The Consortium
There are over 40 people working across the UK-MaRes Hub, including the Director, Co-Directors, Co-Investigators, Researchers, Technicians and Professional Service Staff, all passionate about driving forward the research and innovation needed to create meaningful change across the sector. See below to find out more about the people involved.
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Dr Claire Copeland
Policy Fellow (Clean Maritime Research)
Claire has a background in Life Cycle Assessment having worked as a consultant/analyst in this area in a number of different roles across academia and industry.
Claire undertook a placement with the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology in 2015 conducting research focusing on the future of natural gas before moving back into academia as a Research Fellow at the University of Sussex in 2017.
Claire has undertaken a number of roles at Durham University since 2023. Firstly as an Associate Researcher exploring local and regional energy planning in the North East Region, and more recently as a Senior Innovation Associate with the Arrow Programme, part if the In-TUNE project, a collaboration between Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria and Sunderland Universities and the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI).
As Policy Fellow, Claire is now leading on policy initiatives for the Clean Maritime Research Hub.
Dr Dibyendu Roy
Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Engineering, at Durham University
Dr. Dibyendu Roy is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Engineering at Durham University and a Fellow of the Durham Energy Institute. His research interests include multi-vector energy systems, hydrogen energy, fuel cells and electrolysers, bioenergy, and carbon capture and storage.
Dr Janie Ling Chin
Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering at Durham University
Dr Janie Ling Chin is Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering of Durham University, UK. Janie’s PhD focussed on life cycle assessment (LCA) of conventional, retrofit, and state-of-the-art power systems for cargo ships, and her areas of research cover LCA (and sustainability), energy systems integration, hydrogen technology, and thermal management.
Janie is Co-Director (Responsive Research Fund and EDI Champion) of the Hub, leading the Hub’s Responsive Research Working Group, EDI Action Group, and WP4.4 Energy system, energy consumption, lifecycle emissions and cost analysis. Also, she contributes to the Hub’s Co-Innovation Impact Group and Networking, Secondments and Mentoring Working Group.
Dr Mrinal Bhowmik
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Dr Mrinal Bhowmik is committed to advancing affordable and clean energy solutions, with applications extending to the maritime sector.
After earning his PhD from IIT Guwahati, India, Dr Bhowmik worked as an Assistant Professor at Waseda University, Japan and is currently affiliated with the Department of Engineering at Durham University, United Kingdom.
Dr Bhowmik has over three years of post-PhD research and teaching experience at internationally renowned universities, with more than 15 articles published in high-impact international SCI journals. His research focuses on heat and mass transfer processes, carbon capture and storage, industrial waste heat recovery, and energy-efficient air conditioning systems, with a particular interest in reducing energy demands and improving sustainability in maritime operations.
Dr Richard Williams
Research Fellow, UK National Clean Maritime research Hub
Dr Richard Williams is a mechanical engineer in the Department of Engineering at Durham University. He has a proven track record of delivered major research projects within the energy sector, using a range of computational, analytical, and experimental techniques.
His past research projects and research interests include, the decarbonisation of the maritime sector, direct air capture of low concentration fugitive emissions, industrial decarbonisation methods, online professional development learning, low grade heat, free piston engines, combined heat and power systems, electrical machine cooling, wind turbine asset management, wind turbine gearbox oil monitoring, turbomachinery secondary flow path sealing, skin friction measurements of aerospace coatings, propulsion and turbomachinery aerodynamics, including 3D blading and secondary flow features.
Dr Ugochukwu Ngwaka
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Ugo’s research interests and expertise focus on automotive engineering, fluid mechanics, energy research, heat exchangers and renewable energy technologies.
Professor Andrew Smallbone
Professor, Deputy Director of Research in the Department of Engineering
Andrew is the Director of the EPSRC Network+ on the Decarbonisation of Heating and Cooling, Co-Director of the EPSRC Network+ on Hydrogen for Transportation (Network-H2), a Fellow of the Durham Energy Institue (DEI) and a Professor in the Department of Engineering.
He leads multi-disciplinary research teams on the decarbonisation of energy, heat, transport and industry. His expertise is in techno-economic evaluation and advanced numerical modelling as well as the development of novel engineering prototypes and hardware demonstrations.
Professor Tony Roskilly
Professor in the Department of Engineering, Director in the Durham Energy Institute at Durham University
Professor Tony Roskilly is Chair of Energy Systems at Durham University and has 30 years of experience in the design, control, and operational optimisation of energy systems and energy management. Professor Roskilly is a Director of Durham Energy Institute, leading on Industrial and Internationalisation Strategy, and is the UK representative for the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) Joint Programmes for Energy Efficiency in Industrial Processes (EEIP) and Energy Systems Integration (ESI).
He is Associate Director of the National Centre for Energy Systems Integration and leads the research programme on infrasturcture and storage. Professor Roskilly was formerly chair of Marine Engineering, Director of the Sir Joseph Swan Centre for Energy Research, Director of Research at Newcastle Institute for Research on Sustainability, and Dean of Research for the Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering at Newcastle University.
Professor Yaodong Wang
Professor in the Department of Engineering at Durham University
Professor Yaodong Wang is an active researcher working on energy systems.
Yaodong has conducted research on “Optimising the operation of a large two-stroke marine engine for slow steaming”; and “Investigation of ‘slow steaming’ operation on the performance and fuel consumption of a ship”. He has taught MSc marine engineering for over 10 years in the past.
Research expertise/interest:
- Biofuel or biomass trigeneration/cogeneration with energy storage;
- energy systems such as wind, solar; biomass, biomass/coal thermal power plants;
- Miller Cycle diesel engines;
- biofuel petrol/diesel engine;
- organic Rankine cycle;
- thermal energy management; energy saving using passive and active methods.
Rachel Simpson
Manager of the Clean Maritime Research Hub
Rachel has worked at Durham University since April 2010 in a number of different roles, all supporting research at Durham.
Her first role was as the Administrator for the Centre for the History of Medicine and Disease before working as a Project Officer in the Department of Biosciences, and then as a Research Grants and Contracts Manager in the Research and Innovation Services supporting funding applications and contract activity.
Rachel moved to the Department of Engineering as a Project Manager in 2021, as a Special Projects Manager for Research and Operations, supporting the Thermal Energy Systems Group. She was appointed as the Manager of the Hub in 2023.
