Professor Jennifer Wen established and currently leads WARWICK FIRE, a multidisciplinary research laboratory for both fundamental and applied research related to fire and explosions as well as accidental releases of hazardous materials. As Principal Investigator, Jennifer holds over £2M live grants to support a wide range of research activities, which include thermal runaway, fire and explosion safety of lithium ion batteries. Wen has published over 250 journal and conference papers on these topics. She has a solid network of funders/collaborators including major international companies, SMEs and government organisations plus 30+ university research groups. She is a member/steering committee members of several professional committees and professional organisations such as the UK Explosion Liaison Group, International Association of Fire Safety Science (IAFSS) and the Scientific/Organising Committees/Session Chairs of several international conferences. Of particular relevance to Battery Tech 2018, Wen heads a European project developing electrothermal models for LIB thermal runaway and fires as well as a new project to start soon on “In situ stress analysis of lithium-ion battery cell”.

Safety of lithium ion batteries

Muhammad Afzal obtained his M.Sc in Applied Physics from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden in 2013 and is continuing PhD in Energy Technology from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden since June, 2014. After M.Sc at KTH University, he was appointed as Research Engineer and Project Manager for EC FP7 TriSOFC (2012-08-01 to 2015-07-31), STEM and Swedish Research Council (VR) projects. Today he is an emerging well known scientist in Solid Oxide Fuel Cell and Electrolyte-layer Free Fuel Cell (EFFC) and Manager for Advanced Fuel Cell and Solar Cell Group at KTH under the leadership of Professor Bin Zhu. Initially working on conventional SOFC using perovskite and composite materials, his current work focuses on Semiconductor-Ionic materials (Three in One) for the development of EFFC technology and fuel to electricity conversion technology for power generation working at low temperatures (300-600 °C). He is an international referee for International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, J. Phys Chem B & C, J. Scanning, Electrochimica Acta, Advaced Energy Materials, Journal of Power Sources, Recent Patents on Nanotechnolgy, etc. He is Editorial Board Member of several International Journals. He is Board Member of PhD Chapter and Member of The Education Committee at KTH university, Stockholm, Sweden. He has published more than 20 papers in refereed international journals and more than 10 contributions in conferences. He is also an author of few book chapters. He has won many awards.

Solid Oxide Fuel Cell and Electrolyte-layer Free Fuel Cell (EFFC)

Dr. Milind V. Kulkarni presently working as ‘Senior Scientist’ and ‘Head’ Nanocomposite Laboratory, Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET), Pune, under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Govt. of India. He obtained his M.Sc. degree in ‘Polymer Chemistry’ from Shivaji University, Kolhapur, India in 1996, with first rank. He received his Ph.D. degree in 2002 from University of Pune, Pune, India by working on ‘Synthesis, Characterization and Application of Conducting Polyanilines as Chemical Sensors’. In 2001, he has started his career as ‘Scientist-B’ at C-MET, Pune , His main field of current scientific interest is synthesis and characterization of conducting/electroactive polymers and their nanocomposites, organic electronics, ‘flexible and wearable’ electronics devices, nanomaterials and polymer based sensor devices, organic molecules and polymers for thin film transistors, OLEDs, displays and flexible solar cells, flexible hybrid Li-ion batteries, polymer-CNTs nanocomposites and nanomaterials for ‘ink-jet printed, flexible electronics’ and energy applications. Recently, he has developed polyaniline-CNTs nanocomposite coated E-fabric/smart fabric and actively working on development of nanomaterials and glass/polymer nanocomposites for lead free, X-ray absorption/attenuation application and developed successfully a prototype light weight, lead free apron for biomedical applications. Presently, he is engaged in the development of polymer nanocomposites for biological applications and development of ‘Electronic Nose’ (E-Nose) and ‘Electronic Tongue’ (E-Tongue) for chemical and biomedical applications. He has received a major grant (~Rs. 5.00 Crore) from MeitY, New Delhi for the development of Active materials (Cathode and Anode) for Li –ion battery with fabrication of prototype cell/battery. He also have developed and demonstrated polyaniline based thin, flexible, light weight and ultra low cost battery. Recently, he is developing ‘Na - ion’ and ‘Li-air’ batteries for Automobile applications (Hybrid Electrical Vehicles). Dr. Kulkarni has published about 80 research paper in international journals of high repute. His Google Scholar h-index =30 with citations more than 2806. He has filed 17 patents (including 1 US Patent). Also, he has presented more than 130 papers in National and International conferences and delivered ~ 35 invited lectures. He has guided 3 Ph.D students (2 more students are currently working under his guidance) and 5 M.Phil and 25 B.E/M.Sc./M.Tech students. He has awarded the ‘JRF’ and ‘SRF’ from DST, and CSIR, New Delhi, India respectively. He is the recipient of the prestigious “Young Associate” award in 2009 and “Fellow” of Maharashtra Academy of Sciences in Year 2013.

Synthesis and characterization of conducting/electroactive polymers and their nanocomposites, organic electronics, ‘flexible and wearable’ electronics devices, nanomaterials and polymer based sensor devices, organic molecules and polymers for thin film transistors, OLEDs, displays and flexible solar cells, flexible hybrid Li-ion batteries, polymer-CNTs nanocomposites and nanomaterials for ‘ink-jet printed, flexible electronics’ and energy applications.