Learning and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) subcommittee for the HyNet project and is therefore leading the charge in the North West for a more inclusive and diverse decarbonisation workforce. Kirstie is very keen on maximising academic - stakeholder interaction; enhancing these relationships to create flexible and accessible learning opportunities for students and at the same time, helping industry develop the skills for their future workforce. This includes things like the use of learning mobility and the co-creation of live projects to solve real industry problems.
Peter Taylor
University of Leeds
Peter holds a joint appointment at the University of Leeds as Professor of Sustainable Energy Systems in the Schools of Earth and Environment and Chemical and Process Engineering. His research is strongly interdisciplinary, combining technology, economics and policy to explore energy system transitions. He plays a leading role in several large national research centres including the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre, the UK Energy Research Centre, the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions, the Supergen Energy Networks Hub and the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy. Prior to joining the University of Leeds, Peter was Head of the Energy Technology Policy Division at the International Energy Agency in Paris.
Ian Temperton
Plastic Energy
Ian has spent his career in clean energy financing. He is currently an Executive Vice President at Plastic Energy the plastic recycling company. He sits on the Advisory Board of the UK Energy Research Centre and was previously a Managing Director at the investment and advisory firm Climate Change Capital.
Jeremy Walters
Natural Resources Wales
Jeremy Walters is a Senior Specialist Advisor with Natural Resources Wales. He has over 20 years’ experience regulating major industry across a wide variety of sectors, including the metals and refining sectors. He is currently focused on the decarbonisation of industry, leading on the practical application of policy for permitting and compliance. The most recent example of this is the ‘Quick’ permitting route developed for small scale Hydrogen production.
Jinyu Wang
Heriot Watt University
Dr. Jinyu Wang is a research associate at the Research Centre for Carbon Solutions, Heriot-Watt University. Her work is mainly on the numerical modelling of sorbent-based capture plants and the integration of process models with materials science, techno-economic analysis, and life-cycle analysis. Jinyu received her Ph.D. in Materials and Processes from the University of Edinburgh. Her main research interests are adsorption related modelling and experimental studies.
Adam Whitmore
Bellona
Adam has 20 years’ experience of climate policy. His experience of working on CCS goes back more than 10 years. He has previously worked in the private sector, including as Chief Advisor on Energy and Climate Change policy for a large multinational company, and has extensive experience of advising governments and other policy and regulatory bodies. He now works at Bellona, a Norwegian NGO, working on climate change, with an emphasis on policies supporting decarbonising industry.
Chris Williams
Industry Wales
Dr Chris Williams is seconded to Industry Wales as the Head of Industrial Decarbonisation. Chris has over thirty years experience in the steel industry and his PhD was on industrial waste heat recovery. Chris founded the South Wales Industrial Cluster (SWIC) in 2019 and then initiated the new entity Net Zero Industry Wales (NZIW) with Welsh Government in 2022. Chris is a Fellow of the IMechE and the EMA and is the chair of the IDRIC stakeholder group.
Rich Wooley
Chemical Industry Association
Rich Woolley is the Head of Energy & Climate Change at the UK Chemical Industries Association (CIA). The chemical sector is a key provider of the advanced materials necessary for net zero technologies - like wind, solar, hydrogen and batteries - but chemical manufacturing is energy intensive, so the sector needs access to economic sources of low carbon heat and power. Rich works with CIA member companies from across the chemical and pharmaceutical supply chain on the design of industrial decarbonisation policy, to help ensure UK manufacturers benefit from the UK’s transition to net zero. The CIA represents over 100 businesses and over 200 manufacturing assets in the UK.
Nuoxi Zhang
University of St Andrews
Dr Nuoxi Zhang is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of St Andrews, specializing in energy materials for use in solid oxide cells. She earned her PhD in Chemistry from the same institution, where she focused on upgrading biogas using solid oxide cells. Nuoxi has presented her research at several international conferences and is passionate about developing sustainable energy solutions.