IDRIC’s team works closely with stakeholders and supports the wider IDRIC community in delivering the Centre’s goals.
As well as Champion and Director of IDRIC, Professor Mercedes Maroto-Valer (FRSE, FIChemE, FRSC, FRSA, FEI) is Deputy Principal (Global Sustainability) and Director of the Research Centre for Carbon Solutions (RCCS) at Heriot-Watt University. RCCS is a world leading multidisciplinary centre delivering innovation for the wider deployment of low-carbon energy systems required for meeting net zero targets. She has held appointments at the University of Kentucky (1997-1998), Pennsylvania State University (1998-2004) and University of Nottingham (2005-2012).
Her internationally recognised track record covers energy systems, CCUS, integration of hydrogen technologies and low carbon fuels. She has over 550 publications, has been editor of 4 books and 15% of her publications are in top 10% most cited worldwide. Mercedes holds leading positions in professional societies and editorial boards and has received numerous international prizes and awards.
As IDRIC’s Centre Manager, Clare supports the Centre Director in leading and managing the development of IDRIC into a world-leading research and innovation centre. Tasked with ensuring the successful delivery and future sustainability of the Centre she oversees the workplan and management of the Central Team as well as liaising with members of the management and governance bodies, partners and stakeholders.
As an experienced programme and project manager on large-scale collaborative, multi-stakeholder publicly funded projects, Clare has worked extensively on interdisciplinary research projects involving stakeholder and policy engagement with diverse sets of stakeholders from around the world. She has an MSci Geoscience degree from Royal Holloway, University of London and a PhD in long-term carbon cycle modelling from University of Edinburgh.
Danny works in the Business & Impact Team and leads on IDRIC’s stakeholder engagement with the industrial clusters and industry.
A varied background, Danny has previously run an innovation centre and also worked in economic development, the water industry, broadcast media, cycling industry and tourism. He has a degree in History from the University of Glasgow
John is part of IDRIC‘s Policy Team, working to inform active UK and Devolved Government policy development through communication of IDRIC’s leading research expertise, the experience of industry partners and independent policy analysis. An advocate for evidence-based climate policy, John has prior experience of policy engagement and knowledge exchange from previous roles in the water sector and at the Scottish Parliament, the latter of which focused on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. John has a PhD in geomicrobiology from the University of Dundee, with expertise in microbial biotechnology and critical metal sustainability.
Jennifer works as IDRIC’s Administrative Assistant, helping the team with daily administration requirements and support. After a long career as a sales and acquisitions executive for Film & Television in Toronto, Canada, Jennifer relocated to Scotland with her family 5 years ago. She now uses her administration skills from her previous life to support IDRIC with such things as helping to organize events and liaising with researchers. Fluent in French, she has travelled and worked for Sony Music Australia, Corus Entertainment as well as Alliance Films.
Helen works on IDRIC‘s marketing and communications strategy and on themes such as identity and messaging, IDRIC’s online presence, social media and PR. A significant part of Helen’s role is liaising with IDRIC’s 142 partners (including all partner research organisations) to promote the great research that is taking place within IDRIC-funded projects. As an experienced marketing and communications professional, Helen has a worked in a wide range of sectors - including higher education, business, technology, the third sector and finance. She has a Degree in International Studies from Birmingham University and a CIM Diploma in Marketing.
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.
Charlotte works to provide development opportunities for IDRIC‘s researchers through the delivery of secondments and the ECRA. Charlotte’s role also has an externally-facing aspect, working with IDRIC’s stakeholders to better understand and communicate the interventions and policy frameworks needed to ensure the UK has the skills and workforce capacity to decarbonise the industrial clusters. Charlotte’s background is in geoscience. She completed her PhD in Applied Geology in 2017 (University of Glasgow) and subsequently worked on technical geological research with an industry focus. It was during this time that Charlotte became passionate about ensuring the retention of skilled scientists through the energy transition.
Isobel’s role is to ensure the research findings from the IDRIC programme are effectively shared across the industrial clusters and wider stakeholders, allowing our research to have maximum impact in the decarbonation of industry.
Isobel worked in a similar role at the University of Edinburgh, accelerating the impact of research for international development through knowledge exchange. Previous to that, she worked for the Royal Society of Chemistry fostering partnerships between industry and academia and supporting technology commercialisation. Isobel holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of Edinburgh.
As part of IDRIC‘s Policy Team, Anna supports the development of effective policy and regulatory frameworks for decarbonisation and net zero through facilitating collaboration and knowledge exchange between academia, industry and government. With a strong background in public policy research and analysis, Anna strives to understand the opportunities and trade-offs involved in climate policy and regulation to support informed decision-making. Anna holds a degree in comparative politics from the University of Vienna and a PhD in social policy from the University of Edinburgh.
As Executive Assistant to the Director of IDRIC, Gill attends to the day-to-day functions that are part of the Director’s role, so that the Director can focus on leadership and strategy not only for IDRIC, but also for the Research Centre for Carbon Solutions (RCCS) and as Deputy Principal for Global Sustainability at Heriot-Wat University. Working previously in the NHS as a Service Manager, Project Co-ordinator and a number of other roles, in the Scottish Funding Council and in the retail sector as a Buyer and Marketing Manager, Gill has experienced various workplace environments, traditions and cultures.
Miguel is part of the Skills team inside IDRIC, and focuses on providing solutions for the current skills challenge for industrial decarbonisation. From further education to doctorate level programmes, Miguel’s aim is to ensure that students, education providers and industry are aware of the available pathways for green careers.
With experience in several sustainable start-ups such as Vegware or TBCo, and a background in Engineering with an MSc in Sustainability Engineering from Heriot-Watt University, alongside experience in education, Miguel is dedicated to find solutions for the pressing issues regarding education and staffing for the decarbonisation of the UK’s industrial clusters.
Alan is IDRIC’s Enterprise Executive and his role is to work across academia, government, partner organisations and industry to encourage investment and growth in IDRIC. Alan has experience in senior management roles working in offshore oil and gas, MoD and telecommunications industries, growing and commercialising research. On returning to academia he has managed a range of university knowledge transfer programmes at Heriot-Watt, Stirling, Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities and was a member of the Scottish Scientific Advisory Council.
Anna Korre is Professor of Environmental Engineering and Co-Director Energy Futures Lab at Imperial, the College’s energy institute. Anna also heads the Minerals Energy and Environmental Engineering Research Group, developing engineering solutions to the supply of clean energy, the sustainable production of natural resources, and mitigating environmental impacts and risks. Her research focus is in the areas of modelling risk and uncertainty and the environmental and life cycle assessment of engineering systems. She has led and participated in numerous industry, UKRI, BEIS, The Crown Estate and EU funded projects developing engineering tools to assess the impacts of the minerals and energy industries in terms of operational performance, environmental footprint and cost.
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.
Dr. Benjamin K. Sovacool is Professor of Earth and Environment at Boston University in the United States, as well as Professor of Energy Policy at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex Business School in the United Kingdom. He is also University Distinguished Professor of Business & Social Sciences at Aarhus University in Denmark. Professor Sovacool works as a researcher and consultant on issues pertaining to energy policy, energy justice, energy security, climate change mitigation, and climate change adaptation. More specifically, his research focuses on renewable energy and energy efficiency, the politics of large-scale energy infrastructure, the ethics and morality of energy decisions, designing public policy to improve energy security and access to electricity, and building adaptive capacity to the consequences of climate change.
Scotland Cluster
Maxine Akhurst is a geologist with experience in offshore and onshore geological research and modelling, specialising in carbon dioxide storage since 2008. She is an experienced leader of carbon dioxide storage research within UK- and EU-funded projects. Maxine leads science development for CO2Stored, the UK national carbon dioxide storage database. Her interests include carbon dioxide storage site screening, selection, appraisal, performance and risk assessment and leader of storage site characterisation to meet regulatory requirements. She is a Directorate member of Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage, has led three Scottish Government and industry consortium CCS projects, and contributed her expertise to numerous CCS research projects.
Solent Cluster
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.
North West Cluster
Prof Howe is the Director of the Thornton Energy Research Institute at the University of Chester. He has extensive experience in working interchangeably with industry on major environmental projects and initiatives across the UK. Currently Joe is driven by the opportunities afforded to UK industry in delivering of the £600bn of infrastructure projects by 2030. Joe is pro-actively engaged with the UK’s emerging clean growth agenda including his roles with the UK Decarbonised of Gas Alliance and the chairing of the NW Hydrogen Alliance. He is particularly passionate about STEM skills and sits on the Board of the Department of Education: Engineering Construction Industries Training Board.
South Wales Cluster
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. .
Black Country Cluster
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
Teesside Cluster
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.
Gardiner 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. He has held several Chair and vice-Chair roles, including Chair of the UK’S CCSA and the Vice Chair of the European Technology Platform for CCS called ZEP. Gardiner established and managed the bp Princeton Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI) at Princeton University, as well as the bp Harvard Kennedy School Climate Policy programme and the bp Tufts University Policy programme. Further while at bp, Gardiner worked in Group Technology as Director of Climate Change & Sustainability Technology, Alternative Energy and in bp Exploration and Production Company holding several senior roles. Gardiner possesses more than 32 years of technical and managerial experience that is directly relevant to technology, policy, business and strategy. He holds MSc. and BSc. degrees in petroleum and civil engineering respectively, from Heriot-Watt University in Scotland
Solent Cluster
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.
Jon Gibbins is Professor of CCS at the University of Sheffield, director of the UK CCS Research Community Network+ and Head of Partnerships of the Translational Energy Research Centre. He has worked on energy engineering, fuel conversion and CCS for 45 years, initially in industry and then as a university academic. Since 2002 Jon has been heavily involved in CCS activities, working on post-combustion capture and its effective integration and, through the UKCCSRC, helping to start now-mainstream UK initiatives on industrial decarbonisation (2012) and CCS clusters (2016). His personal research activities now centre around practical aspects of CCS deployment, with an emphasis on policy and economic requirements plus detailed analysis of matching capture plant designs to market conditions, supported in particular by the facilities at the Translational Energy Research Centre in Sheffield. He is active in reviewing Best Available Technology (BAT) status for CO2 capture technologies.
James Lorsong has been involved in CCUS projects since 2005, when he was Subsurface and Wells Manager for BP’s first CCS project in Scotland. He went on to develop CO2 storage options for GW-scale hydrogen power projects worldwide as Carbon Storage Manager in Hydrogen Energy (BP/Rio Tinto joint venture) and Storage Technology Manager in BP.
In 2010, he joined 2Co Energy to manage subsurface and engineering for re-development of North Sea oil fields to store of CO2 from a GW-scale CCUS project. In 2014, he founded Subterra Energy Consultants to continue development of CCUS projects; he is currently involved in projects in the US Gulf Coast and the North Sea.
Earlier in his career, Dr Lorsong worked in a variety of management and subsurface technical roles with BP and ARCO. He has a BSc in general science (Toronto) and a PhD in geology (Cambridge).
Prof Niall Mac Dowell FIChemE FRSC
Niall is a Professor in Energy Systems Engineering at Imperial College London. He is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of both the IChemE and the Royal Society of Chemistry. His research is focused on understanding the transition to a low carbon economy, and has published more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers at the molecular, unit operation, integrated process, and system scales in this context.
Niall has more than a decade’s experience as a consultant to the public and private sectors. He has worked with a range of private sector energy companies, and is currently seconded to BEIS where is working as an expert policy advisor on CCUS and GGR.
Niall is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of TotalEnergies, the Norwegian CCS Research Centre (NCCS), and Joule. He was a member of the US National Petroleum Council (NPC) CCUS Roadmap Team, as well as the technical working group of the Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP), the Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA), and is a science advisor to the venture capital fund, Carbon Direct.
A multi award winning scientist, Niall was awarded the Qatar Petroleum medal for his research in 2010 and the IChemE’s Nicklin and Junior Moulton medals for his work on low carbon energy in 2015 and 2021, respectively.
Wilfried Maas is currently Chief Carbon Technology at Carbon-Direct where he support clients with strategic advice on their Net Zero/Energy transition/Carbon management action plans and due diligence on specific projects. Additionally he supports Carbon-Direct Capital on investment opportunities and leads engagements on EU Sustainable Carbon Cycles, Carbon Dioxide Removal and Certifications and other EU Green Deal initiatives.
Furthermore Dr. Maas brings expertise from his 32 year energy industry career at Shell, of which the latter period on Carbon and Energy management, and from his Joint Industry Collaborations on CCS and Climate (IEAGHG, OGCI, ZEP, IOGP, TCM).
He has developed decarbonization pathways for “Net Zero Carbon” production and products for different industrial supply chains based on CCS, electrification, (blue or green) hydrogen and biomass and assured carbon and energy management implementation plans for projects and assets
He has led the Carbon Competitiveness change management for the Shell capital projects organization. Earlier he coordinated the technical development of the global portfolio of commercial scale CCS demonstration projects and the organizational CCS capability build where he also contributed to the external collaborations for the new business development of CCS
In other roles he led consultancy teams which developed corporate wide GHG and Energy Management governance and its implementation at operating assets and capital projects and he was front end development manager for CCS projects and of portfolio capital programs for multisite, multidisciplinary GHG and Energy reduction projects.
Wilfried has been Director of the CCS knowledge Centre and member of the Executive Committee of the IEA GHG Technology Collaboration Program (2016-2020)
Dr Angie Needle is Cadent’s Director of Strategy, the Vice President of Hydrogen UK and a key figure in the nascent hydrogen industry. In her current role for Cadent Angie is responsible for driving the UK’s largest gas distribution network towards a net zero future, spearheading all things hydrogen and positioning Cadent as a leading voice in the sector.
Prior to joining Cadent in 2019, Angie held a number of senior roles at Centrica and Anglian Water, developing energy and customer services propositions and supporting both organisations on their moves towards cleaner energy, reduced carbon emissions and more sustainable business models.
Alongside her work for Cadent and Hydrogen UK, Angie is a leading proponent for diversity in the utilities sector, being a co-founder of the Women’s Utilities Network.
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.
Patricia Thornley is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering with 29 years’ experience working on energy projects in industry and academia, (including around 20 commercial plants focused on risk management of advanced technology implementation). She is director of the Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute at Aston University (over 50 staff and students) and has been director of the UK’s SUPERGEN Bioenergy hub since 2012, with responsibility for co-ordinating national research into bioenergy and strategically guiding its 30 academic and 20 industrial/policy partners. Patricia’s research interests focus on sustainability assessment of energy systems, evaluating the environmental, economic and social consequences of implementation pathways at the interface of the academic, policy and industrial communities. She has been editor in chief of the Elsevier Journal: Biomass and Bioenergy since 2017 and is passionate about public engagement, including serving as an expert in the 2020 UK climate assembly and leading the Supergen Hubs’ engagement on COP26 in 2021. She chaired the Climate Change Committee’s advisory board for its 2020 biomass report, is an appointed member of the Scientific Advisory Council for the Department for Transport, Defra’s Tree and Woodland Scientific Advisory group and has given advice to the National Farmers’ Union, the CCC, Carbon Trust, MEP’s, MP’s and NGO’s as well as research organizations in Norway, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, Portugal.
C. Beth (Hardy) Valiaho B.A., LL.B., LL.M
Vice-President, Policy, Regulatory & Stakeholder Relations
The International CCS Knowledge Centre
Vice-President, Policy, Regulatory & Stakeholder Relations
The International CCS Knowledge Centre
As Vice-President, Policy, Regulatory & Stakeholder Relations, Beth represents the Knowledge Centre amongst global decision makers and financiers to accelerate engagement on and understanding of the deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS); and focuses on helping to link CCS knowledge within Canada and with other countries to reduce locked-in investments and collaboratively support the goals of the Paris Agreement. Her understanding of complex climate change matters, policies and regulations, and international financing concerns act as a solid basis for assisting both national and international implementation strategies for technologies that support environmental targets.
Prior to joining the Knowledge Centre, Beth worked briefly as legal counsel for the provincial Crown utility. She pairs this industrial perspective with regulatory knowledge as Acting Director of Climate Change with the Government of Saskatchewan. These positions are reflective of Beth’s time with the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy where she focused on analysing provincial/territorial climate action plans and making recommendations for low cost and sustainable pathways. Beth’s legal education, teaching and practice have explored balancing energy, the environment and social implications.
C. Beth (Hardy) Valiaho B.A., LL.B., LL.M
Vice-President, Policy, Regulatory & Stakeholder Relations
The International CCS Knowledge Centre
Luke Warren
hydrogen and CCS advisor, bp
Luke supports bp’s hydrogen & CCS business with the regulatory and policy frameworks that are needed to deploy hydrogen and CCS at scale. His primary focus is supporting UK projects.
Prior to joining bp he was the Chief Executive of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA). While at the CCSA he worked extensively on CCS and hydrogen policy in the UK, EU and international levels.
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