Innovative Materials Offshore

Robin Hastings: Mechanical Static Group Technical Authority, Harbour Energy

Robin is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and has over 15 years of experience in supporting the operations of upstream and midstream oil and gas production. Originally a graduate Inspection Engineer with Shell, he has worked in various UK and European roles assisting in the technical integrity assurance of pressure systems. He joined Chrysaor in 2017 as TA, and later progressed to the Group TA role following the transition of Chrysaor into Harbour Energy.

Dene Halkyard: Technical Director, Flexitallic

Dene qualified with a honours degree in Applied Chemistry in 1987 and has worked in the sealing industry, in various capacities for over 40 years.

His early years were spent as development technologist specialising in the development and commercialisation of various non-asbestos product groups; including building and friction materials, thermal insulation and sealing products. Following this Dene spent sometime in the United States
as a product development specialist working on glassy carbon sealing products used in the semi-conductor industry. Upon his return to the UK he took up production management roles overseeing the manufacture of various static and dynamic sealing products.

Following this Dene worked as product manager for a range sheet sealing products. After the unification of the Flexitallic and TBA sealing businesses Dene became a member of the Flexitallic Applications and Engineering team, promoting and providing bespoke technical sealing solutions across a broad spectrum of industries. He became the Applications Engineering Manager in 2013 heading up a team of 5 engineers with both technical and application related responsibilities for the eastern hemisphere, and in 2019 promoted to Technical Director.

Louise Atkin: HM Principal Specialist Inspector (Materials and Corrosion), Health and Safety Executive

Louise is a Principal Specialist Inspector with the HSE, and head of a team of professional engineers within the Energy Division – Offshore. Louise and the team visit offshore installations throughout the UKCS, inspecting arrangements for initial and ongoing integrity management, maintenance, inspection and other materials and corrosion engineering issues. She joined HSE in 2001 and prior to joining the Offshore team, spent 11 years working in the Metallurgy and Materials team of HSE’s Laboratory carrying out forensic metallurgical investigations and leading corrosion research projects. She is a Chartered Engineer and Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Peter Foxton: Engineering Manager, Vryhof Anchors

Peter is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer with 40 years of experience in the offshore industry at the forefront of anchoring and mooring, gaining wide experience in anchor design, manufacturing, installation and analysis. He has presented papers on various mooring-related subjects at conferences and seminars worldwide and has co-authored several technical papers. He is Engineering Manager with Vryhof Anchors, the trusted provider of customer-focused anchoring and mooring solutions to the offshore oil and gas, aquaculture, marine renewables, and energy infrastructure industries.

Luisa Elena Mondora: General Manager, Valland SpA

Luisa Elena Mondora is General Manager of Valland and the CEO and co-founder of f3nice, an innovative startup that aims to create sustainable feedstock for additive manufacturing, where she holds the roles of main financial advisor, strategist, and manager, for which she has a solid experience through the management of the company f3nice’s financial assets and strategy, and towards the management of current resources.

With a BSc in Science and Technology of Communication in 2006 from IULM University, and a Master in Marketing in 2007 from 'Il Sole 24ore" Business School, she took the reins of her family company, Valland, in the midst of a company crisis. Luisa always felt compelled to advance in both her fields of expertise, Communication/Management and Engineering; this compulsion was a crucial element of her success as General Manager and allowed her to help Valland survive the crisis and thrive afterwards, expanding beyond its original market - OEM of Valves for Energy industry - towards the industrialization of 3D printing technologies and the Hydrogen Value Chain.

Ali Bahtui: Principal Subsea Energy Engineer – CAPEX Projects, DNV UK Limited

Ali Bahtui is a composite consultant based in London with significant experience in novel product development, manufacturing, qualification and certification for offshore infrastructure CAPEX developments. He is a chartered engineer, holds a PhD in offshore unbonded flexible pipes and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Ali has been with Lloyd’s Register and DNV for 11 years as an independent verifier, and with the composite pipe manufacturer Magma Global for over 3 years in new product development with a particular focus on qualification of products and manufacturing machinery for non-metallic/ composite components. He is typically involved in technical analysis and assessment of subsea systems, development of tests and standards for innovatory clean energy systems, and technology qualification assurance for novel technologies with a focus on energy transition.

Bridie Evans: Senior Technology Project Lead, National Composites Centre

Senior Technology Project Lead at the National Composites Centre, focused on delivering UKs goal for 50GW of Offshore Wind by 2030. Responsible for delivering Phase 2 of the Joule Challenge set out to prove that composite materials can deliver significant performance and light-weighting opportunities that will be essential to addressing the technical challenge of developing the next generation wind turbine platform beyond 20MW. With a Masters in Aerospace Engineering and a background in technology development within Industry across Aerospace, Additive Manufacturing and Subsea Systems.

Lampros Giourntas: Senior Engineer - CTH Additive Manufacturing, Baker Hughes

Lampros is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer working in the Additive Manufacturing (AM) field for the last 7 years. His experience lies in manufacturing processes, engineering design and materials along with project management. His professional career started in Weir Group as a PhD researcher at Strathclyde University. IN 2016, he moved to an AM R&D engineer role to undertake various InnovateUK and EU projects related to AM material and process development. He joined Baker Hughes in 2019 to lead the AM team, transform the Montrose site to a world class Non-metallic Additive Manufacturing Centre and enhance Baker Hughes’ competitive advantage by shaping national and global partnerships.

David Hardacre: Lead Specialist, Inspection Services, LRQA

David’s career spans over 20 years across several industry sectors (Marine, Aerospace and Energy) and various disciplines (control & instrumentation, fluids, thermodynamics and stress analyses for pressure systems) working for companies such as Marconi Electronic Systems, BAE SYSTEMS, Smiths Aerospace, GE, Lloyd’s Register and LRQA. Throughout his journey, he has developed a strong mix of engineering skills and attained Fellow status with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

As the Lead Specialist for Lloyd’s Register and LRQA on additive manufacturing (AM) projects worldwide, David has been actively promoting the safe adoption of AM for industrial applications. David serves as a contributing member on several standards committees that focus on additive manufacturing, such as CEN/TC 54 WG11 (producing EN 13445-14), ASME BPTCS (pressure Technology Books and Code Cases), API 20S, ISO/TC 261 and ASTM F42.

Glyn Morgan: Technical Manager, Energy, Element Materials Technology

• Current role: Technical Manager at Element Materials Technology Hitchin UK, >30 years
• Specialist first-hand knowledge of polymer compatibility with oilfield fluids including hydrogen and carbon dioxide, property changes, ageing characteristics, liquid and gas permeation/diffusion and rapid gas decompression damage
• Successful Joint Industry Project COMPAT involving eight global partners investigating the effect of fluids under high temperature and pressure on the properties of elastomers, thermoplastics and composites and how materials should be tested for component reliability
• Written and presented dozens of technical papers at national and international conferences
• UK member of ISO TC67 WG7 TG Non-metallics ISO 23936 series of standards

Glyn has a thorough grounding in lab testing involving fluid exposure with toxic and aggressive chemicals and gases in order to monitor their effects on elastomers, thermoplastics, thermosets and composites. Compatibility, chemical ageing, permeation and rapid gas decompression resistance are still core areas undertaken at Element Hitchin. His experience enables failure analysis of parts removed from service to be undertaken and has taken a technical lead in the use of hydrogen in non-metallic components, CCUS and all-composite solutions for lightweighting and corrosion resistance.