Dr Billy Wu (Chair)

Senior Lecturer - Imperial College London

Dr Billy Wu is a Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London. His research focuses at the interface between fundamental science and engineering application of electrochemical devices with cross cutting activities including energy materials, continuum modelling, thermal management and battery pack engineering. He is also a Fellow of The Higher Education Academy, with a post-graduate certificate in teaching and learning support.

Kevin Coutinho

Chair of the Board of Trustees - Windsor Fellowship, University College London

Kevin is a Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry Diversity and Inclusion Committee, a Linnean Society Council member and is the Chair of the Board of Trustees for Windsor Fellowship.

Kevin is an equalities practitioner in higher education, currently working as Pro-Director for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion as the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is also the Chair of the Higher Education Race Action Group, a sector wide body that promotes race equality, an Athena SWAN and Race Equality Charter panellist for Advance HE and previous Co-Chair of the League of European Research Universities EDI Policy Group. He was UCL’s Athena SWAN and Gender Equality Policy Manager, Head of Equality and Diversity at the University of Oxford, an Equality and Diversity Consultant at the University of Cambridge and an HR Strategy and Policy Partner at Birkbeck, University of London.

Professor Solomon Brown

Senior Lecturer - University of Sheffield

Solomon Brown is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield and the Director of EPSRC’s CDT in Energy Storage and its Applications. He currently holds a Royal Academy of Engineering Industrial Fellowship focused on understanding the value of BioEnergy CCS to the UK and leads the University of Sheffield’s Energy Systems research Pillar, a part of Sheffield’s Energy Institute, and sits on the Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures’ Strategic Board. He has published over peer-reviewed 95 papers on various aspects of modelling and optimisation of clean energy processes.

Dr Serena Gallanti

Lead Cell Engineer - Jaguar Land Rover

Serena is currently in charge of characterisation of battery materials at Jaguar Land Rover. She is also one of the primary stakeholders in the Catapult initiatives, as well as being active in student supervision.

Serena established significant abilities in electrodeposition and material characterisation during her PhD in physical and analytical chemistry and during her career. In 2014, she received the International Society of Electrochemistry's Poster Presentation Prize, and in 2015, she was a finalist in the Sorbonne University's selection for the CNRS contest "My PhD thesis in 180 seconds," which aims to bring technical material to a wider audience.

Serena gathered 10 years of experience in teaching both at Bachelor and Master degree levels during her PhD and her previous role as Assistant Professor. Serena volunteers for Zero Waste Europe and France in her spare time, where she gives scientific presentations to the wider public about domestic waste reduction.

Dr Jonelle Harvey

Programme Manager - Royal Society of Chemistry

Jonelle Harvey is a chartered chemist by background and now has eight years’ experience working with employers across industry, higher education and government departments establishing professional standards, competence, and skills development. She is a Programme Manager for the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) employer accreditation. This involves relationship management and development, advising on effective onboarding, professional development and recognition. Evaluating and auditing early-career programmes and graduate schemes is also key. Jonelle is a member of CDT advisory boards as well as managing programmes of professional development activities, product development, evaluation and communications planning.

Melissa He

Senior Engineer - Advanced Battery Technologies - Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE)

Multi-disciplinary engineer with a background in physical chemistry, mechanical and motorsport engineering. As an undergraduate, she was actively involved in energy storage research, developing novel fuel cell materials and supporting battery material development. Melissa completed a research Master’s where she carried out an industry project with FCA US (now Stellantis), working on the battery management system for the Fiat 500e. After finishing a motorsport Master’s, she has been working at Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) where Melissa has been involved in a wide variety of battery projects from micro mobility to motorsport to heavy duty vehicles.

Professor Colin Herron

MD Zero Carbon Futures and Professor of Practice - Newcastle University

Colin Herron has worked in the automotive industry for over 48 years including 16 years in Engineering at Nissan in Sunderland. Colin launched Zero Carbon Futures (ZCF) as a not-for-profit, electric vehicle consultancy, with a principle focus of advising towns, cities, and governments on all aspects of how best to plan for and adapt to the introduction of ultra-low carbon vehicles. ZCF is wholly owned by Newcastle University.    

Colin works closely with the car industry, government bodies and professional institutions to understand and translate future technology into an adoption strategy. A recognised speaker at national and international level. Currently leading the development of a regional battery alliance and heading the North-East regional office of the Faraday Institution (FINE).  

Colin has a PhD, is a Professor of Practice at Newcastle University. Appointed a CBE (2018) for services to business and renewable energy. 

Matt Howard

Chief Strategy Officer - Faraday Institution

Matt Howard is Chief Strategy Officer for the Faraday Institution. He is responsible for working with the CEO and the Executive Team to drive the organisation's overall strategic direction. He oversees a portfolio that includes developing and stewarding new strategic partnerships and relationships that build the Faraday Institution's impact, visibility, value, thought leadership and longevity.

Matt is a twenty-five year veteran in communications and engagement, specialising in research communications for some of the world’s leading universities and scientific institutions, including the University of Chicago, University of Michigan and Columbia University among others.

He most recently served as the Chief Communications Officer and director of the communications, education and public affairs division for the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, where he was responsible for communicating the distinctive scientific culture and the groundbreaking innovations and impacts of one of the largest science and engineering research laboratories in the US. In this capacity, he was responsible for communications strategy, brand and visual identity, media relations, crisis communications, internal communications, educational programmes and community engagement.

In prior years, Matt served as the founding director of the media initiatives group at the University of Chicago, as an editorial and communications lead for multiple start-up companies, and as an editor for an academic publisher.

He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, a master’s degree from Miami University, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester.

Fran Long

Head of Training and Talent Development - Faraday Institution

Fran is the Head of Training and Talent Development at the Faraday Institution and is working to create a dynamic and diverse pool of talent for the fields of battery technology and energy storage. An innovative educator and award-winning primary science specialist, who has conducted research into raising STEM career aspirations, Fran is committed to boosting professional career development in the STEM sector through developing and leading programmes for early career researchers, PhDs, undergraduate students, young people (through STEM outreach) as well as a host of equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives that widen participation and foster inclusivity.

Fran holds a first-class honours degree in Primary Teacher Education, received a Primary Science Teacher Award (PSTA) endorsed by the Institute of Physics and she is also a Fellow of the Primary Science Teaching Trust (PSTT). Today, talent development for the battery sector is her key focus with leading a bespoke PhD training programme and the Faraday Undergraduate Summer Experience (FUSE) internship programme, central to the role. Both aim to increase the knowledge, skills and aspirations of the next generation.

Dr Saneeya Qureshi

Operational Lead - University of Liverpool

Saneeya leads a portfolio of UK and European research talent development activities that are lauded as gold standards for inclusivity and accessibility. She is the University of Liverpool’s operational lead for the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and a peer reviewer for the European HR Excellence in Research Award. As convener for the European Educational Research Association’s early career research enhancement activities, she also contributes to shaping European policy, creating and implementing effective research talent development frameworks.

Professor Paul Shearing

Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Battery Technologies for Next Generation Energy Storage, UCL - University College London

Paul is a co-director of the Electrochemical Innovation Lab at UCL. His research interests cover a broad range of electrochemical engineering themes with a particular interest in the relationship between performance and microstructure for energy materials: an area in which he has published more than 190 papers. In 2014 he was named the Institute of Chemical Engineers, Young Chemical Engineer of the Year in Academia and in 2016 the RAEng Engineers Trust Young Engineer of the Year.

He is the Principal Investigator of the Faraday Institution LiSTAR project.