Professor Paul Howarth

Paul has extensive experience in the nuclear industry covering operations, commercial and research portfolios in the UK and also overseas. He has worked with a broad range of stakeholders across Government, industry and academia and more recently has worked in the research, technology and innovation sector beyond nuclear.

Paul began his career working on the European Fusion Programme where he completed his PhD in nuclear physics after a first degree in Physics and Astrophysics at the University of Birmingham. He subsequently worked in Japan on technology transfer in the semiconductor industry and on the Japanese nuclear programme. Following this he worked for BNFL at numerous locations in the UK and in roles covering technology commercialisation, plant support and policy development, culminating in support to the UK Government on the case for new nuclear build in 2007. Paul also co-founded the Dalton Nuclear Institute and worked for the US organisation Battelle alongside US National Laboratories on M&O contract development. In 2009 he was part of the M&O team that was awarded the contract to run NNL; and he subsequently became CEO of NNL in 2011.

Paul holds a professorial position at the University of Manchester in nuclear technology and was elected to become a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2014.  He is a fellow of the Institute of Physics and the Nuclear Institute, holds an MBA from Salford University and in 2019 became an alumnus of Harvard Business School having completed their prestigious Advanced Management Programme. Paul has also served as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of the National Physical Laboratory, and is past-Chair of the Association of Innovation Research & Technology Organisations, he is also currently Chair of BHR Framatome Ltd.