Keynote speakers
Mr. Richard Lochhead
Minister for Small Business, Innovation, Tourism and Trade Scotland
Mr. Richard Lochhead, MSP, is the Minister for Small Business, Innovation, Tourism, and Trade, of the Scottish Government, who supports Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work, and Energy and the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero, and Just Transition. The sectoral supports include that for Aerospace Industries, Life Sciences, Space Sector, Enterprise, Innovation, Scientific Engagement and Advice, and Digital Economy and Strategy.
Professor Hans Nørgaard Hansen
Professor of Micro Manufacturing, Head of Department Civil and Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University of Denmark
Professor Hans Nørgaard Hansen has been the president of the European Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology (euspen), The International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP) and the International Society for Nanomanufacturing (ISNM). He is a professor of Micro Manufacturing at the Technical University of Denmark and is currently also Head of the Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering.
Hans Nørgaard Hansen’s main research area is micromanufacturing. This includes the entire value chain from design of micromechanical systems over manufacturing process chains to quality assurance and metrology. Processes included are for example tooling technologies for micro injection moulding and micro metal forming, mass production methods (micro injection moulding and micro metal forming) and material removal processes (micromachining, micro EDM, micro laser machining). The integration of single processes into coherent process chains and production systems including the necessary quality assurance activities is the ultimate goal of the research.
Precision additive manufacturing was added as a core research area of Hans Nørgaard Hansen in 2008 and focuses on materials processing using additive technologies with a focus on precision and quality aspects of multi-material additive manufacturing. During the last 5 years, a systems engineering approach to machine design and integration of AM technologies into current production value chains has increased in importance.
Professor Jianguo Lin
Professor in Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, UK
Professor Lin is a Fellow of Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng). His research expertise is in Metal forming, Materials and Process Modelling, including multiscale modelling. He has published over 300 research papers in refereed international journals and over 20 patents, most of his patents have been taken by industry. He joined Imperial College London from the University of Birmingham in 2008 and established a Metal-forming and Materials Modelling Group at Imperial. The Group has created and hosted 4 research centres and 2 joint research Labs fully funded by companies, and, has an outstanding international reputation in developing new metal-forming processes, multiscale materials and process modelling theories, and, providing innovative solutions for metal-forming and related industries. He is a Founder Director of three Imperial spin-off companies (Impression Technologies Ltd, CurvEx Technology Ltd and Multi-X Solutions Ltd), which are resulted from his patented techniques.
Professor Costas Charitidis
Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens.
Director of the Laboratory of Advanced, Composite, Nano Materials & Nanotechnology.
Professor Fengzhou Fang
Professor in Centre of Micro/Nano Manufacturing Technology (MNMT-Dublin), University College Dublin, Ireland
Professor Fengzhou Fang has been working in the fields of freeform optics design and manufacturing, bio-manufacturing, and ultra-precision machining and metrology when he became a faculty member at university in 1982. He developed the theory of the three paradigms of manufacturing advancement, which identified atomic and close-to-atomic scale manufacturing as the fundamental technology of the new manufacturing paradigm, Manufacturing III. His contributions to micro/nano manufacturing and ultra-precision machining technologies, especially on the fundamentals of nanometric cutting, are widely adopted and referenced in new manufacturing processes. He has been elected Fellow of the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP), the International Academy of Engineering and Technology (AET), the International Society for Nanomanufacturing (ISNM), the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME).
Professor Fang is the Founding President of AET and a Member of the Royal Irish Academy (RIA).
Mr. Neil Young
CEng, BEng, FIChemE
Global Engineering Capability Director – Babcock International Group
Neil is the Global Engineering Capability Director at Babcock International Group. He is responsible for leadership and executive management oversight across the Group of the development and sustainment of Engineering Capability and the development and application of Engineering Integrity processes.
Before this appointment, Neil was the Engineering & Technology Director in Babcock’s marine sector, where he was responsible for 1,000 engineers with a strong focus on marine systems and ship design in both in-service support and new builds. His engineering team ranged from concept engineering; to new naval ship designs such as the Inspiration Class T31 Frigates; and in-service support for naval surface ships and submarines. Neil was also responsible for the Digital Facility development at Rosyth, heading up the Innovation team there.
Neil is a visiting Professor at the University of Edinburgh and was instrumental in the generation of an Innovation Campus on Babcock’s Rosyth Facility in partnership with the University of Edinburgh, Strathclyde, Fife College and Fife Council. The first operational technology center is the University of Edinburgh’s FastBlade facility which will allow accelerated fatigue testing facility for tidal blades.
Neil also Co-Chairs the Academic Interface working group as part of the Defence Suppliers Forum People and Skills group.
Before joining Babcock Neil spent 20 years in the oil and gas industry working globally and delivering 50+ Floating Production Storage and Offloading systems (FPSOs), used for deep water oil field development. He also managed a technology portfolio with wide ranging technologies from water treatment, solids transportation, separation and waste to energy. Neil is a Chemical Engineer by profession and a Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers.
In his spare time Neil manages his small holding, Poplar Farm, where he makes his own cider and keeps pigs, sheep, chickens, turkeys, ducks and bees. The farm also hosts festival style weddings.
Professor Mathias Liewald
Director / Head of Institute / Dean of Studies, Institute for Metal Forming Technology (IFU) / University of Stuttgart
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Mathias Liewald MBA, born in 1960, studied Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University of Dortmund. In 1985 he joined the Chair for Metal Forming at the same University as scientific assistant, in 1990 he obtained his doctorate in the field of Sheet Metal bending technologies (Title of Thesis: „Strategies on process control of sheet metal bending processes supported by adaptive control“). From 1991 to 1994 he has been working at Daimler-Benz AG (Sindelfingen/Germany) as a group leader in press shop technology, process optimisation and high strength sheet metal material manufacturing. By the year 1995 he left Daimler-Benz company and occupied the position as Plant manager for large panel production with Gebr. Wackenhut GmbH (Nagold/Germany).
From 1997 he occupied the position as Plant manager of the ThyssenKrupp Nothelfer site located in Lockweiler/Germany) being in charge for 1000 employees in the year 2000. In the same year he was nominated as a vice president “Dies International” being responsible for all die manufacturing activities of ThyssenKrupp Nothelfer Group. In 2004 he changed over to vice president position “business development” in his company. During the period from 1999 to 2002 he applied for the Master of Business and Administration degree (MBA) at the Open University Business School (Milton Keynes/ GB) and has been awarded in 2002. In April 2005 he was appointed as a Full Professor and director at the Institute for Metal Forming Technology (IFU) at the University of Stuttgart. Prof. Liewald is active in multiple scientific boards and organisations.
Professor Pedro Vilaça
Professor at the School of Engineering of Aalto University, where he is the Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering
Pedro Vilaça is a Professor at the School of Engineering of Aalto University, where he is the Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering The Department aims at world top level performance in teaching, research and innovation in science and technology with a team of about 30 professors and 300 academic staff members. Previously, Vilaça has worked at the Tecnico, University of Lisbon, from 1995 to 2013.
Vilaça's research interests include welding technology, solid-state-based manufacturing, non-destructive testing, hydrogen-related technology, materials science, and safety. Before starting at Aalto University, Vilaça was president of the Portuguese Society for NDT, since 2009. There is a growing focus on innovation in manufacturing and NDT, towards new competitive industrial solutions and commercialization, supported by IPRs and promoting spinoff actions. During his career, he has built a large collaboration network with scientists around the world. Vilaça has mature experience in leading R&D teams on fundamental science and support of industrial activities including the energy and aeronautic industry.
Pedro Vilaça has an h-index = 32 (Scopus) from a publication record including 113 scientific papers in international peer-reviewed journals, 18 papers in national journals, 1 book, 4 book chapters, and about 170 conference-related publications.
Professor Mei Zhan
Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU)
Mei Zhan is a professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU), and the director of Shaanxi Key Laboratory of High-performance Precision Forming Technology and Equipment, China. She received her BEng, MEng, and PhD in Materials Processing Engineering from NPU. Prof. Zhan was a vice chairman of the Chinese Society of Plastic Engineering, and is the associate editor of Manufacturing Review. Prof. Zhan specialized in the precise plastic forming theories and technologies of lightweight and high-performance complex components. She has been funded by over 20 national projects as PI, including National Science Foundation of China (NSFC), National High-tech R&D Program, etc. Currently, Prof. Zhan focuses on the spin forming of thin-walled curved-surface components, development of accelerated simulating methods for locally loaded plastic forming processes such as spin forming, and mechanistic understandings of deformation behaviors at the macro/meso/micro scale from manufacturing to service. Prof. Zhan has published more than 200 refereed international journal papers and acquired more than 30 patents in the area of plastic forming theories and advanced manufacturing technologies.
Professor Paul Shore
CEO of Loxham Precision Limited, an ultra-precision machinery company
Prof. Paul Shore, FRENG is the CEO of Loxham Precision Limited, an ultra-precision machinery company which spans out of the Cranfield University Precision Engineering Centre. He was previously the Head of Engineering at the National Physical Laboratory, Professor of Precision Engineering at Cranfield and the Group Head of Precision Engineering at AB SKF in Gothenburg, Sweden. In the late 90's he introduced new manufacturing technology at SKF that now produces 80% of the world's wind turbine bearings. In the early 2000s, he developed a new mirror manufacturing method and produced the MIRI spectrometer mirrors for the James Webb Space Telescope. In 2020, a Loxham μ6 machine which he devised manufactured several of the UK's leading quantum devices. Paul is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a past President of the European Society of Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology (EUSPEN) and a biker. He is the author of > 100 papers and numerous patents.
Prof. Charitidis is member of the General Assembly of the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation and since 2018 President of the Body. From 2010 to 2016 he has been Director of Section III: Materials Science & Engineering of the School, while from 2011 he is Director of the Interdisciplinary Postgraduate (MSc) Program: Materials Science & Technology (NTUA).
He has more than 25 years of experience in the fields of Materials Science & Nanotechnology, Carbon-based materials and Safety impacts of Nanotechnology. He has extensive R&D experience through collaborations with international research centers since he has participated in more than 70 European and National funded projects, in many of them as Scientific Coordinator (most recent are: Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Advanced Manufacturing and Processing, Resource Efficient Economy with a Sustainable Supply of Raw Materials NMP FP7, Horizon 2020).
He is a referee in 85 International scientific journals. He is the author of several scientific books, chapters in international text books and more than 300 scientific publications in peer reviewed international journals and conference proceedings and cited ~4700 by other researchers (h-index 37).