The Impact & Invention Conference 2025

DIRDI was delighted to host its 2nd Impact & Invention Conference on 27th of March 2025 in the Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics (West), Durham University. We welcomed attendees from around the country, including delegates from 8 universities as well as industry.

Speaker biographies, abstracts, and videos of the talks and panel discussion can all be found below as well as on the DIRDI YouTube channel.

Details for our 2026 conference will be announced at a later date. For information on the 2024 conference, visit here

Keynote and Panel Discussion:
Presentation Recordings:

Speakers & Panelists

Speaker Biographies and Abstracts:

Introductory Address: Professor Paula Chadwick FRAS FInstP FDIRDI, Head of Department of Physics, Durham University

Professor Paula Chadwick is a gamma-ray astronomer who was a Founding Fellow of the Durham Institute of Research, Development, and Invention (DIRDI) and Head of the Department of Physics at Durham University.

Paula Chadwick is the leader of the gamma-ray astronomy group at Durham. She has a long-standing interest in astroparticle physics, and is a member of the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) and the Southern Wide-field Gamma Ray Observatory (SWGO). She is involved in both instrumentation, particularly mirrors and calibration systems, and future science for CTA. The latter entails the analysis of Fermi data both as a pathfinder for CTA and for scientific results in their own right. She is also working on muon tomography for a range of applications, including long-term monitoring of carbon dioxide storage reservoirs.

She has served on a number of committees, including the Particle Astrophysics Advisory Panel, Fellowships Panel and Projects Peer Review Panel for STFC, and the Chandra Time Allocation Committee and Einstein Fellowships Panel for NASA. She presently serves on STFC’s Astronomy Grants Panel. She was awarded the Bragg Medal of the Institute of Physics in 2015 and sits on DIRDI’s Advisory Board.

Keynote: Dr Arnab Basu MBE, CEO of Kromek Group

Dr Arnab Basu is the founder and CEO of the Kromek Group, an AIM listed university spin-out which is a leading developer of radiation detection and bio-detection technology solutions for the medical imaging and CBRN detection segments. An award-winning entrepreneur with extensive international business experience, Dr Basu holds a PhD in Physics from Durham University and received an MBE in 2014 for services to regional development and international trade. He is a member of the new Russell Group Industrial Strategy expert advisory panel.

Presentation: Professor Graham Machin FREng BSc (Hons) DPhil DSc HonFInstMC FInstP FIPEM CPhys CEng FDIRDI, Senior Fellow, National Physical Laboratory

Graham is a Senior NPL Fellow, has >30 years’ thermometry research experience, published >270 papers and given numerous keynote/plenary talks. He holds visiting/honorary professorships at Birmingham, Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities.

He represents the UK on the Consultative Committee of Thermometry (CCT), was President of the Institute of Measurement and Control (2018-2019) and chair of the Euramet Technical Committee for Thermometry (2014-2018). In 2019 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, in 2021 he was awarded the InstMC Harold Hartley medal for “outstanding contributions to the technology of measurement and control” and elected Honorary InstMC Fellow in 2024.

He has wide ranging research interests e.g. future kelvin, driftless practical thermometry, clinical thermometry, photonic thermometry and leads NPL’s metrology activity for nuclear decommissioning. He recently led a Royal Society Theo Murphy discussion meeting “The redefined kelvin – progress and prospects” in Glasgow 24-25 February ’25.

Abstract

The talk will open with an introduction to the National Physical Laboratory and the vital role it plays in ensuring reliable measurements are performed across the UK and further afield. Examples will be given of where NPL has played a key role in underpinning the UK’s prosperity and quality of life. We will then focus down on the topic of reliable temperature measurement and especially temperature traceability. Reliable thermometry underpins many activities in the UK from advanced manufacturing, power production, health, meteorology and many more. Here we explore the foundation of reliable temperature measurement through establishing traceability to a known reference standard the defined temperature scale, the International Temperature scale of 1990 (ITS-90). Recent and ongoing innovations and inventions have led to increasingly radical approaches to temperature traceability, namely:

  1. Provision of direct traceability linked to the kelvin definition (Boltzmann constant) by primary (acoustic/radiometric) thermometry, from the National Measurement Institute (NMI, in the UK NPL) to users.
  2. Through temperature sensor self-validation providing in-situ traceability and real-time performance checking.
  3. Through the emergence of practical primary thermometry approaches such as Johnson Noise and Doppler Broadening, which in principle require no calibration and yet provide reliable thermometry – and that for long periods of time.

We will end with a consideration of the impact of these new approaches to temperature traceability on end users in industry and elsewhere.

 

Presentation: Professor Helen Meese PhD CEng MIMechE MIPEM MWES FRSA FDIRDI, Founder & CEO, The Care Machine Ltd

Helen is an award-winning Electro-Mechanical Power Engineer with over 20 years’ experience in both academia and industry. She studied for her degree and PhD at Loughborough University. Her early career was in the defence industry where she worked for a number of companies including Babcock International and GE Naval. She joined the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 2013 as a Policy Manager firstly as Head of Engineering in Society and then as Head of Healthcare, managing all aspects of the Institution’s medical technology and Healthcare output.

Helen founded The Care Machine Ltd in 2018 to provide innovative technology solutions, business management and training to medtech start-ups, SMEs and Researchers. She is passionate about ensuring that technology is at the forefront of healthcare provision and has worked with a number of leading universities and companies to develop medtech products and services. Helen has several high-profile clients including the NHS, where she was responsible for recruiting over 1000 engineers to support the NHS Clinical Engineering services at Nightingale hospitals across the UK at the start of the Covid outbreak. Helen continues to provide thought leadership across the medtech sector, championing the importance of biomedical, pharmaceutical and mechanical engineering in medicine.

Helen has appeared on TV and radio as well as writing numerous reports and articles on health tech-related matters. Helen is a chartered engineer and member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Institute of Physics & Engineering in Medicine, the Women’s Engineering Society and is a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. She is the host of the IMechE’s engineering podcast, Impulse to Innovation and well as being Chair of the IMechE’s Biomedical Engineering Division and past Trustee. She is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Durham University Business School, a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Healthcare Policy Topic Group, Vice-Chair of the SBRI healthcare competition funding panel and a Health Foundation Q-Community member.

Presentation: Dr Alessandra Vigilante, Centre for Gene Therapy and Regenerative Medicine, King’s College London

Alessandra is a Senior Lecturer in Bioinformatics at the Centre for Gene Therapy and Regenerative Medicine King’s College London, with a focus on genotype- phenotype interactions and data integration. Alessandra obtained her PhD in Bioinformatics in Naples before moving to the UK to join Nicholas Luscombe’s group first at the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute as a visiting student and then as a postdoctoral fellow at UCL. Alessandra’s group has significant expertise and experience in the analysis and integration of large scale genomic, epigenomic and transcriptomic data and in the implementation of novel computational methods for various bespoke analyses to gain biological insights. She is actively involved in a great network of collaborations to develop multidisciplinary approaches to research efforts, working with faculty members within King’s and other research institutes. Alessandra is the Head of Hub for Applied Bioinformatics (HAB), a new Faculty initiative aiming to enhance bioinformatics networking, support key research projects and provide training and engagement activities.

Panel discussion: “From Invention to Impact: Building Better Partnerships Across UK Academia, Industry, and Government”

Chair: Mr Daniel Dobrowolski MPhys FDIRDI, Director, DIRDI

Daniel is Director of the Durham Institute of Research, Development, and Invention (DIRDI); Head of Research at Coltraco Ultrasonics, and Head of the Centre for Underwater Acoustic Analysis (CUAA).

After completing his master’s degree in theoretical physics at Durham University, Daniel read Intelligence & Security at Cambridge and has since published papers with the Royal United Services Institute and the Atlantic Council.

At Coltraco, Daniel has led numerous scientific research teams in invention and innovation and, in 2020, invented instrumentation to monitor negatively-pressurised NHS ICU wards preventing airborne viral spread between wards. Further development enabled the accurate monitoring of airtightness and energy loss in the Built Environment to reduce carbon emissions associated with the heating and cooling of buildings. In 2024, Daniel achieved a reservist commission at the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst.

 

Panelist: Professor Carl Stephen Patrick Hunter OBE FDIRDI, Director-General, DIRDI

Carl is Chairman of Coltraco Ultrasonics, a high-exporting, advanced manufacturer, exporting 50% of its output to Asia, and to 120 countries overall. It has been twice-awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise, in 2019 and 2022. He is Director-General of DIRDI, Director of the Centre of Underwater Acoustic Analysis (CUAA), his “gift to the nation” and specifically to the Royal Navy’s Submarine Service, Professor-in-Practice at Durham University Business School, and Chairman of the Council on Geostrategy Forum, which recently hosted the First Sea Lord’s Sea Power Conference at Lancaster House. He is a Visiting Fellow of the Royal Navy Strategic Studies Centre, and an Honorary Fellow of the Strategy, Statecraft, Technology, Changing Character of War Centre, Pembroke College, Oxford University.

Carl is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology, and a Fellow and a former Trustee, of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects. His company’s laboratory is co-located with the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation, Department of Physics. He holds an Honorary Doctorate in Science from Durham University and Durham University Senate’s highest Dunelmensis Award, for his contribution to undergraduate development and scientific research. He has considerable experience of developing hopeful, exceptional teams, of all ages, defining brilliance as being of fine heart and fine mind.

A graduate of Durham University and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Carl was commissioned into the Royal Green Jackets. He was Managing Director International Markets for TIMCO Aviation Services in NC USA, the largest independent aircraft engineering organisation in the world. Prior to that he was Senior Advisor to United Airlines/United Services, San Francisco CA USA, the largest B777/B747-400 aircraft and PW4090 engine operator in the world. He is highly travelled in Asia, Europe, North America, and the Middle East, and experienced in the global shipping, naval, defence, aerospace, and offshore energy sectors, and in strategy, leadership, exporting, manufacturing, technology, and innovation.

His company’s instrumentation is aboard over 12,000 ships, equating to 17% of the world’s shipping fleet. He was a member of the Government’s COVID19 Economic Recovery Taskforce and advises several Government departments.

Panelist: Professor David Jakubovic FDIRDI, Professor of Innovation, Durham University Business School

David Jakubovic graduated from Imperial College London with a PhD in Chemistry in 1988. He has worked for 24 years in R&D with Procter & Gamble (based in UK and USA) in their Beauty, Health and Grooming businesses, leading R&D programmes in Europe, North America and globally. He ended by leading P&G’s Open Innovation programme in Asia, with a particular interest and experience in collaborative research with Universities.

He is now a Professor of Innovation at Durham University Business School and Policy Fellow Alum at the Centre for Science and Policy, University of Cambridge.

Panelist: Dr David Ward FDIRDI, Head of Characterisation, National Facility for Physics (CORDE) With 25 years research experience in industry and academia, David enjoys building equipment from concept to commercial realisation and supporting users to get the best from it. He’s particularly interested in solving problems and thinking about new ways of innovating. David completed his DPhil at Cambridge in 2010 and thereafter worked as researcher at the Cavendish Laboratory, where his team invented a novel type of scanning microscope using Helium atoms. He founded the Collaborative R&D Environment (CORDE) at Cambridge, a National Facility for Physics, and serves as Head of Characterisation.

Venue Location