Professor Sir Christopher Snowden a distinguished engineer with wide experience of the international microwave and semiconductor industry. He was previously President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southampton (2015-19) and University of Surrey (2005-2015). He was Vice-President of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Chaired the Academy’s Engineering Policy Group from 2008-2013. He was President of the Institute of Engineering and Technology for 2009-10.

Sir Christopher was a member of the Prime Minister’s advisory Council for Science and Technology until 2016 and was a member of the governing body of the UK’s Technology Strategy Board (Innovate UK) as well as a member of the Council of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for six years. He was President of Universities UK from 2013-15 and Vice-President and Chair of UUK’s Employability, Business and Industry Policy Committee for five years. He was a member of the Council for Industry and Higher Education and Chair of Higher Education Research Opportunities (HERO) Ltd from 2006-8. He has previously been a Patron of Surrey Youth Focus and was Chair of the Daphne Jackson Trust from 2005-9. He was a Governor of the Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Trust.

He has been a Non-Executive of several companies and advises several others. He is a consultant for international technology companies and governments. He has previously held the posts of Chief Executive Officer at Filtronic plc; Head of School and personal Chair of Microwave Engineering in the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Leeds; Senior Staff Scientist at M/A-COM Inc. in the USA, Lecturer at the University of York and Applications Engineer at Mullard Ltd.

Sir Christopher is a Fellow of the Royal Society (2005), Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (2000), Fellow of the IEEE (1996), a Fellow of the IET (1992) and a Fellow of the City and Guilds Institute (2005).

He holds a number of awards from the Royal Academy of Engineering, the European Microwave Association and the IEEE. He has received Honorary Degrees from the universities of Leeds, Surrey, Strathclyde and City. He has published 8 books and over 350 technical papers.

Sir Alan Rudge is President of the ERA Foundation and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Civitas. He has served as a Director on more than twenty company Boards including Deputy Chairman of Experian Plc; Deputy Chief Executive and Main Board Director of BritishTelecom Plc; Chairman of WS Atkins Plc; Chief Executive and Chairman of ERA Technology Ltd; Chief Executive and President of Celtel International BV and a special advisor to General Atlantic Partners. Sir Alan is an Honorary Fellow and past President of the IEE (IET) and a Life Fellow of the IEEE (USA).

He is a former Chairman of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Engineering Council and the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. He has served as Pro-Chancellor of the University of Surrey and on a number of national committees including the UK Advisory Committee on Science and Technology. Sir Alan is a Fellow the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society and has been awarded honorary doctorates from nine UK universities.

Helen is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the highest honour for an engineer in the UK, and joined Cranfield University as Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing in September 2017. She was previously at the University of Leicester where she was Head of the Department of Engineering between 2012 and 2016, chaired the £17M project to rebuild the Percy Gee Students’ Union and served as Graduate Dean. Helen was the first woman President of the Engineering Professors’ Council (the body which represents Engineering in universities throughout the UK) in its fifty year history and has also served as a Vice President and Trustee of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In 2010 she won a national award as a Woman of Outstanding Achievement in Science, Engineering and Technology for ‘Leadership and Inspiration to Others’.

Helen is a Fellow of the Institution of Materials, Minerals and Mining and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. She has served on the Skills Panel of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (one of the world’s largest Engineering institutions), the Engineering Leaders Panel of the National Council for Universities and Business, and for five years was Chair of the Education and Skills Committee at the Royal Academy of Engineering. With the MoD she was a Secretary of State appointment to a major safety committee.

Helen chairs the ‘This is Engineering’ project for the Royal Academy of Engineering, a major campaign which aims to encourage more young people to consider Engineering as a career.

Until recently Helen served on the Strategic Facilities Advisory Board for the £200M Sir Henry Royce Institute, a major UK Government Materials Research Initiative, and was a member of the UK Advanced Materials Leadership Council reporting to the UK Government Department for Business Innovation and Skills on national priorities for Materials Research. She was made DBE in the Queens New Year’s Honours 2021 for services to Engineering and Education.

Acknowledged internationally in the field of energy-efficient computing and systems engineering, Professor Bashir M. Al-Hashimi is recognised as an outstanding academic leader and a highly influential figure in the UK HE sector. Bashir is Arm Professor of Computer Engineering and he founded the Arm-Southampton research centre, which is cited by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) as an exemplar of industrial collaboration. His research focuses on understanding interactions between hardware and software in constrained computing systems and how such interactions are used through theory and experiment to achieve systems energy efficiency and enhanced hardware dependability. Making fundamental contributions to the field of hardware-software co-design, low-power test and test-data compression and the emerging field of energy-harvesting computing, he led 2 national multi-million-pound EPSRC-funded projects. His research has been recognised by various awards including the IET Faraday Medal (2020).

Bashir was elected as Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2013 and is a member of the Board of Trustees. He was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society in 2023 and also received a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2018 for services to engineering and industry.

He is Vice President (Research & Innovation) at King’s College London, where he provides the academic leadership for developing and implementing the university’s Research and Innovation Strategy and overseeing new initiatives, whilst continuing to foster inter-faculty and multidisciplinary collaboration to support delivery of King’s strategic goals. He served previously as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences at King’s after undertaking a similar Executive Dean role at the University of Southampton, where he was also a member of the University’s Executive Board.

Mike Carr OBE FREng is currently a Non-Executive Director for both Ordnance Survey Ltd and Ploughshare Innovations Ltd . He is Chairman of Astigan Ltd, a start-up based in Somerset, a member of the Enterprise Hub Board at the Royal Academy of Engineering and a former President of the Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET).

Mike is the former Chief Science Officer for BT where he was responsible for the company’s world-leading research and commercial exploitation unit, including patent licensing and corporate venturing activities.

He has several patents to his name in the field of video compression and is the holder of two prestigious BT awards; the Martlesham Medal for R&D and the BT Gold medal for leading multimedia product developments. From 1999 Mike was based in Silicon Valley, California, USA where he established BT’s US Technology office and Corporate Venturing activity. He returned to the UK in 2001 to lead BT’s Research & Venturing division. More recently he has been a Council Member of the EPSRC and a Board Member of Innovate UK.

He received an OBE for “services to innovation” in 2017.

Andrew Churchill is the Executive Chairman of JJ Churchill Ltd., an aerospace precision-engineering business based in the Midlands.

He is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and of the IET as well as a commissioner for the Manufacturing Commission and an advisory panel member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Trade and Investment. He is also a Steering Board member of the 5% Club, a dynamic movement of employer-members working to create a shared prosperity across the UK by driving ‘earn and learn’ skills training opportunities.

Away from work, he is a governor at two schools and a district councillor for South Derbyshire

He has been a member of the Prime Minister’s Industrial, Manufacturing and Infrastructure Business Council and for ten years he was on the boards of Make UK (The Manufacturers’ Organisation) and Midlands Group Training Services (a centre of excellence for education, training and development of engineering apprentices), as well as six years as a director with the Design & Technology Association (championing D&T education in schools). Previously, Andrew sat on the Ministerial Advisory Group on Manufacturing and was part of the All-Party Manufacturing Group.

Dr Golby trained and gained a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering. He held a series of management positions with Dunlop and BTR before becoming an Executive Director of Clayhithe plc in 1992. He joined E.ON UK plc (formally PowerGen) in 2001 where he held the position of Chairman and Chief Executive until his retirement in December 2011.

A Chartered Engineer, he is a fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Energy Institute and City of Guilds. He was awarded an honorary degree from Aston University in 2007 and Cranfield University in 2008. He was also made CBE by HM the Queen in 2011.

He is chairman of Costain Group plc and a member of the Prime Ministers Council for Science and Technology.

He is a past Chair of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Engineering UK.

Tom joined de Zoete and Bevan Stockbrokers in 1983, starting a 36 year career in the financial services industry

Following the deregulation of the city during “big bang” Tom was a key driver in developing and transforming the BZW Private Client discretionary business,

Over the years he has successfully managed Multi-Asset Investment Portfolios for UK tax paying, International and UK Not for Profit clients, including managing the single largest client portfolio with the bank

Before retirement, Tom was a Director in the Barclays Private Bank and Investment Division

He remains a Chartered FCSI at the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment

Joanna Kennedy is a civil engineer and project manager, with wide experience of leading complex high profile construction projects. She is a non-executive director of Native Land Limited, and a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, chairing the project board for its Inspiring People redevelopment.

Until 2013 she was a Director and Global leader for Programme and Project Management with Arup, one of the world’s leading multi-disciplinary consultancies. She was a founder of Arup’s project management business, which twice won Project Management Company of the Year.

Her other appointments have included the Engineering Council, Trustee of the Science Museum, board member of the EPSRC, deputy chairman of the Port of London Authority, commissioner of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 and Council member of the Royal College of Art.

She gained first class honours in engineering at Oxford and in 1984 helped launch WISE (Women into Science and Engineering) of which she is a Patron. She has won awards as Woman of the Year in the Built Environment, First Woman of Engineering and Woman of Outstanding Achievement. She was awarded the OBE in 1995 for services to consulting engineering.

Andrew’s early interest in engineering and cars led him to Ford and its spin-out, Visteon, where he held a variety of roles which included developing Ford’s first plastic throttle body, delivering Visteon’s European Electronics Manufacturing Strategy and managing a £15 million per year project providing the cooling systems to Kia for their first European car, the c’eed.

After leaving Visteon, Andrew joined Innovate UK quickly becoming Head of Transport where he worked with industry, academia and government to develop and deliver programmes that provided over half a billion pounds of innovation support to the UK transport industry. He also authored the business case for the establishment of the Transport Systems Catapult which he subsequently joined as Chief Strategy Officer. Andrew was a member of all UK Transport related Industry Councils working with government and industry to develop the UK’s capability in Low Carbon Technology and Intelligent Mobility.

More recently Andrew established A+E, a consultancy that has helped many technology companies in the transport sector with strategy development and an understanding of the UK’s innovation funding landscape. He was also MD of Shyft Mobility, a start-up focused on utilising the spare capacity within informal transport.

Andrew holds a BSC in Engineering Management, an MSC in Automotive Engineering Design, Manufacture and Management and an MBA from Henley Management College. He is a Chartered Engineer and is a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers