AI4Nuclear Conference

Dr. Ioannis Stefanakos is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Assuring Autonomy at the University of York. He received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of York in 2021, where his research focused on methodologies for verifying non-functional requirements at both the software and system architecture levels. His research interests lie in the application of formal methods and assurance techniques to the specification, development, and verification of autonomous and self-adaptive systems, particularly AI-enabled systems. His work focuses on generating assurance evidence to support the safe and trustworthy deployment of these systems in dynamic and uncertain environments. He has contributed to a range of interdisciplinary projects spanning healthcare, automotive, robotics, and nuclear applications.

Dr Daniel Greenhouse is a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer at digiLab, where he works at the intersection of machine learning and engineering decision-making. Building on a background in plasma physics and fusion energy, he develops AI solutions that quantify uncertainty and support risk-informed decision-making across the nuclear sector, helping engineers make better-informed decisions in safety-critical environments.

Dr. Matteo Zallio is an Assistant Professor in Design at the University of Cambridge, whose work bridges inclusive design, artificial intelligence, and emerging technologies. With a dual background in academia and industry, he leads research and strategy to ensure digital and physical environments are inclusive, ethical, and designed for all. From advising S&P 500 companies to founding the Metavethics Institute, Matteo champions inclusive innovation that transforms complexity into opportunity for everyone.

James Lennon is a Chief Technologist in Amentum's Regulatory Support Directorate (RSD).  RSD is a UK Technical and Scientific Support Organisation (TSO) providing ring-fenced specialist assessment, inspection support, and policy advice to regulators. James has worked within RSD for over 15 years, specialising in high consequence nuclear systems in the fields of electrical, electronic and programmable electronic functional safety.  James holds a Masters degree in Systems and three post-graduate certificates in Physics Education, Naval Nuclear Reactor Technology and Explosives Ordnance Engineering.  James holds particular interests in ontology development and architecting assurance systems, looking towards how next generation Artificial Intelligence might be safety introduced into the nuclear safety socio-technical system of systems.

Professor Christopher Pain is Head of the Applied Computation and Modelling Group (AMCG), one of the largest computational modelling research groups at Imperial College London, and leads the Data Assimilation Laboratory within Imperial's Data Science Institute. He is also Co-Director of the Centre for AI-Physics Modelling within Imperial-X. His research spans computational physics, AI, digital twins, data assimilation, computational fluid dynamics, nuclear engineering, geophysics, and environmental modelling.

Professor Pain has published over 300 peer-reviewed journal papers, has an h-index of 64, supervised more than 70 PhD students and around 100 postdoctoral researchers and research fellows, and secured over £30 million in research funding over the past decade. He was awarded Imperial College London's Research Excellence Award for his contributions to computational science.

He is the original developer of the FETCH nuclear criticality model, a principal developer of the IC-FERST reservoir simulator, and the creator of the Fluidity computational fluid dynamics code. His pioneering contributions to AI include the development of Neural Physics (AI4PDEs and AI4DEM), physics-defined neural networks that solve partial differential equations without training, and the first geometry- and grid-invariant AI surrogate models capable of accelerating complex simulations by up to four orders of magnitude. His work has also advanced AI for nuclear reactor modelling, geophysical inversion, digital twins, and scientific machine learning. Professor Pain currently leads the modelling activities of several major multidisciplinary research consortia and is an invited keynote speaker at leading international conferences on AI, computational science, and nuclear engineering.

Robin joined Sellafield in 2022 as the Chief Technology Officer having previously help the post of Director of Technology and Industrial Strategy at BAE Systems PLC. As the CTO he is responsible for the research and technology development at Sellafield.

Following his doctorate in Photonics and a period in academia, he moved into the defence sector and conducted research on pulsed power systems followed by the systems engineering and engineering management of secure digital military networks for BAE Systems. At BAE Systems also held roles in industrialisation covering the regions of Europe, the Americas and North and South-East Asia, held a global responsibility for technology exploitation, and for developing international market strategies.  During his broad career he has covered a wide range of technologies, markets and business areas relating to export, technology exploitation and enterprise strategy.

Notable achievements are the industrialisation of the UK’s Type 26 Ship design for the Canadian River Class programme and the exploitation and commercialisation of Defence Intellectual Property; for these works he earned separate Gold Commercial Awards, and he also earned the Rising Star of the Royal Academy of Engineering for his developments in Directed Energy Systems.

Derreck van Gelderen is PA Consulting's Head of AI Strategy and AI Lead for Energy and Utilities. He leads the AI and Investment Strategy practice across private and public sector organisations. With over 15 years' experience in designing, developing, and deploying complex models, Derreck bridges the gap between strategic advisory, data and emerging AI technologies. He specialises in guiding organisations through their AI journeys – from understanding AI's disruptive potential and identifying strategic opportunities, to deploying industry-first AI solutions and scaling enterprise-wide AI adoption. Before consulting, Derreck lectured at the University of Bristol while completing his PhD in Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics.

Dr Olivia Angel CEng MIMechE is a Chartered Engineer, PhD-qualified AI Technical Manager within Sellafield Ltd's Central Robotics & AI function. She is currently working on the development of governance, ethics, and compliance frameworks that enable the safe and responsible adoption of artificial intelligence across Sellafield Ltd. With experience spanning different engineering industries, including powertrain and consultancy, cultural transformation, stakeholder engagement and mindfulness. She is particularly passionate about building AI capability and literacy across organisations. A former Manifesto Change Lead and reverse mentor to Sellafield's CEO, Olivia brings a unique blend of technical expertise, ethical leadership, and human-centred thinking using AI responsibly with her mindfulness AI workshops.

Dr Philippa Ryan is the Lloyds Register Foundation Senior Research Fellow (Safety of Autonomy and AI).

She has over 25 years experience in software safety assurance spanning both academia and industry. 

For several years she worked in industry as an independent software safety assessor, where she undertook many 

smart device assessments for the nuclear industry and research into proportionate software safety approaches.

Her current academic research concentrates on safe, ethical and responsible use of AI across many different domains and applications.

Dr Sofia Guerra FREng is a director at Themistoclea Ltd. She has played pivotal roles in safety and assurance of digital systems and is internationally recognised as an expert in dependability assessment and justification of digital systems in the nuclear industry. She has pioneered the UK approach to justifying digital devices for nuclear facilities, impacting major projects, including UK nuclear build projects. She pioneered the first and most recent AI sandboxing projects with the UK Office of Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and the Environment Agency, shaping regulatory approaches for AI-based systems. She collaborates with the AI Now Institute on AI assurance and compliance in nuclear energy, and actively guides global standards. Her international leadership includes serving on the IAEA International Network on Innovation steering committee—where she leads the Task Force on AI Safety—as well as contributing to key BSI and nuclear instrumentation standards committees.

Carl Dalby is Group Head of AI & Digital at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, driving the safe, assured use of AI in mission‑critical environments. His work spans strategy, governance, and delivery of digital transformation across the NDA Group.

Kuran Basra is a Forward Deployed Engineer at digiLab, working directly with clients in safety-critical and highly regulated sectors to design and deliver machine learning and uncertainty quantification solutions that support confident, high-stakes decision-making where data is complex, sparse or incomplete. He brings to this role a strong background in AI governance, transparency and regulation, applying it to the practical delivery of trustworthy, explainable AI solutions for clients operating in complex, high-consequence environments.

Kuran's career began in civil and structural engineering within the nuclear sector, and he is a Chartered Civil Engineer (CEng), a qualification recognised by the Institution of Civil Engineers.

As AI Technical Manager at Sellafield Ltd, Kuran helped deliver key elements of the organisation's AI strategy, shaping governance and responsible-use frameworks aligned with the EU AI Act, the UK Government's AI Playbook, ISO 42001 and Office for Nuclear Regulation guidance. He established risk management processes for secure AI adoption, engaged regulators and industry bodies on compliant AI use, and led internal AI literacy and education initiatives, including material aligned to Article 4 of the EU AI Act.

Kuran remains an active member of the Nuclear Institute's AI4Nuclear Steering Committee, helping to shape industry-wide direction on the safe and responsible adoption of AI within the nuclear sector.

Dr Ian Murray is Data Science Manager at the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), an international organisation that helps commercial nuclear power operators achieve the highest standards of nuclear safety and reliability. Based in London, he leads the development and adoption of AI and data science solutions at WANO. His work focuses on improving organisational efficiency, generating insights from complex data, predicting nuclear safety performance, and developing innovative approaches to support decision-making and continuous improvement across the global nuclear industry.

Ian earned his doctorate in Nuclear Physics from Université Paris-Saclay in 2018, specialising in rare exotic isotopes. Since then, he has worked in data science across semiconductor manufacturing at Micron Memory Japan, legal technology at KLD in London, and the international nuclear power industry at WANO.

He is also a member of the AI working group within the IAEA’s International Network on Innovation to Support Operating Nuclear Power Plants (ISOP).

Rebecca Thorington is a Nuclear Safety Inspector at the Office for Nuclear Regulation, with over 10 years’ experience regulating dutyholders across the nuclear lifecycle, from new build to decommissioning. She is part of ONR’s innovation team, supporting the delivery of its vision to empower ONR and UK dutyholders to confidently and responsibly implement innovative solutions, including through the recent regulatory sandbox on AI in nuclear installations. Rebecca is a chartered chemist and the lead chemistry specialist inspector for Hinkley Point C, Sizewell C, and the Generic Design Assessment of TerraPower’s Natrium reactor design. Before joining ONR, she worked in the nuclear sector in the UK and internationally.

Umang Rajdev is the Engineering Software Capability Lead at Rolls-Royce SMR, where he leads the development and rollout of AI-driven digital engineering capabilities across the organisation. He is responsible for defining the AI in Engineering vision, building the operating model for delivery, and enabling teams to adopt AI at scale in support of product design and decision-making.

His work spans strategy through to execution, including the identification and delivery of engineering AI use cases, deployment of machine learning toolsets, and the establishment of a growing AI Community of Practice. He plays a key role in building organisational capability, supporting adoption of enterprise tools, and working with business and digital teams to overcome barriers to delivery.

Umang acts as a trusted advisor to senior leadership, helping to shape how AI, ML and data-driven approaches are embedded into engineering processes within product design.

Will is a PhD student at the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge and is supported by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). His research focuses on the intersection of machine-learned interatomic potentials (MLIPs) and first-principles methods designed for strongly correlated materials. He aims to develop potentials that address nuclear decommissioning challenges, such as helium diffusion in plutonium dioxide, while establishing a framework applicable to a broader range of strongly correlated systems.

David is a freelance engineering consultant with demonstrated experience in nuclear regulation, implementing innovation in highly regulated sectors and providing strategic advice on the deployment of clean energy.