PUBLIC EVENT
Clean energy technology – is this the critical moment for a mass rollout of hydrogen fuel cells for energy generation and storage?
The race is on to achieve net zero by 2050 – understanding the technology which will help get us there is vital. Watch back to hear our panellists answer these questions and more in a hybrid panel discussion. Our panellists shared their predictions about the impact of clean energy technology on people and the planet and answered questions from our in-person and online audiences.
If you have any questions, please contact Patrick Woodcock, MacRobert Award and Project Manager - Enterprise, at the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Hannah Prevett
Hannah is the deputy business editor at The Times and writes predominantly for The Times Enterprise Network. Having started her career as a technology journalist, Hannah now specialises in writing about entrepreneurship and fast-growth businesses. She regularly hosts Times and Sunday Times events, including The Times CEO Summit, and is a contributor to Times Radio.
Dr Caroline Hargrove CBE FREng
Dr Caroline Hargrove CBE FREng is Chief Technology Officer (“CTO”) at Ceres, a leading developer of high efficiency fuel cell and green hydrogen technology. Caroline started her career as a lecturer in Engineering at Cambridge and then moved to McLaren Racing, where she pioneered the simulation of human-machine interaction leading the development of the first F1 simulator. Later she was a founding member of McLaren Applied Technologies, set up to exploit McLaren F1 expertise to new markets and became its CTO. She was also CTO of Babylon Health and a Non-Executive Director of Ceres for three years before joining as its CTO in 2021. Caroline is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and holds a PhD in Applied Mechanics from Cambridge. She received a CBE for services to Engineering in 2020.
Professor Sir Richard Friend FREng FRS
Professor Sir Richard Friend is at the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge. His research encompasses the physics, materials science and engineering of semiconductor devices made with carbon-based semiconductors. These have found significant applications in LEDs, solar cells and electronics, and he was in the winning team for the MacRobert Award in 2002 for Cambridge Display Technology. Sir Richard has been chair of the panel of judges for the MacRobert Award since 2020.
Professor Mercedes Maroto-Valer FRSE FRSC FRSA
Professor Mercedes Maroto-Valer FRSE FIChemE FRSC FRSA FEI is Champion and Director of the UK Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre that forms part of the UK Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge focused on accelerating the transition to net zero of industrial clusters and establishing the first world net-zero industrial cluster. Mercedes is Deputy Principal (Global Sustainability) at Heriot-Watt University, leading the sustainability agenda, making a significant impact on achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goalsand working with partners to achieve global carbon reduction targets through the development of university wide initiatives. She is director of the Research Centre for Carbon Solutions at Heriot-Watt University, where she holds the Robert Buchan Chair in Sustainable Energy Engineering.
Pippa Gawley
Pippa is the Founding Partner of Zero Carbon Capital, solving the biggest challenges of decarbonisation with pre-seed and seed investments in ambitious teams building hard-science solutions across Europe and Israel. Pippa started angel investing in decarbonisation technologies in California seven years ago, where she was an active member of the impact investing ecosystem. Prior to that, she held a variety of roles in technology companies - general management, business analysis, and consumer-facing interactive user experience research and design. She holds a Masters degree in Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Cambridge.