Professor Emma Kendrick

Professor Emma Kendrick is Professor of Energy Materials at the University of Birmingham and co-lead of the Energy Materials Group (EMG). A Chartered Chemist and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, her research spans the design and development of sustainable battery technologies, encompassing materials, manufacturing, and recycling across lithium-ion and sodium-ion chemistries. She currently leads the Faraday Institution FAST project on sustainable battery formation and ageing.

With a career in industry before academia, Emma brings practical depth to her research, formerly Chief Technologist in Energy Storage at SHARP Laboratories of Europe and Lead Scientist at two lithium-ion battery SMEs. Her work on battery parameterisation was spun out into the company About: Energy in 2021.

Emma has been widely recognised for her contributions to sustainable battery science. Her awards include the 2024 RSC Horizon Prize for battery recycling (as part of RELIB), the RSC 2021 Environment, Sustainability and Energy Division Mid-Career Award, the 2021 Faraday Institution Researcher Development Champion award, and the 2019 Hothersall Memorial Award.