About
I am a Lecturer in Energy Engineering in the Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering, University of Liverpool (UoL). My research expertise is in the area of solar energy, covering both device and system level design of photovoltaic technology. My first degree was in Physics and later I completed a PhD in off grid solar energy systems for remote communities at Heriot Watt University. Since being appointed as a Lecturer at UoL in September 2019, my work has focused on the development of manufacturing techniques for thin film photovoltaics.
I was awarded funding under an Early Career Researchers and Returners Fund (UoL) for a project titled ‘Developing Techniques for Large Scale Manufacturing of Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells’. The fund was used to purchase materials to begin printing perovskite solar cells. These early developments were built upon and used to successfully apply to EPSRC Connected Everything Feasibility Studies scheme. The project titled ‘Solar Skin: Additive manufacturing of customised fully integrated photovoltaic products’ is currently underway, with one fulltime post doc in employment. During this project my team and I have developed novel non-toxic tin based perovskite solar inks.
I am also a passionate science communicator, and regularly work with radio and print journalists to convey accurate scientific information on solar energy to the public. I have written several news articles for the Conversation, which were also published by the BBC, The Independent, and the Guardian, on the topic of ultra-light solar cells for applications such as power generation in space.