Conference programme
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Download the full conference programme via the button below. All timings listed are in GMT UK time zone.
Day one – Tuesday 10 September
09.30 — 11.00
11.00 — 11:15
11.15 — 11.30
11.30 — 12.20
Professor Kristin Persson, Daniel M. Tellep Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.
12.20 — 14.00
14.00 — 16.00
Next Generation Chemistries and Technologies
A revolutionary paradigm is required to design next-generation batteries, delivering step changes in achieving low cost, high energy density, high power, long lifespan, and superior safety. Coordinated efforts in fundamental research and advanced engineering are needed to address the challenges that next-generation batteries are currently facing. The UK battery ecosystem is well placed to take a leading role in taking innovations to realise an array of applications of next-generation batteries. including but not limited to sodium-ion/potassium-ion, multivalent ion, solid state, lithium/sodium sulphur, and metal batteries. This session will cover recent advances in materials discovery, mechanistic understanding, cell component designs and performance development of these batteries.
Invited talk: Professor Magda Titirici, Chair in Sustainable Energy Materials, Imperial College London
Chaired by Dr Yang Xu, Associate Professor at Dept of Chemistry, UCL
14.00 — 16.00
Modelling & Engineering
Computational modelling and data-driven methods play a pivotal role in overcoming energy storage challenges. This session will provide a timely discussion of the latest advances in both atomistic and continuum scale simulations and machine learning/AI approaches for improving battery performance. The underlying atomistic factors that determine the performance of battery materials and devices regarding ion transport, stability and interfaces will be assessed. The necessary advancements required in data-driven approaches to tackle the remaining challenges facing the design and development of batteries will also be presented.
Invited talk: Professor Greg Offer, Professor in Electrochemical Engineering, Imperial College London
Chaired by Dr Ioan-Bogdan Magdau, Lecturer in Computational Data Driven Chemistry, Newcastle University
14.00 — 16.00
Recycling and Re-use
A sustainable battery industry requires consideration of the all part of the life-cycle of the battery – from materials choice and sources, manufacturing routes, to pathways for recycling and resuse. This session will cover recent advances in our understanding of sustainability from life-cycle analyses, sustainable materials synthesis, and electrode manufacture (including design-for-recycle) as well as progress towards the separation, recovery and reuse of materials from end-of-life cells.
Invited talk: Dr Simon Lambert, Senior Lecturer, Electrical Power Group, Newcastle University
Chaired by Professor Oliver Heidrich, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Newcastle University
16.00 — 18.00
19.00 — 21.00
Day two – Wednesday 11 September
09.00 — 09.30
09.30 — 10.00
10.00 — 10.30
10.30 — 12.30
Innovation to Market
For battery research to have a real world impact it needs researchers, leaders, business people and entrepreneurs who can put breakthroughs on a path to commercialisation. In this session invited speakers will discuss their inspirational journeys from research lab to successful spin out companies in the battery space. They will highlight the challenges they faced along the way, how they were overcome, their motivations and rewards, and the importance of the help they received.
Chaired by Professor Mohamed Mamlouk, Professor of Electrochemical Engineering, Newcastle University
Invited talks from:
- Dr Anna Wise, Head of Strategy at Nyobolt
- Dr Kieran O’Regan, Co-founder and COO of About:Energy
- Dr Monica Marinescu, Co-founder of Ionetic
- Dr Seb Leaper, Co-founder and CEO of Watercycle Technologies
- Dr Tom Heenan, Co-founder and CEO of Gaussion
- Matthew Lumsden, Founder and CEO of Connected Energy
12.30 — 14.00
14.00 — 16.00
Next Generation Chemistries and Technologies
A revolutionary paradigm is required to design next-generation batteries, delivering step changes in achieving low cost, high energy density, high power, long lifespan, and superior safety. Coordinated efforts in fundamental research and advanced engineering are needed to address the challenges that next-generation batteries are currently facing. The UK battery ecosystem is well placed to take a leading role in taking innovations to realise an array of applications of next-generation batteries. including but not limited to sodium-ion/potassium-ion, multivalent ion, solid state, lithium/sodium sulphur, and metal batteries. This session will cover recent advances in materials discovery, mechanistic understanding, cell component designs and performance development of these batteries.
Invited talk: Dr James Dawson, NU Academic Track Fellow (NUAcT), Newcastle University
Chaired by Dr Pooja Kumari, Research Fellow, University of Warwick
14.00 — 16.00
Materials, Electrode and Battery Characterisation
Understanding the performance and degradation of battery materials requires complementary characterisation approaches that can separate out the complex changes that occur within different battery components and at the interfaces between them. This session will explore the development of new characterisation tools, as well as the adoption of techniques from other fields to better understand the origins of battery performance. This will include efforts to develop in situ/operando methods, software and simulation tools to interpret the data collected, and advanced electrochemical methods for extracting key material properties. Approaches for monitoring battery health will also be covered, including integrated sensor platforms and low-cost methods for the online detection of degradation processes.
Invited talk: Professor Paul Shearing, Professor of Sustainable Energy Engineering, University of Oxford
Chaired by Professor Libby Gibson, Professor of Energy Materials, Newcastle University
14.00 — 16.00
Sustainability
A sustainable battery industry requires consideration of the all part of the life-cycle of the battery – from materials choice and sources, manufacturing routes, to pathways for recycling and resuse. This session will cover recent advances in our understanding of sustainability from life-cycle analyses, sustainable materials synthesis, and electrode manufacture (including design-for-recycle) as well as progress towards the separation, recovery and reuse of materials from end-of-life cells.
Invited talk: Professor Alissa Kendall, Chair, Energy Graduate Group, University of California Davis
Chaired by Dr Phoebe Allan, Associate Professor in Materials Chemistry, University of Birmingham
16.00 — 18.00
19.00 — 23.00
2024 Conference Dinner and Awards at the Civic Centre, Newcastle
Day three – Thursday 12 September
09.30 — 11.30
Industrialisation Challenges
Panel discussion featuring:
- Stewart Dickson, Co-founder and Managing Director, Weardale Lithium
- Dr Keri Goodwin, Chief Technologist, CPI
- Professor Sudipta Roy, Chief Technology Officer, Evolve Metals
- Helen Waters, Head of Electric Battery Recycling, EMR
- Dr Christian Marston, President and COO, Altilium
- Cameron Tonkin, Chief Operating Officer, Green Lithium Refining Ltd
If the nascent battery industry and its supply chain are to help meet net zero targets and the requirements of OEMs manufacturing capacity needs to be delivered over very tight time scales. Unanswered questions remain regarding technical readiness level, economics and capacity for scale up. Moreover, the UK could take a leading role in delivering a sustainable battery supply chain, however meeting this potential will require considerable research and engineering input. In this panel discussion, a range of industry perspectives will be explored on scale up and manufacturing challenges and the required interventions across the entire battery life cycle – using lithium as the example – from mining to recycling and remanufacture.
Invited talk: Tony Harper, Challenge Director, Faraday Battery Challenge – Innovate UK, UKRI
Invited talk: Graeme Cruickshank, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, CPI
Chaired by Professor Colin Herron CBE, Professor of Practice at Newcastle University and Head of Faraday Institution Noth East (FINE)
09.30 — 11.30
Materials, Electrode and Battery Characterisation
Understanding the performance and degradation of battery materials requires complementary characterisation approaches that can separate out the complex changes that occur within different battery components and at the interfaces between them. This session will explore the development of new characterisation tools, as well as the adoption of techniques from other fields to better understand the origins of battery performance. This will include efforts to develop in situ/operando methods, software and simulation tools to interpret the data collected, and advanced electrochemical methods for extracting key material properties. Approaches for monitoring battery health will also be covered, including integrated sensor platforms and low-cost methods for the online detection of degradation processes.
Invited talk: Professor Louis Piper, Professor of Battery Innovation, University of Warwick
Chaired by Dr James Le Houx, Faraday ISIS Emerging Leader Battery Fellow
09.30 — 11.30
Battery Safety
The future of battery technology is, of course, about durability, capacity and performance: but safety is also critical to the successful and sustained adoption of the technology. This session will provide a balanced overview of the risks and hazards of lithium-ion batteries, and methods and procedures that are being used or developed to ameliorate these risks. The session will also provide an insight into future battery technologies and the potential risks and hazards associated with these.
Invited talk: Emma Sutcliffe, Director, EV Firesafe
Chaired by Dr Wojciech Mrozik, Faraday Institution Senior Research Fellow, Newcastle University
11.30 — 12.00
12.00 — 12.50
Academic Plenary talk
Professor Shinichi Komaba, Professor of Applied Chemistry at Tokyo University of Science
12.50 — 13.50
13.50 — 14.30
Closing Keynote Talk
Professor Dame Clare Grey FRS, Geoffrey Moorhouse Gibson Professor of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge
