How we are governed

Nick Bristow has recently retired after almost 50 years in engineering industries. His early years were spent in coal mining when Britain was an “Island of Coal” and climate change and global warming were largely unheard of. He progressed to be chief engineer and technical director of a number of heavy engineering companies specialising in mining and tunnelling machinery.  In the late 1980s he joined the early pioneers in renewable energy initially designing and manufacturing wind turbines and more recently developing major renewable energy projects including on and offshore wind farms and building integrated renewables.  Projects have included one of the largest on shore wind farms in England, several large offshore wind farms and a zero carbon office refurbishment for his employer for the last fifteen years, Renewable Energy Systems (RES).

Nick has also recently fundamentally refurbished his own 18^th Century house in Derbyshire to be as near zero carbon as possible with a number of integrated renewable technologies.

Nick is a fellow of the I Mech E and is on the boards of the Energy, Environment and Sustainability Group and the Renewable Power Committee.  He is also a member of his local transition town’s energy group and intends to be involved in the Global Association for Transition Engineering.

Net Zero Project Lead for the NUTH NHS Trust

BEng in Mechanical Engineering and MSc in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems. 

Specialities in Indoor Air Quality through studies and practice within healthcare. Primary responsibility lies in delivery of decarbonisation projects and energy efficiency within large hospitals and big office buildings.

Associate Professor and Head of Subject, Northumbria University, UK

Dr. Shahzad earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the National University of Singapore in 2014. He is an expert in water treatment, heating and cooling systems, and the circular economy, with innovations that led to the founding of EcoTechX Limited, a spinout from Northumbria University. His groundbreaking work has garnered several prestigious awards, including the IET Excellence and Innovation Award (2023), as well as multiple ASHRAE Innovation and National Energy Globe Awards. His research has been highlighted in major media channels such as The Guardian, Yahoo Business, Nature Middle East, and Arab News.
As the lead of the SAFECONOMY project, Dr. Shahzad focuses on training early-career researchers in engineering entrepreneurship through an online platform. With 11 international patents, four authored books, 22 book chapters, and over 150 peer-reviewed articles, his contributions to sustainable water solutions are globally recognized. He has been named among the top 2% of scientists worldwide for 2024, with his work featured in UNESCO and Oxford encyclopedias. Dr. Shahzad is also a dedicated mentor, serving as a STEM and CyberFirst ambassador, a Chartered Engineer, and Chair of both the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE UK) area committee and the IMechE Chartered Engineer panel.

 

 

Career History into Environmental Engineering

2007-2012: BEng in Aerospace Manufacturing Engineering at University of the West of England, with 1 year industrial placement with Selex Galileo as a Systems Engineer.

2012-2014: Graduate Gas Turbine Engineer with Assystem UK.

2014-2022: Various engineering roles on Land and Air projects at Defence Equipment and Support. For the last 9 months of Christian's employment he was the part time Environmental Manager for TEMPEST next generation fighter. During his employment here he was sponsored and passed a part time MSc in Systems Engineering from Cranfield University. Christian's thesis was on system design considerations for recyclability. During his time here he achieved IEng.

2022-2024: Product Environmental Engineer at Thales UK, delivering environmental cases and artefacts for different defence solutions, providing maternity cover for the head of product environmental engineering and supporting the company to deliver their sustainability objectives through delivering training across the UK and reporting KPIs. During Christian's time here he achieved CEng, PIEMA and a self-funded CFA certificate in ESG investing.

2024 - Present: Contractor Environmental Engineer for Boeing Defence UK, delivering environmental cases and artefacts for Chinook and Apache aircraft.

Throughout his career Christian has also volunteered for many organisations in STEM and/ or Sustainability related roles.

CEO of Riskoa Ltd

Roger is the CEO of Riskoa Ltd, a digital software company specialising in sustainability solutions, and Managing Director of Riscon Solutions Ltd, a consultancy focused on technical change management and sustainability. With over 20 years of experience in industries spanning aerospace, manufacturing, and international development, Roger brings a unique blend of technical and strategic expertise.

At Riskoa, he leads the development of Emvide, an AI-powered lifecycle assessment (LCA) tool that enables businesses to measure and reduce their environmental impact with efficiency and accuracy. His work with Emvide focuses on advancing Scope 3 emissions reporting and product carbon footprint (PCF) calculations, particularly for industries with complex supply chains.

Roger is actively involved with the ADS Supply Chain Solutions (SCS) framework, where he has helped design the ESG and digital pillars to drive sustainability in the aerospace sector. As a Chartered Mechanical Engineer, Roger is committed to leveraging his expertise to support innovation in sustainability. His work with the Energy, Environment, and Sustainability Group at IMechE reflects his dedication to advancing sustainable practices in engineering, with a focus on scalable digital solutions for a net-zero future.

Retired

After graduating from the University of Cambridge in Metallurgy, Daphne joined Babcock and Wilcox (now Altrad Babcock Ltd) in their research centre in Renfrew near Glasgow. She worked on stress analysis and in particular creep and fatigue of components, including pipework.

In 1989 she moved to Cadogan Consultants which has eventually become HKA. Initially her work related to hospital boilers, chimneys and incinerators. This included a survey of clinical waste incinerators in Scotland in response to new environmental legislation which came in in 1995. Subsequent regulations on emissions from crematoria led to supervision of replacement cremators at Perth crematorium.

The focus of the company changed over the years, moving into giving advice to lawyers as an expert witness. Investigations were carried out, reports written and evidence given in courts and arbitrations. Cases ranged from personal injury (for example a broken walking stick which caused a fall) to large international arbitrations including a failed turbine blade at a hydroelectric power station in Romania.

Daphne has been on the board of the Energy, Environment and Sustainability Group since its formation. Although not working directly in the field of sustainability she takes a keen interest in the work and has edited the newsletter for nearly 20 years.

PhD Researcher at the University of Galway, Ireland

Buddila holds a BEng(hons) degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom and also completed a MSc in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Technologies from the Northumbria University in Newcastle, UK. He possess 5 years of professional work experience across engineering and manufacturing sectors, having worked on projects focusing on renewable energy, sustainability and mechanical engineering. Buddila has a key interest in working towards making residential buildings more sustainable in a cost justifiable manner while maintaining the relevant indoor environment quality parameters. Buddila is an active member of IMechE having being with IMechE Sri Lanka Chapter for 1 year prior to embarking on his PhD Journey in Ireland. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Investigating the impacts of new energy retrofits on the indoor environmental quality of residential dwellings and is looking forward to obtaining his CEng status in the near future. He is currently an Associate Member of IMechE and a Member of Engineers Ireland (MIEI).