Our industrial partners and stakeholders
We work with a wide range of industrial partners and stakeholders (many listed below), including international energy providers (bp and Shell); research institutions (EPSRC and EPRI), Government bodies (National Physical Laboratory), specialist engineering companies and renewable energy innovators (Siemens Energy).
Partnerships are vital in the CDT's pursuance of its four overarching objectives; particularly, in delivering 'industry ready' doctorates and co-creating research ideas in collaboration with stakeholders.
Stakeholders also work collaboratively with our PhD students on their projects.
If you are interested in running a joint event with the CDT, please get in touch.
See our latest Annual Report (2025) HERE for more information
Stakeholder Events are regularly held by the SusHy CDT; where partners network with each other, and the CDT's Management Board and current PhD students. Events feature presentations, where stakeholders can talk about and raise awareness of their work to an informed audience.
Our Stakeholder Events
June 2026 - University of Birmingham
This year’s SusHy CDT Research Conference took place from 22–24 June at the University of Birmingham. We opened the event with a keynote address from Dr Emma Guthrie, CEO of the Hydrogen Energy Association. She set the scene for the UK hydrogen landscape, highlighting both the significant progress in the energy transition and the key challenges ahead. From industrial decarbonisation and long-duration energy storage to the urgent need for faster policy development and demand creation, her insights reinforced the central role hydrogen will play in achieving net zero.
May 2026 – Online career talks
SusHy organised career talks for our students, providing them with the opportunity to explore diverse career paths after their PhD and to ask questions directly to professionals from a range of fields.
The first session, held on 1 May, featured Amrit Chandan, an alumnus of the University of Birmingham as part of the EPSRC Doctoral Training Centre in Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and their Applications. In his talk, “My Journey There and Back Again: Beneath the Veneer of Success,” Amrit shared powerful lessons from his journey—from his PhD days through to building and scaling ventures in cleantech and AI—highlighting not only the successes but also the realities behind them.
The second session, held on 12 May, featured Katie Howe (an alumna of the University of Birmingham’s EPSRC Doctoral Training Centre in Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and their Applications) and Melissa Hennessy from Barker Brettell. Katie and Melissa shared their insights and experiences as patent attorneys with STEM backgrounds and provided useful guidance on how to position oneself as a strong candidate when applying for roles. The session also introduced patent law and its role in protecting and commercialising innovation, including the key requirements for patentability, and how patents fit into the wider commercialisation of new technologies.
February 2026 - University of Nottingham
In collaboration with the University of Nottingham Energy Institute, we organised a stakeholder engagement session on 25 February 2026 at University of Nottingham. Steve Jones, Director of Alternative Fuels at Luxfer Gas Cylinders, shared insights from over 20 years in the hydrogen industry. Drawing on experience across R&D, manufacturing, system design and business development in both the UK and US markets, Steve provided valuable insight into the technical and economic drivers shaping the hydrogen economy.
Steve also reflected on his career journey, global market trends, opportunities and headwinds in the hydrogen sector, and where he sees the industry heading. The session sparked great discussion and thoughtful Q&A from our researchers.
November 2025 – Loughborough University
In collaboration with EnerHy CDT we had a joint stakeholder event on 27 November 2025 in Loughborough. The programme included interesting talks and discussions from Nadia Ansari (East Midlands Freeport), Raphael Garcia (Ceres Power), Richard Penn (Penn Engineered Solutions) and Sean McCabe and Shamal Crowther-Yates (Siemens Mobility). Shamal Crowther-Yates also gave a talk about her career journey from her PhD to becoming a Chartered Systems Engineering Lead in R&D and shared useful tips on applying for a Chartered status for those who might be interested in the future.
Following this event we had a site visit to Intelligent Energy, one of our industrial stakeholders specified in designing and manufacturing a range of PEM fuel cell products. We were given a tour to their facilities in Loughborough and Simon Foster (Head of Fuel Cell Research & Development at Intelligent Energy) gave a presentation in PEM fuel cell technologies and their latest activities in this field.
May 2025 – University of Nottingham
Dr Nicholas Van Dijk, CEO/Founder of Oort Energy, gave a guest lecture on 6 May 2025 at University of Nottingham, sharing interesting developments in the field of next generation hydrogen electrolysers. Nick is an internationally recognised technical leader in the field of water electrolysis and has spent his career focussing getting electrochemical processes and products to market. This hybrid session was organised in collaboration with the University of Nottingham Energy Institute (UoNEI) and also included a networking event. Following the hybrid session, Nick was given a tour to the hydrogen research facilities at the UoN Jubilee Campus by Professor David Grant.
February 2025 – Online
Lois Milner-Elkharouf and Trystan Cowen from ARUP gave an online talk to our students on 11 February 2025. The agenda included information about a wide range of hydrogen projects that ARUP have been undertaking such as UK Government Hydrogen Technical Advisor, H2NorthEast – Pre FEED, Cadent hydrogen vision, RoughH2: Needs Case and Storage Development Plan and Assessing the Regional Demand for Geological Hydrogen Storage. Lois and Trystan also shared very insightful career advice with our students.
November 2024 – Loughborough University
In collaboration with the new CDT programme, Engineering Hydrogen Net Zero, Centre for Doctoral Training (EnerHy CDT), SusHy CDT ran a joint stakeholder event in Loughborough on 21 November 2024. Our industrial speakers shared their knowledge and insights with the PhD students from both CDT programmes which was very informative:
- Paul Holland from Paul Holland Consulting, ‘Gas metrology’
- Alan Beesley from ALPS Ecoscience, ‘Bio-Hydrogen an industry perspective’
- Iain Silverwood from ISIS, ‘Neutron and Muon techniques’
- Julian Hasinski from Constain, ‘Systems thinking’
Following on the joint stakeholder event, we had a career session where the industrial speakers shared about their career journeys with our students:
- Will Bowling, Hydrogen Production Systems Engineer at Energy System Catapult
- Sophie Cozien-Cazuc, Senior Strategist at Advance Propulsion Centre UK
- Dr Chris Harrison, Energy Sector Analyst at National Energy System Operator
- Dr Alan Stephen, Business Development Manager at National Gas Transmission
September & October 2024 – National Gas Transmission Stakeholder Challenge
National Gas Transmission ran a stakeholder challenge activity for the Cohort 4 and 5 students in understanding the impact of variable hydrogen blends within the National Transmission System (NTS). As part of this activity, the SusHy students visited the FutureGrid high-pressure test facility at DNV Spadeadam on 12 September 2024, where a wide range of essential hydrogen tests are carried out to demonstrate that the pipelines and assets of the gas NTS could be used safely and reliably to transport hydrogen gas.
The students in team of 5 – 6 worked on this research challenge and presented their findings to the National Gas Transmission team on 17 October 2024 during the workshop at University of Nottingham. There were very interesting and thought-provoking discussions around how to address the challenges during the transition from natural gas to hydrogen.
April 2024 - Ulster University
The SusHy CDT stakeholder workshop and annual CDT research conference took place on 22 - 24 April 2024 at Ulster University Belfast Campus. The stakeholder workshop featured panel discussions, networking sessions, as well as very interesting talks from;
- Neil Hewitt and Vladimir Molkov (Ulster University)
- Katie Hart (EPSRC UKRI)
- Ryan Teggart (Artemis Technologies)
- Stuart Hawksworth (Health and Safety Executive)
- Gabriel Wild and Matthew Hammond (National Gas Transmission)
- Liam Nolan (Gas Networks Ireland)
- Kodjo Coudoro (Air Liquide)
The students who arrived early in Belfast were also provided a tour to facilities at Artemis Technologies before the stakeholder workshop.
October 2023 - University of Birmingham
This year’s October SusHy stakeholder workshop took place at the University of Birmingham (UoB) on 12th October 2023. We were delighted to have excellent talks from a wide range of hydrogen expertise:
- Allan Walton, Professor in the School of Metallurgy and Materials at UoB and Founding Director of HyProMag Ltd, discussed hydrogen recycling of critical materials.
- Mayorkinos Papaelias, also a Professor in the School of Metallurgy and Materials at UoB, shared their research on an autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle powered by a H2 fuel cell.
- Dr Charles Calvert, Chief Engineer at Vanguard Sustainable Transport Solutions, talked about hydrogen-powered rail transport.
- Dr Shangfeng Du from the School of Chemical Engineering at UoB, discussed their research activities in 3D ordered catalyst electrode for low temperature fuel cells.
- Dr Rafael Orozo from the School of Biosciences, Chemical and Civil Engineering at UoB, gave a talk in Hydrogen Production via Biological Routes.
- We heard about PVD coatings in electrolysers and fuel cells from Dr Parnia Navabpour, Process Development/Research Team Leader at Teer Coatings Ltd.
- Finally, our former SusHy CDT Programme Manager, Dr Kandavel Manickam, currently Principal R&D Engineer- Hydrogen Systems from Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, talked about integration of offshore wind with hydrogen technologies.
April 2023 - University of Nottingham
This stakeholder event focussed on ‘Hydrogen Communities’; discussing the opportunities, benefits and barriers for the use of hydrogen in energy communities and included an interactive workshop on exploring these issues for rural communities. Speakers included:
- Neil (Ming-En) Han - Senior Energy Projects Officer, Midlands Net Zero Hub
- Tony Gray – Director of Rutland Community Ventures CLG
- Matt Barney, Business Development Manager, GeoPura.
February 2023 - Romco Metals
This SusHy CDT Stakeholder Challenge was set by Romco Metals, a multi-national, non-ferrous metals recycler operating in Nigeria and Ghana and The Community Revolution CIC, a Nottingham-based renewable energy social enterprise, looking to enter the renewable energy business in Africa. The students were challenged to come up with less polluting solutions as an alternative to oil-powered furnaces considering issues such as the practicality of installing ‘greener’ technologies, available expertise and reliability.
November 2021 - Longcliffe Quarries Stakeholder Challenge
The first SusHy CDT Stakeholder Challenge, hosted by Longcliffe Quarries of Matlock, had students working to identify hydrogen’s role in helping the company meet its 2027 Net-Zero targets.
April 2022 - University of Nottingham
This Sustainable Hydrogen Centre for Doctoral Training (SusHy CDT) event was held at the Advanced Manufacturing Building, at the University of Nottingham's Jubilee Campus. The theme was: 'The potential for hydrogen in connection with the expansion of offshore renewables'.
Speakers at the blended (online and in-person) event spoke on:
Panel 1: Systems and Transportation of Energy -
-
Andrew Cunningham, MD of GeoPura - Talk available via our YouTube channel.
-
Aruna Chandrasekar, Energy Systems Researcher at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) - Talk available here.
-
Roger Cracknell, Technology Expert at Shell
Panel 2: Offshore Hydrogen Opportunities
Both panels provoked lively discussions.
----------------------------------------------
Please see below for a list of our industrial partners and stakeholders: