Phoebe Allan

University of Birmingham - CATMAT

Dr Phoebe Allan is a Birmingham Fellow in the School of Chemistry.

Her research focuses on materials chemistry for energy storage. The goal of her research is to understand the links between the structure of a material, and its electrochemical properties, using techniques including synchrotron X-ray and neutron powder diffraction, pair distribution function analysis, and spectroscopic techniques (Raman, NMR, X-ray adsorption spectroscopy). A particular interest is developing experiments that probe the structure of a material as it changes, in real-time, and under operational conditions. This approach gives insight into which structural features are desirable for obtaining new materials with improved performance.

Current areas of interest include new electrode and electrolyte materials for lithium- and sodium- and aluminium-ion batteries.

Ferran Brosa Planella

WMG, University of Warwick - Multi-Scale Modelling

Dr Ferran Brosa Planella is an Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick working on mathematical modelling of lithium-ion batteries. He obtained a double Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Industrial Engineering from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and holds a DPhil in Mathematics from the University of Oxford.

Ferran’s research focuses on derivation, reduction and parameterisation of physics-based models for lithium-ion batteries, and he is a co-investigator of the Multi-Scale Modelling project. He is also a strong supporter of open science and is a core developer of PyBaMM and member of the organising committee of the ReproducibiliTea journal club at Warwick. Besides his research, Ferran regularly engages in outreach activities to disseminate science to a wider audience.

John Griffin

Lancaster University - FutureCat and NEXGENNA

John Griffin is a senior lecturer in Materials Chemistry at Lancaster University. His research focuses on the use and development of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance for the characterisation of materials for energy and the environment. He has authored and co-authored over 80 research articles in peer-reviewed journals, two book chapters, and regular speaks at national and international conferences. He is chair of the Institute of Physics British Radiofrequency Spectroscopy Group, which represents researchers working in applications of magnetic resonance across the UK. He is also a member of the Facility Executive for the UK High-Field Solid-State NMR facility located at the University of Warwick. He is a co-investigator on both the Faraday Institution FutureCat and NEXGENNA projects, working on solid-state NMR characterisation of cathode and anode materials and coatings in both Li and Na-ion batteries.

Alex Kersting

University of Cambridge - Degradation

Dr Alex Kersting is the Faraday Institution’s Degradation Project Programme Manager. In 2012 she attained her PhD with Dr Paul Anderson from the University of Birmingham working on hydrogen storage materials.

Prior to joining the Degradation project she worked at the Royal Society for Chemistry for nine years in both their education team producing teaching and learning resources for schools, and supporting professional chemists to gain statutory qualifications to fulfil their roles.

Melanie Loveridge

University of Warwick - SafeBatt

Dr Melanie Loveridge is an Associate Professor of Electrochemical Materials at WMG. With over 12 years of experience within Li-ion battery research, she has spent equal amounts of time in academic research and as a characterisation specialist for a spin-out company from Imperial College. Her research areas focus on materials discovery and characterisation techniques, but also understanding mechanisms of degradation and battery forensics. Dr Loveridge is a lead inventor on several world patent families around electrode materials, compositions and structures, with > 30 publications in Q1 journals. Since returning to academia, she has won > £ 3 M in research grants from EPSRC calls, Energy Superstore Early Career Research award, The Faraday Institution and H2020’s Graphene Flagship. She sits on many advisory panels and committees for academia and industry and regularly engages with many outreach activities, including the British Science Festival, Radio 4’s Today Program and Costing the Earth, with several media articles published, e.g. The Telegraph. From 2020 Dr Loveridge has been an associate editor for Frontiers in Chemical Engineering and the Special Topics section in MDPI Coatings.

Dan Reed

University of Birmingham - ReLiB

Dr Daniel Reed is a Lecturer in Materials Science at the University of Birmingham, and Project Lead for the Faraday Institution ReLiB project. His research focuses on gas emission and decomposition of energy storage materials (batteries and hydrogen storage), metal-hydrogen interactions and recycling and recovery of batteries. Underpinning this is expertise in real time mass spectrometry and Raman spectroscopy. He was Head of the University of Birmingham’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Foundation programmes, working to widen participation in Higher Education and support international pathways into the university.

Rachel Smith

University of Sheffield - Nextrode

Rachel Smith is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield, with expertise in industrial particulate manufacturing across battery, pharmaceutical, agri-chemical, and consumer goods manufacturing industries. She is a work package leader on the Faraday institution Nextrode project. Her research group is focussed on the development of micro-scale understanding of particle-particle and particle-fluid interactions, to advance prediction and design of particulate manufacturing processes and product performance. Rachel holds a BEng (Hons) and PhD from the University of Queensland, Australia, and joined the University of Sheffield in 2012.

Darren Walsh

University of Nottingham - LiSTAR

Dr Darren Walsh is Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry in the University of Nottingham School of Chemistry. The group he leads works on a range of electrochemical topics, many of which are related to electrochemical energy storage and conversation. He is the author of over 50 original research articles and invited book chapters in the areas of physical and analytical electrochemistry. He also enjoys bringing his science to the public. He performs chemistry demonstration lectures for general audiences and is a presenter on the Periodic Table of Videos, an award-winning chemistry channel on YouTube. He gained his PhD from Dublin City University and has held a research position at the University of Texas in Austin.