Mark is Professor and Director of Manufacturing. He has almost 40 years’ experience in manufacturing. He spent 13 years working in industry in automotive and tier 1&2 suppliers into manufacturing both in the UK and abroad before moving into academia in 1995. In 2012 he joined Cranfield after 17 years at the University of Birmingham. He has managed over £17.5 M of research projects since 1999 and has over 350 publications, technical reports, articles and books. He is Director of the recently announced UKRI Transforming the Foundation Industries Research and Innovation Hub (TransFIRe), co-Director of the Circular Economy Network plus in Transport Systems (CENTS), and co-Director of the Engineering and Physical sciences Research Council Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing which offers a triple degree with the Universities of Warwick and Exeter. Mark has sat on the EPSRC Peer Review College since 2003 and sits on the council of the Cast Metals Federation, is a reviewer for the European Space Agency (ESA) and Enterprise Ireland. He is a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Environmentalist and sits on the Society for the Environment Honorary Fellows Panel. He is a Trustee, Member of the Executive Board and Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3), and is the current chair of the Materials Science and Technology Division. He also sits on the IOM3 Sustainable Development, Casting and Solidification and Light Metals Groups. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Cast Metals Engineers (ICME). He was Chair of the Solidification Committee of The Mineral Metals and Materials Society (TMS, USA) for two years until 2018. Mark is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Founders and Freeman of the City of London.

Mark is the recipient of the 2019 John Campbell Gold Medal awarded by ICME for “continual advancement in sustainable manufacturing and promotion of excellence in casting technologies”. He was the 2010 Winner of the University of Birmingham Josiah Mason Founder’s Award for Business Advancement and in 2008 was the recipient of the Oliver Stubbs Medal (ICME).

His main areas of current research are in circular economy and sustainability including resource efficient manufacturing, process modelling and novel casting processes. He has worked with many well-known names across a number of sectors including Rolls-Royce, Depuy-Synthes (Johnson & Johnson), Bentley, Aston Martin, BAES, Finmechanica, GKN and Coca-Cola. He has also championed working with many small companies especially SMEs who supply to large companies.