Vision to Action: Research - Biographies

Duncan Botting BA MIET, MIEEE, Managing Director, ITI Energy

Duncan currently holds the post of Managing Director ITI Energy, based in Scotland. In this role he works closely with customers, academia, industry, government and regulators to deliver innovative technical solutions to market challenges. His previous role was with ABB as Head of Technology & Business Development. He has 30 years experience covering the complete spectrum of technical and commercial roles from apprentice to boardroom. He is a visiting professor at Imperial College London and the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. He is an active member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET, formerly the IEE) and is involved in many influential panels, advisory boards and committees both at a National and European level. As an active member of the IET Energy Sector Panel and as Vice-Chair of the European Technology Platform for “SmartGrids” he is helping to shape thinking in the energy sector. He is a work programme director for the Electrical Network Horizon Scanning group, which has a membership comprising of a cross-industry team looking at UK network options from 2010 to 2050. This is a UK government and regulator advisory group providing impartial industry expertise to policy makers.

Professor Graeme Burt, University of Strathclyde

Professor Graeme Burt is a professor of electrical power systems within the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde, where he co-directs the Institute for Energy and Environment. He started his career as the South West Electricity Board (SWEB) lecturer in power systems in 1993, and now leads research in the fields of electrical power systems, encompassing active power networks and more-electric power systems. He is currently the Director of the Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre in Electrical Power Systems, and co-directs the DECC funded UK Centre for Sustainable Electricity and Distributed Generation. Professor Burt also directs the EPSRC SUPERGEN “Highly Distributed Power Systems” consortium, and is finance director of the SUPERGEN FlexNet consortium. He is furthermore engaged in EU programmes DERLab, DERRI, and COST. He is a member of the IET and IEEE.

Stuart Haszeldine, Professor of Geology, University of Edinburgh

Current research examines geological storage of CO2, in the context of climate change and changing energy use. He was topic leader for the Carbon Management theme of the UK Energy Research Centre 2005-09. He co-leads the UK’s largest university research group for CO2 storage (at Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt and British Geological Survey at Edinburgh) www.geos.ed.ac.uk/sccs/ and is co-leader of the academic UK Carbon Capture and Storage Consortium. He was a technical advisor to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee on CCS in 2006, and since 2007 has been a member of the ACCAT committee advising UK Government (DECC) at Minister level on Carbon Abatement Technologies, and a personal adviser to the Scottish Government and Energy Minister. He has provided numerous media comments on Carbon Capture and Storage, and is an invited speaker on CCS at public and technical conferences.

Professor David Infield, Professor of Renewable Energy Technologies, Institute of Energy and Environment, University of Strathclyde

David Infield is Professor of Renewable Energy Technologies within the Institute of Energy and Environment at the University of Strathclyde. He has worked in the renewables sector since completing a theoretical physics (general relativity) PhD in 1978. During this time his research interests have ranged over solar thermal system design, wind energy systems and photovoltaics. He first worked for the Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA), then Rutherford Appleton Laboratory where he became Manager of the Universities’ Wind Test Site for the years 1988 to 1993, then moving to the University of Loughborough where he established CREST, the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology, and finally moving to Strathclyde in 2007. A common theme unifying his research interest has been the integration of renewable energy sources into electricity supply systems.

He has published widely on these subjects and his research is funded by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the UK DTI, Industry and the EU amongst others. He is Editor in Chief of the new IET Journal of Renewable Power Generation and plays a leading role in the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), which co-ordinates UK energy research and advises on energy research policy. He leads and has led a number of important research consortia at national and European level. He represents the UK on international standards committees and IEA activities. He reviews papers and research proposals for a range of international journals and funding agencies. He has recently joined the new IPPC authorship team looking at the climate change mitigation potential of the renewables. Wiley published in 2008 a book co-authored with Leon Freris on the integration of renewable energy into power systems.

Professor John Irvine, University of St Andrews

John Irvine is Professor of Chemistry at the University of St Andrews and currently holds an EPSRC Senior Fellowship. His first degree is in Chemical Physics from Edinburgh University and he obtained a DPhil from the University of Ulster in Photoelectrochemistry. He performed his postdoctoral studies working with Anthony West in Aberdeen and was subsequently appointed to a BP/RSE fellowship, lectureship and senior lectureship at Aberdeen University. In 1994 he was visiting Professor at Northwestern University and then moved to the University of St Andrews as Reader and then Professor of Inorganic Chemistry. His research interests are in solid state ionics, new materials, ceramic processing, electrochemistry, fuel cell technology, hydrogen, photoelectrochemistry, electrochemical conversion and heterogeneous catalysis.

He heads a large team of 30 researchers and his main programmes of activity relate to

• understanding oxide ion conductivity
• finding new electronic conductors for fuel cells
• developing fuel flexible SOFC anodes
• understanding ion conductivity in oxides
• high performance fuel cell electrolytes
• direct carbon fuel cells
• durability and resistance in high temperature fuel cells
• production of hydrogen through electrolysis
• electrochemical production of ammonia and hydrocarbons through solid state electrolysis
• solid solution formation and phase equilibria studies
• new materials search
• ceramics processing

Professor David Macdonald, University of Aberdeen

View Professor Macdonald's CV

Donald McNicol, Chief Engineer, Atkins Energy

Donald has thirty years’ experience in the power generation and oil & gas industries and is a Chief Engineer at Atkins Energy with responsibility for providing technological and business development in the field of conventional generation. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers with skills in the integrity and risk management of engineering components and structures. He has undertaken due diligence exercises in the UK, USA, Italy and Africa of brownfield, greenfield and existing coal, gas and hydro stations. He has experience both as a consultant and with an operator of power plants. giving him an understanding of plant related issues from both design and operational perspectives. He has been involved in a number of UK gas storage projects, for Hatfield Moors and Humbly Grove he was the FEED stage Project Manager for ScottishPower and for British Gas E&P he was the Technical Manager at Rough Storage.

His current interest is in supercritical coal-fired power stations and in the technical and economic challenges of CO2 capture for such plants.

Professor Paul Mitchell, Institute of Energy Studies, University of Aberdeen

Professor Paul Mitchell has nearly 30 years experience in conducting research, development and demonstration in renewable energies, particularly focusing on biomass and bioenergy.

He has worked closely with government departments and agencies, research institutes, international organisations and industry as programme and project manager developing biomass and bioenergy as an economically viable and sustainable source of energy. He is the author of over 200 scientific papers, editor of a book and 16 conference proceedings.

Professor Mitchell is based in the University of Aberdeen, College of Physical Sciences where he is Director of the Institute of Energy Technologies. The Institute brings together all the research in the University directed at energy related issues. Prime strengths are in renewables (biomass, biofuels, wave, fuel cells), petroleum geology, storage of nuclear waste, economics & policy, supply system modelling, carbon sequestration, design of energy efficient buildings.

Professor Mitchell is a founder Director of the Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group (AREG) and a Director of the Energy Technology Partnership. He is also Chief Editor of the academic journal Biomass and Bioenergy published by Elsevier.

Dr. Simon Puttock, Executive Director, Energy Technology Partnership (ETP)

Simon Puttock is Executive Director of the Energy Technology Partnership (ETP).

The ETP is an alliance of Scottish Universities, currently engaged in world class energy related Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D). With around 250 academics and 600 researchers, the ETP is the largest, most broad based power and energy research partnership in Europe.

In his career to date, Simon has worked with a global oil company for over twenty years, in a variety of energy related operational and commercial roles both in the UK and overseas. Simon then worked for Scottish Enterprise (Scotland’s main economic development agency) from 2004-2008, most recently as their Energy Strategy and Planning Manager.

Simon graduated from the University of Nottingham (BSc) and the University of Dundee (PhD), before completing a 2 year Post-Doctoral position at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

Simon is married with three children.

Professor A R Wallace

Prof. Robin Wallace graduated B.Sc. in 1976 and Ph.D. in 1990 at the University of Edinburgh. Between these times he worked for Parsons Peebles Motors and Generators project-engineering turnkey power generation systems around the world. He is Head of The Institute for Energy Systems in the School of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh where his research interests include renewable energy development, particularly marine, and the interaction of distributed renewable energy generation with the electricity network. He is Executive Director of the EPSRC SuperGen Marine Energy Research Consortium and a Co-Director of the Energy Technologies Partnership. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and The Institution of Engineering and Technology and is a Chartered Electrical Engineer.