Professor Mark Jolly is the Director of TransFIRe and the Manufacturing Theme at Cranfield. He is Professor of Manufacturing at Cranfield University which comprises about 120 staff (~55 FTE academics), some 200 FTE MSc students and more than 120 PhD/EngD Researchers with a turnover of about £16 M p.a. funded by EPSRC, EU, TSB and industry. He has managed research funding from a wide range of sources over the last 38 years. Whilst working in industry for 13 years he managed R&D teams of up to 15 people in the primary and shape cast aluminium industries. He then ran a technical department supporting foundry products throughout Europe and the world and was responsible for a sales budget of £4 M p.a. (30% of the company turnover). During this period he managed 3 DTI grants with a number of partners, a LINK project and one BRITE/EURAM project with partners from France, Norway, Germany and the UK. One of his products, SOLSTAR, won the Queens Award for Technology in 1991.

Salonitis is Deputy Director of TransFIRe and Head of Sustainable Manufacturing Systems Centre and the Deputy Director of the Manufacturing Theme at Cranfield. He is a visiting professor at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA) and Jiangsu University.

His research is in the areas of sustainable manufacturing, modelling and simulation of manufacturing processes and systems and lean and green management of manufacturing. He is leading the Sustainable Manufacturing Systems Centre (SMSC) at Cranfield University. In SMSC fundamental science and thought leadership on the technological, economic and social context are applied to identify ways forward for commercial success and sustainability. Activities are tailored to the centre’s industry partner needs and include applied research, technology transfer, teaching, consultancy and short courses.

Konstantinos has published more than 250 research papers in major international journals and internationally referred conferences and authored four books. He is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the IMechE and a member of the Technical Chamber of Greece. He is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Sanjoo is the business development & hub manager for TransFIRe at Cranfield University. Working very closely with the co-investigators and hub partners, he is responsible for the overall delivery of TransFIRe to time and budget and attracting new partners.

With a background in Materials, Sanjoo has been working very closely with academia and industry and co-founded Stress-Space Ltd offering materials engineering consultancy services to companies such as Rolls-Royce, Airbus, US Air Force, EDF Energy etc.

Prior to joining Cranfield, he was Director of Centre of Excellence for Advanced Materials, Dongguan China where he led the stress engineering group and construction of a state-of-the-art Materials Engineering laboratory.

Shoaib Sarfraz is a Research Fellow in Sustainable Manufacturing Systems Centre at Cranfield University. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, and a PhD in Manufacturing. At present, Shoaib is working on TransFIRe (Transforming Foundation Industries Research) project focusing on mapping resource use in UK foundation industries and transferring best practices in these industries; the aim is to enhance the resource use (energy, materials, water) and reduce the negative environmental impacts in line with Net Zero 2050 Agenda. Prior to joining TransFIRe, he has worked with Grundfos in Denmark on the project “Data-Driven Sustainable Production of Circulation Pumps”. His research interests include Sustainable Manufacturing, Life Cycle Assessment, Advanced Manufacturing, Cost Engineering and Optimization.

Graham completed his PhD (Wood Science) at Bangor University, UK and has been the Head of Materials Research at the BioComposites Centre for 8 years. In that time he has written may proposals, papers and undertaken commercial works in all aspects of biomaterials science. Graham has over 100 publications including peer reviewed papers, conference proceedings, book chapters and edited books, he continues to publish regularly. With a background in forestry, forest industries technology and natural materials science his research work has focused on novel wood protection techniques, chemical modification and novel resin systems. Work has included benchmarking resins in MDF production and the use of recycled wood in the particleboard industry.

Graham sits on the BSi advisory board MI/2 ‘BioProducts’ and the review committee for PAS 600. He is also on the boards of the Wood Technology Society and the Natural Materials Association and is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining.

Simon is a senior research scientist at the Biocomposites Centre at Bangor University in North Wales, having previously worked at Edinburgh Napier University, the USDA Forest Products Laboratory in Wisconsin USA and at Imperial College in London.  He has over 20 years of research experience in the use of natural products (e.g., wood, hemicellulose and cellulose, seaweed, plants, animal fibre) with a focus on environmental interactions and physical, chemical, elemental and moisture analysis. Simon has authored and published more than 40 scientific papers as well as numerous conference proceedings in this area. He is currently a section editor for the Wood Science and Forest Products section of the Forests Journal. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, and actively involved in several European COST actions focusing on wood and cellulosic materials.

Clive is a senior Industrial Minerals Geologist at the British Geological Survey (BGS, where he has been since 1989), a highly engaging geoscience communicator and the bestselling author of ‘The Pebble Spotter’s Guide’ (published by the National Trust). 

Clive is responsible for developing business opportunities and leading BGS industrial minerals research projects including industrial mineral resource evaluation, institutional strengthening, capacity building, training, workshops and mineral promotion. He has worked on a wide range of industrial minerals throughout Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Thailand and Afghanistan. Clive is currently researching Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining in Kenya and graphite battery raw materials in Africa (as part of the BGS International Geoscience Research & Development programme) 

Clive is a Chartered Geologist (CGeol) with the Geological Society of London and a member of the British Standards Institute technical committee for test methods for construction aggregate. He is secretary of Extractive Industry Geology (www.eigconferences.com, and manager of www.MineralsUK.com. Further information: https://www.bgs.ac.uk/people/mitchell-clive/ 

Evi is a Senior Mineral Commodity Expert at the British Geological Survey (BGS) with over 13 years of working experience in industry, academia and the public sector. At BGS, her research is in the field of security of supply and the circular economy, which in recent years has a focus on decarbonisation and resource management. She is interested to identify routes to the sustainable and responsible provision of raw materials, whether from primary or secondary sources. She is involved in several multidisciplinary projects in the areas of critical raw materials, material flow analysis, sustainability and ESG assessment for technology metals  and the development of data infrastructures for raw materials. She holds a PhD in Mining Engineering and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Waste Management and a member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3). In the past, she has worked in the areas of resource efficiency, sustainability and industrial ecology. 

Rossi is Professor in High-Value Manufacturing and the Founding Director and Principal Investigator of the Research Centre in AI, Robotics and Human-Machine Systems (IROHMS) at Cardiff, which currently involves over 55 academics and postgraduate researchers and 20 PhD students. She also leads ASTUTE Cardiff, a team of 20+ academics and researchers helping Welsh manufacturing companies to develop more advanced and sustainable engineering solutions. Rossi has a distinguished track record of research in a range of areas including AI, robotics, systems engineering, additive manufacturing, industrial sustainability, and Industry 4.0. Her edited books on Sustainable Design and Manufacturing are among the top Springer publications in 2019 and 2018 that address important United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Over a period of 20 years, Professor Setchi has contributed over 240 peer reviewed publications including 14 books and over 100 journal articles, and secured external grant support totalling more than £25 million. She has collaborated with over 20 UK and 30 overseas universities, 15 research organisations and 30 industrial companies from more than 20 countries in Europe, Asia and Australia.

Sam Evans joined the School in 1996 from the University of Southampton.  His research interests are varied and cover various aspects of the deformation and failure of materials, with a particular interest in mechanics of soft materials and nanocomposites.  Current projects include the fit of and pressure injuries from respiratory PPE, measurement and prediction of brain movement for surgical navigation, investigation of the mechanics of pressure ulcer formation in the heel, the development of novel antimicrobial bone cements and antimicrobial polymers for medical equipment, and the development of graphene reinforced polymer composites for aerospace applications.

Prof Evans was previously the Head of the School of Engineering, with overall management responsibility for all areas of engineering.

Masoud recently completed his PhD at Coventry University. His research focused on tackling global warming through CO₂ storage, which is part of the immediate carbon capture and storage concept of reducing emissions. Masoud holds two MSc degrees in Environmental and Land Planning Engineering (Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy) and Petroleum Engineering (Polytechnic University of Turin). He led a team of seven students with diverse academic backgrounds, working on the life cycle assessment of high energy wind turbines for two years during his MSc studies. Masoud also worked at different research centres such as TNO (in the Netherlands) and SINTEF (in Norway).

Masoud joined Cardiff University in December 2021 as a circular economy researcher, working with the TransFIRe technical group team on the metal sector. He hopes to conduct research of publishable quality by collaborating with national and international researchers to improve social well-being and environmental quality.

A multi award winning Computer Scientist, Technology Evangelist and Digital Skills Expert, Professor Sue Black was awarded an OBE for “services to technology” in the 2016 Queen’s New Year’s Honours list. She is Professor of Computer Science and Technology Evangelist in the Department of Computer Science at Durham University, a UK government advisor, thought leader, Trustee at Comic Relief, social entrepreneur, writer and public speaker.

Sue set up the UK’s first online network for women in tech BCSWomen in 1998 and led the campaign to save Bletchley Park, home of the WW2 codebreakers. Sue’s first book Saving Bletchley Park details the social media campaign she led to save Bletchley Park from 2008-2011. Sue has championed women in tech for over two decades, founding the #techmums social enterprise in 2013 and the pioneering TechUPWomen retraining underserved women into tech careers in 2019.

Passionate about technology as an enabler Sue didn’t have a traditional start to her career. She left home and school at 16, married at 20 and had 3 children by the age of 23. A single parent at 25 she went to university, gained a degree in computing then a PhD in software engineering. Sue now has 4 children and 5 grandchildren.

Justin is Professor of Chemistry and Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange in the Department of Applied Sciences at Northumbria University. His research interests include the development of new scalable chemical processes especially in polymer chemistry and biotechnology, as well as the integration of new technology into the chemistry toolkit, including automated analysis of databases, robotic remote imaging, self-healing polymers and living biocomposites His research has been funded by UKRI, charities and EU. He also carries out technology transfer through university consultancy Nzomics, providing synthetic methods, assays and industrial biotechnology to industrial partners, and SPIN for innovation in chemical synthesis and polymer technology.  

Matt is an Associate Professor Polymer Chemistry at Northumbria University and has extensive experience in the development and scale-up of industrial chemical and polymerisation processes, established though industrial leaderships roles across pharmaceutical (GlaxoSmithKline) and polymer (AkzoNobel) industries. His current research focuses on the synthesis of functional polymers and materials for applications in coatings, surfaces and composites. He is a member of the ‘EPSRC Early Career Forum in Manufacturing Research’, industrial engagement lead in the ‘Recent Appointees in Polymer Science’ group (RAPS, https://www.raps.org.uk/) and founding member of the ‘Synthesis and Polymer Innovation’ centre at Northumbria (SPIN, www.northumbria.ac.uk/spin). His recent work in the synthesis and mechanism elucidation of novel network polymers can be seen in Polymer Chem., 2019, 10, 4920 and recent high profile research in the synthesis of antiviral surface coatings in the press release https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/news-events/news/antiviral-coating-to-reduce-spread-of-covid19). 

His research is in the areas of sustainable manufacturing, modelling and simulation of manufacturing processes and systems and lean and green management of manufacturing. He is leading the Sustainable Manufacturing Systems Centre (SMSC) at Cranfield University. In SMSC fundamental science and thought leadership on the technological, economic and social context are applied to identify ways forward for commercial success and sustainability. Activities are tailored to the centre’s industry partner needs and include applied research, technology transfer, teaching, consultancy and short courses.

Bradley is a PhD student at Northumbria University, working within TransFIRe in chemistry, seeking to develop novel polymeric/composite materials from waste streams across the foundation industries.

After obtaining an MChem at the University of Plymouth in 2018, Bradley joined a knowledge transfer partnership project between Northumbria and Lear Corporation, formulating and developing polyurethanes for the automotive sector. Once the partnership concluded, he spent time as a research assistant on the “Manufacturing Immortality” project, working to develop self-healing polymeric materials. He is passionate about polymer chemistry and increasing sustainability within the sector.

Prof. Paul A. Bingham is Professor of Glasses and Ceramics at Sheffield Hallam University. He works closely with multiple foundation industries, including glass and ceramics, to help reduce their energy use, CO₂ emissions and environmental impact.

Paul contributes to teaching of Materials Engineering, with specific focus on materials composition / structure / property relations; and ceramic and glass technology. Paul has published over 120 research papers in glasses; glass-ceramics; energy and the environment; waste management and nuclear and toxic waste treatment; advanced spectroscopy; and manufacturing technologies. He has co-edited and co-authored a book on the subject of low-energy, environmentally-friendly glass manufacture and he has a strong track record in attracting research funding. He is Director of Studies for several PhD students and line manages many postdoctoral researchers, visiting academics and interns.  Paul is a Fellow of the Society of Glass Technology and sits on its Basic Science and Technology Committee. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He is a reviewer for over 10 international journals, the US DoE Nuclear Energy Universities Programme and EU H2020 funding bids. Paul sits on several international and national committees. He is a member of the International Commission on Glass Technical Committee 5: Waste Vitrification and the RAL-ISIS Neutron User Committee. He was elected onto the Sector Decarbonisation Roadmap Committee for the ceramics industry, which directly advises the UK Government in this area. He is also a lead Academic Advisor to Glass Futures, which aims to develop a state-of-the-art training and R&D facility in glass. Paul also carries out a wide range of consultancy activities. He has consulted for the UK Government’s Committee on Climate Change and for the ceramics, optoelectronics and glass industries. He also acts as an international expert witness and has worked with some of the world’s largest and most well-known companies in his field. He has organised multiple conferences and was Chair of the Local Organising Committee for the highly successful Centenary Conference of the Society of Glass Technology. He has given many Invited Presentations at international conferences, and actively engages with the international academic and industrial communities.

Wei is a glass scientist at Sheffield Hallam University (SHU), where he worked in Prof. Paul Bingham’s research group since 2016. He is a specialist on industrial (float/sheet/bottle) glass production and has more than 10 years’ international research specialising (China-USA-UK) in glass and glass ceramic science. Now Wei’s research is focusing on the energy saving and CO₂ reduction in the glass industry to help the UK to realize net zero by 2050.

Since in the UK, he successfully delivered several projects, relevantly includes developing a new process to recycle glass fines as glass batch (Innovate UK, EPSRC), and translated biomass ashes and other kind of wastes into glass batch for low carbon emission and energy saving (BEIS, Innovate UK) During the period, He contacted and cooperated with more than 15 UK companies through different projects.

Prof. Shaowei Zhang joins Exeter from Sheffield where he has worked for 14 years as a postdoctoral research associate, an EPSRC advanced fellow and a member of academic staff. Before joining Sheffield, he had been at Nagoya, Japan for 5 years both as a PhD student and a member of academic staff.

His main research interests are in the processing, microstructures and properties of advanced ceramics and high temperature composites. Current research topics include development of nanostructured low carbon composites, design of phase change material composites for thermal storage, novel synthesis of graphene and graphene quantum dots, and preparation of porous ceramics. Other work includes preparation of oxide/carbide coatings and novel armour materials and development of ultrahigh-temperature ceramics.

In addition to research, he has acted as a consultant to more than 15 ceramics companies and their user companies.

Ahmed is a postdoctoral research fellow with a chemical engineering background, working on the TransFIRe at the College of Engineering, Mathematics, and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter (UoE). Since 2014, he has been working in the field of (nano)material synthesis and have developed these materials for environmental applications during his PhD period at Kyushu University, Japan, and postdoctoral research period at the UoE. As a research associate, he worked and led the independent execution of a 3-year research programme for the NERC-funded Fate and Management of Emerging Contaminants (FaME) Project that involved the development of green and low-cost treatment solutions and treatment systems design using modelling approaches. Ahmed is a well-recognised researcher in the material science and environmental application domains and has produced over 24 peer-reviewed journal publications (mostly in high-impact factor journals, having received over 765 citations).

Phil has developed new methods that enable analysis of the lifecycle and the resource flows of materials to identify their social, environmental, economic and technical impacts. Phil is Deputy Head of Civil Engineering at the University of Leeds, where he leads interdisciplinary research into sustainable cities and resilient infrastructure. Phil’s personal research portfolio is highly interdisciplinary. He is Principal Investigator on £5.6m and Co-Investigator on £5.1m UKRI grants funded by EPSRC, ESRC and NERC. He also convened the £7m NERC Resource Recovery from Waste programme. From a background in concrete technology (the use of fibre/textile reinforcement in cement composites) the programme has diversified into resource management and the circular economy, medical biomaterials, 3D printing and the carbon footprint of structural materials.

Dr Anne Velenturf is the Technical Programme Manager of TransFIRe. She is a Senior Research Fellow in Circular Economy at the University of Leeds with a visiting position at Cranfield University. Anne is a circular economy expert working on the interface of research and practice, specialising in the facilitation of transformative change.

Anne previously coordinated the Resource Recovery from Waste programme which facilitated radical change in resource and waste management. She won the Poul La Cour Award 2021 for her collaborative research to integrate circular economy into the development, operation and end of use management of wind infrastructure, and is now developing a new research group on Wind Energy Lifecycle Sustainability. In 2021 she co-founded the Yorkshire Circular Lab to support implementation of a circular economy in Yorkshire. Anne holds various advisory positions for government, research councils and industry.

Jonathan is an Associate Professor in the Engineering Department at the University of Cambridge, and President of Fitzwilliam College. He leads the Resource Efficiency Collective (www.refficiency.org) and has a reputation for top-down studies of resource systems, bringing skills in developing new metrics to reflect both energy and material consequences of materials production.

Jonathan currently leads C-THRU: carbon clarity in the global petrochemical supply chain (VKRF) and is currently a co-investigator on: S2uPPlant: Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging from Plants (UKRI), TransFIRe: Foundation Industries Research and Innovation Hub (UKRI), UK FIRES: Locating Resource Efficiency at the heart of Future Industrial Strategy (EPSRC), CCG: Climate Compatible Growth (FCDO). He is a Lead Author for the IPCC AR6 Industry Chapter, an Expert Adviser to the IEA Technology Roadmaps, and co-authored the book Sustainable Materials: with both eyes open, which pioneered the concept of material efficiency for energy-intensive industries.

Natanael is a Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, mapping energy and material flows to establish efficient resources use in the foundation industries as part of the TransFIRe project. His background is in the analysis of energy systems for sustainable development. He holds a PhD in Energy Resources and Petroleum Engineering and a MSc in Mechanical Engineering from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. Prior to KAUST, he obtained a BSc in Renewable Energy and Environment Engineering at the Federal University of Pampa in Brazil.

Kyle comes from a background in the physical sciences, having worked for over 10 years as a research chemist developing catalysts for reducing the energy demands of industrial processes.  Shifting careers in 2018, he joined the University of Edinburgh to study policy support for accelerating technology development in Scotland’s marine renewable energy sector.  Most recently, Kyle served as a ClimateXChange Research Fellow, working on evidence reviews of energy and climate change policy issues for Scottish Government, with a particular focus on green industrial strategy, and accelerating the deployment of low carbon heating and energy efficiency technologies.

Peter Ball is Professor of Operations Management at the University of York Management School where he leads on business and community engagement. He researches at the interface between academia and industry. His passion is addressing research challenges and opportunities in manufacturing, especially sustainability. Peter uses modelling and simulation techniques to understand performance as well as works on practices that underpin performance. Through a management lens, he seeks to understand how processes in industry work and how they can be improved. His work includes circular economy, peer-to-peer learning between companies, barriers and enablers for advance and more generally addressing manufacturing productivity.  

Beyond TransFIRe, his recent projects include FixOurFood food systems transformation with emphasis on new business models, mapping manufacturing food waste in Yorkshire, environmental practice sharing in brewing, the development of digital twins in production, digitally enhanced services for domestic appliances to enhance asset life, developing low cost digital in aquaculture, circularity in low value consumer products and peer-to-peer learning for sustainability practices in the food and drink industry. He is a member of the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding LEP’s Carbon Neutral and Circular Economy Steering Group and Chair of the EPSRC Circular 4.0 Steering Board. He has the privilege of serving on the IET’s Design and Production Sector Executive as their sustainability lead. He has served as a judge on the IET’s and Make UK’s innovation awards, particularly their innovation, education and sustainability categories. 

Steve has over 30 years of professional experience working in developing country and European research projects focussed on community resilience, co-benefits of sustainable development initiatives and health impacts. He specialises in the use of geographic information systems (GIS), participatory methods and behaviour change initiative. His Participatory GIS methods have been applied in developing countries assessing natural resource use, health and wellbeing in cities and agriculture water management; and in the UK investigating environmental concerns including air quality, flood management, and urban redevelopment. His work has included action research initiatives to build community resilience. He has evaluated the behaviour change impacts of green infrastructure on businesses, visitors and residents in terms of wellbeing, economics and consumption patterns. He has worked with older people on co-designing mobility solutions in UK cities. He has extensive experience of project management and has provided training and capacity building institutes in diverse locations including Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Ghana, Burkina Faso, the Netherlands, South Africa, Thailand, China, Ivory Coast and India. 

David is a research associate at the University of York Management School. He specialises in research, evaluation and development and his research interests include how the beliefs and values of both individuals and groups within organisations are perpetuated and/or transformed and are grounded in aspects of social psychology and social practice theory. For TransFIRe this means evaluating how business can more effectively spread good practice and evaluate whole system effects.  David has over 19 years of experience as a researcher working in higher education on applied research projects in a variety of contexts, which have included SMEs, the NHS, social care facilities and university departments.

Jean is involved in TransFIRe as part of the team looking at stakeholder engagement and industry-community links. Her expertise is in qualitative and quantitative methodologies, including participatory methods, and in design of evaluation. Jean left a 25+ year career as a cognitive scientist to pursue her interest in environmental topics, completing an MSc at University of York and a year of postgraduate study at Loughborough University working on analysis of peat bogs. She subsequently worked at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) where she supported the EU-funded RAPID LIFE Project on riparian invasive species and then joined the Stockholm Environment Institute working on citizen science and participatory research projects and on the Integrated Nutrient Management on Yorkshire Farms (INMY Farm) project.

Gary initially spent 15 years at the York centre (1997-2012) working on projects related to transport, air pollution, low carbon futures, and climate change and older people, Prior to returning to SEI in 2020 he spent 8 years (2012-2020) working at the Directorate for Energy, Transport and Climate, EC Joint Research Centre (Ispra, Italy) where he undertook research to support European transport and environmental policy making.

Gary is a human ecologist with over twenty years of supporting the development and implementation of environmental policy in Africa, Asia and Europe. This has involved providing the evidence-base to support policy formulation, facilitating the policy process, building capacity, liaising with a wide range of stakeholders and communicating the result of his work to ensure it has maximum impact.

He has led a number of international multi-partner transport and environment-related programmes. These have included the Sida funded Air Pollution in the Megacities of Asia (APMA) project in collaboration with UNEP, WHO and Clean Air Asia, the EU funded Clean Air Asia Training programme together with Clean Air Asia and the Thai Pollution Control Department and the Transport and Environment Science-Technology Network in collaboration with UN-HABITAT, UNEP and six African universities.

He has also coordinated a UK regional climate change communication (Climate Talk) programme and held climate change workshops on the impact of climate change on older people (in collaboration with Age UK and Help Age International) and climate change communication for Pakistani media professionals (in collaboration with IUCN and Oxfam) and led regional and city-wide community pro-environmental behaviour change projects. He has been an advisor on low carbon transport for the former UK Department of International Development (DFID).

More recently, he has assisted in the coordination of work for the European Commission’s DG CLIMA and DG GROW to reduce emissions from the transport sector. He supported the implementation of the Strategic Transport Research and Innovation Agenda (STRIA) and has contributed to policy impact assessments which involved cost-benefit analyses, policy reviews and stakeholder consultations on a pan-European level.

Gary holds a Diploma in Economics, a PhD in Geography (Transport and Environmental Policy and Planning), an MSc in Environmental Impact Assessment and a BSc (Hons) in Human Ecology.

He is the author/co-author of five books including a Short Guide to Environmental Policy (2014), Environmentalism Since 1945 (2013), Urban Air Pollution in Asian Cities (2006), World Transport Policy and Practice (2003) as well as numerous academic papers and policy reports.