Keynote topic - Multi-scale modelling of structural components: vital tool or plausible rubbish?

Mike Smith is Professor of Welding Technology at the University of Manchester. He is a mechanical engineer by training, and has spent much of his career in industry: with five years spent working on spacecraft structures at BAe Systems, and then 25 years in the civil nuclear industry working on much larger and heavier structures. Mike’s focus has always been on the structural integrity and performance of high value, safety-critical components. Mike moved into academia in 2013, and since then has focussed upon the development and validation of length-scale-appropriate modelling techniques to make the link between manufacturing process and long term structural performance.

Keynote topic - Severe Accident Modelling Capabilities: Experiences from Fukushima Daiichi Analyses

Luis E. Herranz has a Ph.D. from the Polytechnique University of Madrid (UPM). He has been a Research Professor since 2015, and has been leading the Unit for Nuclear Safety Research of CIEMAT (Spanish National Laboratory for Research on Energy, Environment and Technology) for more than 25 years. As a consequence of his research in national and international projects, he has published hundreds of research articles in refereed journals.

Keynote Topic - Digitalisation of Separations Related to the Nuclear Industry

Prof Panagiota Angeli, FREng, FIChemE, is a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at UCL, Deputy Head ED&I, and leads the ThAMeS Multiphase group. She specializes in complex multiphase flows and their application to sustainable processing. She has been awarded a RAEng/Leverhulme Trust Fellowship and has participated and chaired UK EPSRC and international research funding review panels. She has published over 200 journal papers.

Brian Matthews is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AMPERA, an advanced nuclear energy company developing ultra-safe, rapidly deployable microreactor systems designed to deliver reliable, clean baseload power for defense, AI data centers, maritime, and critical industrial infrastructure. Brian brings nearly three decades of experience in nuclear engineering, reactor physics, safety analysis and regulatory strategy. His technical background spans reactor core design, criticality safety, safety-basis development and systems architecture, with direct involvement in complex U.S. government and national-security nuclear programs.