Andrew Cruden

Andy Cruden is Professor of Energy Technology within the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Southampton. He is co-Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Energy Storage and its Applications, Deputy Head of the School of Engineering (Infrastructure) and a member of the Training and Diversity Panel for the Faraday Institution.

He obtained his BEng, MSc and PhD degrees in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, in 1989, 1990 and 1998, respectively. He had a range of research posts at Strathclyde until 1998 when he was appointed Lecturer, then promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2004 and Reader in 2010. He was appointed as Professor of Energy Technology at the University of Southampton in July 2012, within the Electro-Mechanical Research Group. In July 2013, he took up the role of Head of the Energy Technology Research Group. He is a Chartered Engineer.

He has significant experience in the field of renewable energy, particularly in fuel cell technology and condition monitoring of wind turbines. The interest in fuel cell technology led, indirectly, to an interest in the field of electric vehicles, and subsequently to research activity in energy storage (both batteries and supercapacitors, with EPSRC and TSB) and traction drives (through current EPSRC funding and two TSB funded projects).

He has attracted over £3M in research funding from both the Research Councils and industry, and published over 110 articles, including conferences and journal papers.

He has acted a Director for the Argyll, Lomond and the Islands Energy Agency from 1998 – 2012, (www.alienergy.org.uk), a local energy agency established as a not-for-profit company to promote and develop renewable energy and energy efficiency within this locale. Additionally he was instrumental in establishing, and the first Chairman of, the Scottish Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association (SHFCA, www.shfca.org.uk), a Trade Association within Scotland to promote hydrogen and fuel cell technology.

Latterly he was the Chairman of the 4th World Hydrogen Technologies Convention (WHTC), held in Glasgow in September 2011 under the auspices of the International Hydrogen Energy Association. Previously he organised and delivered the IET Christmas Lecture series in Scotland in 2005, which delivered a talk on the history and future of electrical power generation to over 1,200 school children around Scotland.