Dana moved to the UK from Spain in 2017 to do a master's in design engineering at the University of Bath, where she graduated with first-class honours. She joined her current company, Bohr, in February 2024 as a Project Engineer, where she is part of the innovation team and works on the delivery of a variety of projects and products for the gas industry, including green energy initiatives.
Dana's role includes a balance of leadership and technical skills, where she gets to wear different hats and contribute to projects from different angles, which is her favourite part.
She is also really passionate about Diversity and Inclusion and was recently elected as the deputy chair of the IGEM EDI advisory group.
Presentation Title: HyBreak: Enabling a Smarter, Safer, and Net-Zero Gas Grid
A small valve with a big impact — HyBreak is a smart, retrofittable excess flow valve that's setting a new benchmark for domestic gas safety across all renewable blends, enabling a safe and seamless transition to cleaner energy. With built-in sensors and wireless connectivity, it brings gas safety into the digital era, helping gas distribution networks become more intelligent and resilient.
Aoibhinn studied Mechanical Engineering at TU Dublin where her final year project was a design based project which paved the way to her current career in design.
She has worked on a variety of projects within the transmission gas sector in Fingleton White since graduating. These projects have varied from asset information projects to design projects.
Aoibhinn's current role is a construction supervision role for a previous design she worked on as part of the design team within Fingleton White.
Presentation Title: Trenchless Crossing the Grand Canal
An overview of the design and construction of new infrastructure to supply gas from the transmission gas network. The pipeline routing study has shown a requirement for crossing below the grand canal via a microtunelling technique.
James earned his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Glasgow in 2022, with research focused on developing novel catalysts to produce hydrogen through electrolysis. James joined the Future of Energy department at SGN in November 2022. He has worked across a variety of projects in relation to hydrogen blending, decarbonisation of SGN’s remote networks and modelling the energy transition.
Presentation Title: Mapping Potential Industrial Hydrogen Demand
As the UK moves towards Net Zero, industrial and commercial businesses will look for alternatives to natural gas where possible, and some will turn to hydrogen as a replacement fuel. However, it is unclear which customers will be using hydrogen and where they are located within the SGN licence area. Therefore, this project sought to develop a data-led methodology to determine the potential future hydrogen demand from SGN’s industrial and commercial customers.
Toby graduated in 2022 with a degree in Chemical and Environmental Engineering from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. During his academic journey, he completed an internship at The Hong Kong and China Gas Company, where he successfully developed a digital app for facility patrol management.
Upon graduation, Toby rejoined The Hong Kong and China Gas Company, taking on a role in the gas production process department. In this capacity, he is responsible for process monitoring, reporting, troubleshooting, and ensuring the efficient operation of town gas production. His role also includes managing chemicals, catalysts, and utilities to optimise production processes.
Toby has actively participated in several key projects, including initiatives aimed at enhancing operational efficiency through digital transformation, a pilot hydrogen extraction project, and an SNG backup plant project.
Presentation title: HKCG Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) Backup Plant: Pioneering Sustainable Energy Solutions
The plant effectively mitigates disruptions caused by fluctuations in landfill gas production, ensuring a stable supply of SNG for customers. Additionally, it features an automated system that significantly reduces operational costs.
Varun began his engineering career after completing a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nottingham. Currently, he works as a consultant in the Design and Integrity section at AFAA. AFAA has been a leading provider of structural analysis and design solutions to the energy sector for over twenty years.
Varun's role involves modelling and assessing the structural integrity of high-pressure piping systems, supporting the safe operation of energy assets. He is actively working towards Chartered Engineer status with the IMechE and is particularly interested in applying detailed numerical analysis to solve real-world engineering challenges in the energy sector.
Presentation Title: Design of Complex Pipeline Diversion Using Advanced Structural Analysis Techniques
Advanced computational techniques, including Finite Element Analysis, are employed to assess and validate the structural integrity of complex pipeline diversions. These methods enable designers to safely adopt more sophisticated and space-optimised pipeline layouts, delivering technically robust solutions in areas where conventional approaches may limit flexibility or performance.
Jack graduated from the University of Bath with a Masters in Natural Sciences (Physics major / Chemistry minor) in 2023. He then joined DNV Spadeadam as Project Scientist straight out of university in Sept 2023.
Jack has worked on a variety of large-scale explosion and research projects, mostly focused on the energy transition, such as FutureGrid.
Presentation Title: FutureGrid – Leading the way in the transition to Hydrogen
With hydrogen identified as a potential energy vector to help achieve the UK’s 2050 net-zero carbon ambitions, the suitability of existing gas transmission infrastructure for its transport must be assessed. The FutureGrid project investigated this suitability and the challenges that could emerge from the implementation of a hydrogen transmission system.
Declan is a graduate of the University of South Wales with an Upper Second-Class BSc Honours in Geography and began his career at Wales & West Utilities in 2018. Since then, Declan has become an integral member of the team, leading the design and delivery of replacement and reinforcement schemes.
His work is essential to maintaining an efficient network today, whilst supporting WWU’s infrastructure development, which will be vital during the RIIO-GD3 regulatory period. Declan’s contributions are also instrumental in helping WWU achieve its Zero ambitions, showcasing his commitment to the future of the gas distribution network.
Presentation Title: Under Pressure – Protecting the Security of Supply in Hayle
Declan presents a whole network solution to address multiple network challenges in Hayle. Declan led the analysis from conception through to delivery, maintaining network pressures throughout the project, by instructing new pressure management be installed and by designing schemes to upgrade WWU infrastructure.
Will began his career in the industry in 2018 when he joined Cadent’s Engineer Training Programme, training to become an Emergency and Repair Engineer in the 2 Bar and Below Engineering Team, setting the organisations engineering framework. Since he joined, he has taken part in major reviews of Cadent’s Gas Supply Loss Event procedures and Emergency Response procedures, as well as being involved with incident investigations and developing new innovations for the networks.
Presentation Title: EcoVENT: A low emission solution for the commissioning of new mains
The gas industry produces significant levels of emissions, whether by leakage or operational processes. Current processes for commissioning new mains mean we either purge Methane to atmosphere or utilise low emission solutions which can incur considerable costs. EcoVENT provides a new solution which reduces emissions by up to 99.5%, without introducing high operational costs.
Eric graduated from The University of Hong Kong with a MSc in Mechanical Engineering in 2021. He began his career at The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited as a Graduate Trainee in 2017 and has progressed to the position of Senior Engineer within the Towngas Group, where he is responsible for handling Green Energy Projects.
Presentation title: Hydrogen from Landfill Gas in Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, numerous landfills are used for managing waste. During the waste-handling process, significant amounts of landfill gas are generated as a result of the degradation of organic waste. This landfill gas contains a high proportion of methane. In this project, our team will establish Hong Kong's first green hydrogen production plant. The plant converts landfill gas into green hydrogen, which is then supplied to customers in Hong Kong.
