IEEE IAS CMD Event at The University of Manchester

Andrew M. Knight

Biography:

Andrew M. Knight  received the B.A and PhD degrees from the University of Cambridge in 1994 and 1998 respectively. He is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Software Engineering at the University of Calgary, where he previously held the roles of Transmission Electric Industry Chair and Head of Department. His research interests are in energy conversion, clean and efficient energy utilization, and integration of clean energy technologies into larger systems. He is the recipient of multiple prize paper awards from IEEE Power & Energy Society and IEEE Industry Applications Society. Dr. Knight is a P.Eng. registered in the Province of Alberta, Canada. He was President of IEEE Industry Applications Society 2023-24 and currently serves as Past President.  He is a member of the Steering Committee for IEEE Electrification Magazine, IEEE Power Africa Conference, and the International Conference on Electric Machines & Systems. He has previously held the roles of IAS Publications Chair, General Chair of IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE), the Steering Committee Chair of IEEE ECCE and IEEE International Electric Machines and Drives Conference, and Chair of IEEE Smart Grid R&D Committee. Dr Knight is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Engineering Institute of Canada, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Alice Larkin

Biography:

Alice works in the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, School of Engineering at the University of Manchester. She trained as a physicist in Leeds, did her PhD in climate modelling at Imperial College, then worked in science communication. She joined the Tyndall Centre at the University of Manchester (then UMIST) in 2003 to research conflicts between climate change and energy policy. Her work on carbon budgets helped to shape the UK’s 2008 Climate Change Act and the inclusion of aviation within policy frameworks. She became a Professor and Director of Tyndall Manchester in 2015, delivered a TED talk and was awarded a University ‘Researcher of the Year’ award in 2016. She became Head of the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering in 2017 and led the formation of a new School of Engineering between 2018 and 2023 as Vice-Dean and Head of School. She has led large collaborative EPSRC projects on the Water-Energy-Food nexus and decarbonising international transport and continues to work at the climate change-policy interface leading a portfolio of activities focusing primarily on the shipping sector.

Siniša Djurović

Biography:

Siniša Djurović (Member, IEEE) received his Ph.D. degree in electrical and electronic engineering from the University of Manchester, Manchester, U.K., in 2007. He is currently a Reader with the Power Conversion Group, University of Manchester. His research interests are in the area of operation, design, monitoring, and diagnostics of electric machines and drives.

Arwyn Thomas

Biography:

Arwyn Thomas is the CTO of Preformed Windings, in charge of engineering and development of high voltage insulation diamond coils. Prior to that, he worked for over 14 years at Siemens Gamesa, holding various roles, latterly heading the research and development of direct drive permanent magnet generators for onshore and offshore wind turbines. Arwyn gained a PhD in electrical machines and also MEng from the University of Sheffield.

Sandy Smith

Biography:

Ian Kinlock

Biography:

Subhra Samanta

Biography:

Subhra Samanta received the B.E. degree in electrical engineering in 2001, and the M.Sc. degree in High Voltage Engineering in 2004. She started her career as a design engineer for high voltage X-ray vacuum tube for Computed Tomography (CT) Scanner and Radiography application for General Electric (GE) HealthCare in India, followed by a research engineer in GE Global Research, GRC in India for wind turbine generator components design. In 2011, she moved to Denmark with a role and responsibility of direct drive generator stator electrical insulation and electromechanical design and development in Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE), where she worked 10 years from 2.3 MW onshore until 15 MW Offshore direct drive generator. She then served from May 2022 until April 2024 in Vattenfall as a Lead Electrical Engineer at System Engineering team where her main responsibility included evaluation of design parameters, performances, OpEx and Capex, failure rate for electrical drive train components (generator, transformer, switchgear, MV cables) for new Offshore windfarm projects

From May,2024, she moved back to Siemens Energy Wind Power Denmark as a Senior Key Expert in electrical design and development of direct drive generators for future offshore wind turbine generators.

During more than 20 years of industrial working experiences, she has several patent applications (18 to 20) towards the design of direct drive generator and development of high torque density machine to improve Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCoE) for renewable energy. She is also a Senior Member of IEEE Organization and contributing as Vice Chair of IEEE Denmark section from January 2024.

Derrick Holliday

Biography:

Derrick Holliday received B.Eng. (1st Class Hons)  and Ph.D. degrees from Heriot-Watt University, has held academic posts at the Universities of Bristol and Strathclyde, and is currently Professor of Electric Drives at Newcastle University. He has contributed 30 years of teaching and industry-facing research in the fields of power electronics, electrical machines and drives (PEMD), and has published extensively on topics including PWM schemes, power converter design and control, electrical machine design, sensorless control and electric drives for aerospace, automotive, power systems and renewable energy applications. He leads the Driving the Electrical Revolution Industrialisation Centre-Newcastle University (DER-IC NU) which has specialist capability in electrical machine manufacture and assembly, advanced semiconductor packaging, and electric drive manufacture and assembly. As part of a UK-network of four Industrialisation  Centres, this provides UK industry with open access to more than £40M of specialist equipment, funded by Innovate UK, to support the development of UK PEMD products, manufacturing process, and supply chain.

Nehad El-Sherif

Biography:

Nehad El-Sherif, M.Sc., P.Eng., MBA, SMIEEE is the Founder and President of MNKYBR Technologies Inc., a Canadian company specialized in R&D and engineering services. El-Sherif is a Professional Electrical Engineer with experience in software & hardware design, new product development, product certification, business development, product management, sales & marketing, and electrical safety. He authored and co-authored IEEE peer-reviewed papers, technical articles, white papers and delivered technical presentations at various industry conferences. El-Sherif is a senior member of IEEE (SMIEEE), an executive board member of IEEE Industry Applications Society (IAS), and a member of IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB) Committee on Standards (TCoS) and IEEE Standard Association Standards Board (SASB) Standards Review Committee (RevCom). He serves on NFPA Code Making Panel 2 (CMP-2) for the continued development of the National Electrical Code (NFPA 70), CSA Z462 (Workplace Electrical Safety Standard) technical committee, as well as various UL and CSA product safety certification standards technical panels. El-Sherif received several awards and recognitions including the 2024 IEEE IAS Electrical Safety Committee Excellence in Prevention through Design Award in Tucson, AZ and the First Place Prize Paper Award at the 2023 IEEE IAS Pulp and Paper Industry Conference in Spokane, WA. He earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Ain-Shams University, Cairo, Egypt and an MBA from the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. El-Sherif is a sessional lecturer at the University of Saskatchewan and holds two patents.