PhD Student

David joined the Use Less Group as a PhD student in October 2023. His research is focused on reducing scrap metal in the automotive industry. He will be using the fundamental mechanics of sheet metal forming to develop novel processes which integrate with traditional metal stamping machines.

David graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2022 with an MEng and spent one year working at a church before joining the Use Less Group.

Jack Lynch is a third year PhD student sponsored by Sky Ltd. His research is focused on how we can leverage household electronic devices in a way so as to lower energy consumption within a home.

Camilla is pursuing a PhD in ‘accelerating climate mitigation’, where her work will explore, characterise, and promote business opportunities that accelerate the transition to a zero emissions future.

Camilla has a background in Materials Science, with a Master of Engineering degree from the University of Oxford. Her Master’s thesis explored the role of composite materials in next generation battery technology for electric vehicles.

Freddie joined the group as a PhD student in 2022, sponsored by Advanced Electric Machines. His research is focused on reducing the lifetime impact of electric motors in the automotive industry, aiming to remove permanent magnets and copper from traction motors. 

Rishabh joined the group as a PhD student and is working on novel manufacturing processes. He is interested in improving material utilisation in the automotive industry. Along with building a replacement for the traditional metal stamping machines, he hopes to develop the underlying mechanics and operating window for the new technique. 

He graduated with a Masters in Mechanical/Automotive Engineering from the University of Southampton in 2019 and had spent 2 years working as an Interior design engineer at Toyota.

Tom Ardron joined the Use Less Group / UKFIRES as a PhD student in 2022 as part of the FIBE2 Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Infrastructure and Built Environment.

El-Amin is a PhD student as part of the FIBE2 Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Infrastructure and Built Environment. His project is titled “Net Zero Carbon Bridges” which is focussed on understanding the challenges of building bridges in line with the net zero by 2050 target. 

Sam joined UK FIRES in January 2021 as a PhD student researching the politics of decarbonisation. His current research explores the limitations of the current techno-optimist climate policy and how we can provide space for new policies that target the systemic roots of the climate crisis through changing the way to discuss, narrativise and understand climate change.

Sarah’s research bridges the disciplines of economics and engineering to assess barriers to urgent climate policy. The aim of Sarah’s work is to investigate the technological and social viability of proposed pathways to net zero using political economy theory, economic modelling and quantitative and qualitative policy analysis.

Sarah holds a Masters in economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara and Bachelors degrees in economics and physics from the University of Auckland.   

Jenny is a PhD student working to understand the feasibility of net-zero mitigation proposals, given the limited rate of energy infrastructure deployment. She previously worked in a wide range of roles at Rolls-Royce, and for a small non-profit organisation in rural Malaysia who deploy clean electricity generation in remote communities. She is a chartered engineer (IMechE) and previously studied mechanical engineering at Cambridge.