Nicholas Abson is a founder of Cygnus Atratus Limited ensuring the best global research and development on Alkaline Fuel Cell technology. In the late 1990s Nicholas founded and built the largest Alkaline fuel cell company in the world where he was the Chairman of Zetek (Zevco) and led the team that developed the first fuel cell powered taxis, which were launched in London. Nicholas and his team also developed a fuel cell powered commercial van, winning the 2000 Frankfort Auto Show Award for the most advanced technology. He was also responsible for building the first commercially licensed fuel cell powered river ferry, the first UK houses powered by fuel cells and even a Carousel in Cologne, Germany. He is well known for his innovations in Alkaline technology. He has authored academic papers and reports, but most importantly, created an international team of the most respected electro-chemists in the world.

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Dr. Rob Fenton is an experienced scientist and program manager. Rob had a long and distinguished career at GSK (32 years), leading the teams that took two anticancer drugs and one antiviral drug into the clinic. In 2004-2012 he was R&D Director at Imperial College’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering during which he held a two year additional post as Business Development Manager at the Wellcome Trust.  In 2012, Rob founded Iceni Labs Ltd. with colleagues from Imperial. Iceni Labs is a London based electronics company serving both the health and the defense sectors, but also contributed to the control systems modeling and battery management for a fuel cell taxi in an IUK Feasibility study. Rob has co-authored 27 academic papers, 27 oral presentations at International conferences and is named on three patents.

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Dr. John Appleby is one of the world’s foremost applied chemists. He gained his PhD in applied chemistry in 1962 at Cambridge University. His career commenced in research at the Industrial  Electrochemistry Research Centre at the Companie General d’Electricite in France followed by project management at the Electric Power Research Institute for Advanced Fuel Cell Technology Centre in Palo Alto California. He then became director of the Center for Applied Electrochemistry at Texas A&M.  John has served on the board of directors of numerous research and development companies, including ZeTek Power PLC. He has been a prominent speaker at numerous Fuel Cell and energy conferences including the first Grove Symposium. John co-authored the Fuel Cell Handbook, recognised as the bible of fuel cell technology, in addition to Fuel Cells: Trends in Results and Applications and he has published over a hundred academic papers with citations in the tens of thousands. He remains and active and pivotal point in all developments of the group’s research and development.

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Thomas Holmberg studied English, law and economics at Stockholm University. He has solid experience in international commodities trade (including oil & petrochemicals, metals and software), mostly in finance/admin but also in commercial, projects and general management roles. Thomas has fifteen years of experience with renewable energy and fuel cells. He is a highly experienced financial director and held management positions at ABB Trading UK Ltd (General Manager), ICD Group BV Amsterdam (CFO), Islemount Limited, commodity consultants (Managing Director), IKEA Trading SA (Finance Director), Cenergie Corporation PLC (COO), CIC Cereal Investments company SA, agricultural commodities distribution (Executive), Nucredo LLC, commodities software (President), OTC Europe SARL, energy brokers, (Managing Director). Since 2009, has been overseeing finances for Cygnus Atratus, its CMEs and subsidiaries.

 

Prof Hugh Middleton is a professor of electrochemistry with a long career at Imperial College in the Departments of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering. Hugh also held a visiting academic position at UCL. While at Imperial, he started in the field of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and electrochemical reactors. In addition to academic work, Hugh also held consultancy positions is several companies including BNFL (British Nuclear Fuels Ltd), where he was working on the alternative uses of uranium oxide for fuel cells. In 2004, he moved to Norway as a Professor at the University of Agder. His mission was to build up competence in fuel cells and hydrogen technologies, within the Renewable Energy Group and the newly created Energy Materials Group.

 

Prof Andrew Cruden is Head of Energy Technology within Engineering and the Environment Department
at the University of Southampton.  He has built fuel cell vehicles including a liquid electrolyte system for a
sports car. He produced the modeling for the successful IUK Feasibility study. He has
attracted over £8M in directly attributable research funding from both the Research Councils and industry, and published over 170 articles, including conferences and journal papers. Additionally he was
instrumental in establishing, and the first Chairman of, the Scottish Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association
(SHFCA, www.shfca.org.uk), a Trade Association within Scotland to promote hydrogen and fuel cell
technology.

 

Luke Evans has a degree and masters in Engineering and is skilled in fuel cell production technologies, modeling and application testing, engineering design, IT and programming. In 2002, Luke converted a Taxi to run on waste vegetable oil (WVO). Luke has been working with fuel cells and hydrogen production techniques since 2014. In 2015 Luke became a founding director of Scintilla CME Limited a Community Manufacturing Enterprise. Luke is working with the Cygnus Atratus multi-fuel, fuel cells at Liverpool University.

 

Chris Chew has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, with 12 years experience in additive manufacturing and design using metals and polymers. Chris has worked extensively for 8 years developing core fuel-cell technology, using novel design and manufacturing methods. He has specialised for 10 years in mechatronics and embedded systems and is embarking on a PhD concerning the improvement of MPPT algorithms and their implementation, in renewable energy systems. Chris contributed to several areas during the IUK feasibility study, including specification and testing requirements of mechatronic systems and the management of generated vehicle data."

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Miles Messenger is a leading engineer in sustainable, primary energy supply via both renewable and fossil fuel based technology. He has extensive experience as an engineering manager, with client interface, general account management, energy analysis and business case modeling. He is expert in retrofit energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, from concept to delivery, including scope and specification. He works in package tendering, design validation and authorization.

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Chris Easom is a recent graduate of Chemical Engineering at masters degree level, Chris is the youngest member of our team. He has studied engineering disciplines from an early age which includes Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Fabrication and Manufacturing and Motor Vehicle Engineering. Born into a farming family, Chris has hands-on experience within the fields of agriculture and environmental science. Here, he took an active role in the installation of an anaerobic digestion system implemented at the farm in Derbyshire, one of the first of its kind in the UK. In his working life Chris is extensively travelled within the UK. Having partaken in national engineering projects, most notably during an 18-month project at HMP Lincoln where he was promoted to Senior Engineer. Chris has recently been appointed Director of InSpire Energy CME Ltd., the newest branch in the present Community Manufacturing Enterprise network.