Invited Speakers

Dr Mark Eaton is a Senior Lecturer in Composite Materials at Cardiff University. His research interests cover the manufacture and characterisation of composites and nanocomposites, and the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of composite structures. He has a particular interest in the use of Acoustic Emission to better understand the failure of composite materials.

Professor Stephen Hallett is Professor in Composite Structures at the University of Bristol, where he is co-Director of the Bristol Composites Institute and Director of the Rolls-Royce supported Composites University Technology Centre. His work is wide ranging across many composites topics including advanced numerical modelling, fracture and failure, through-thickness reinforcement, process simulation and textile composites.

Dr. Meisam Jalalvand is an Associate Professor specialising in Composite Materials and Structures at the University of Southampton. His research focuses on high-performance hybrid composites, as well as natural fibre and biodegradable composites, aiming to enhance understanding, performance, safety, and sustainability. These areas are particularly relevant in addressing pressing global issues such as climate change and plastic pollution. Prior to current appointment at the University of Southampton, he was Chanceller’s Fellow at the University of Strathclyde and Senior Research Associate at the University of Bristol.

Dr Daniel Mitchard is a Senior Lecturer in Lightning Physics and Engineering at the Lightning Laboratory, part of the High Voltage facilities at Cardiff University. His research interests include all things related to lightning, lightning phenomena, and lightning interactions typically through the development and application of light-based characterisation techniques such as high-speed cameras, spectroscopy, and schlieren. This includes extensive research with Airbus on how new composite aircraft respond to, and are protected from, direct lightning strikes during flight. He research has enabled him to contribute to TV documentaries, radio shows, and magazine and news articles, including a recent News & View article on Martian Lightning published in Nature.

Dr Geoff Neale is a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow and Lecturer at Cranfield University. His is a materials engineer specialising in a fibre-reinforced composites and hybrid materials for the energy, defence and aerospace sectors. His work focuses on non-structural behaviours in materials, where he has contributed to several UK and EU funded research consortia. Geoff holds an MEng in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Bristol and a PhD in Advanced Composite Materials from Ulster University. Alongside his research, Geoff has a keen interest in leading interdisciplinary research, engaging with government, and shaping national policy positions me to contribute meaningfully to enhancing science informed policy capability in the UK.

Dr Hamed Yazdani Nezhad is an Associate Professor at University of Leeds, Institute of Design, Robotics and Manufacturing (iDRaM), specialising in multifunctional composites, composites manufacturing and sensing. Hamed has authored over 100 high-impact journal and conference papers and edited the book “Composites Assembly for High Performance Fastener-less Structures”. He leads public and privately funded projects, including from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Innovate UK, focused on advanced composites for aerospace, automotive and energy applications. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), a Fellow and Chartered Engineer with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (FIMechE), member of the European Society for Composite Materials (ESCM), and an academic liaison at the Commercial Aircraft Composites Repair Committee (CACRC).

Ellie Payne is a research Engineer from NCC – Innovating for Industry, where she leads a team of experts focused on the complex deposition of continuous fibres; their primary work involves developing advanced techniques to create near-net-shape preforms and full 3D parts for high-performance applications. Ellie’s research background includes optimising filament winding processes for composite pressure vessels and pioneering the industrial development of the 2D braiding process, particularly for critical aerospace components. Her expertise bridges material science, process development, and structural performance.

Dr Sathiskumar Anusuya Ponnusami works as a Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering and Materials Science at Queen Mary University of London. His research interests include multiscale and multiphysics modelling of failure in advanced composite materials and structures with an emphasis on applied machine learning. He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and serves as an Associate Editor of Mechanics of Materials (Elsevier) and Ceramics International (Elsevier) journals. His research on developing ML-augmented computational frameworks and tools is supported through funding from EPSRC, Royal Society, British Council and industry.

Dr Elena Sitnikova is a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Southampton. Elena carries out research in a broad field of computational mechanics of composite materials with the overarching theme of her research being characterisation and design of 3D textile composites for aeronautical applications. Elena has expert knowledge in multiscale material characterisation, having co-authored a monograph “Representative Volume Elements and Unit Cells: Concepts, Theory, Application and Implementation”. Another topic of special interest is failure and damage prediction in anisotropic materials under both quasi-static and high intensity loading.