Roland Clift Lecture 2025: Delivering an Equitable Low Carbon and Clean Air Future

Alastair Lewis is professor of atmospheric chemistry at the University of York. He is an experimental scientist who has studied the composition of the atmosphere from polar regions to megacities, open oceans to tropical forests. He has received the Royal Society of Chemistry Silver Medal for analytical science, John Jeyes Award for environment, energy and sustainability and the Lord Lewis biannual prize for science policy. He is currently Chair of the Defra Air Quality Expert Group and the Department for Transport Science Advisory Council and a member of the Environmental Sustainability Panel of the Civil Aviation Authority. He has been a contributor to >300 scientific publications on topics spanning analytical chemistry, air pollution science, and public health impacts, and is an advisor to government on issues related to net zero, health inequalities and future regulation and environmental targets. He currently holds a Royal Society Industrial Fellowship working with the chemicals manufacturer Givaudan SA to help consumer products industries reduce the impact of solvents on indoor air quality. 

Dr Victoria Hurth is an Independent Pracademic. Her forthcoming book: Beyond Profit: Purpose-Driven Leadership for a Wellbeing Economy, outlines holistic theory and practice for governing long-term wellbeing for all (sustainability). Victoria is a Fellow of the University of Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership, and is currently Project Leader of the first international standard in Purpose-Driven Organisations (ISO37011). She is a non-executive Director for Soil Association Certification Ltd, governance advisor for Planet Mark, impact advisor for UnaTerra. Previously she supported the UN on SDG 12.6.1 (sustainability reporting) methodology, co-led development of the first international standard in Governance of Organisations (ISO37000), was Technical Author for the first national standard in Purpose-Driven Organisations (PAS808) and advised SACE (Italy’s national export credit agency) and Creatives for Climate. Victoria has 25 years’ global experience in business transformation, previously working for 3M and Accenture and developing cutting edge theory as an Associate Professor of Sustainable Business and Marketing.

Fernando Castro (FInstP, FIMMM) is recognised for driving impact at the intersection of science, policy, and industry. He plays a pivotal role in shaping national and international research programmes, as Dept Head of Science at the National Physical Laboratory, Chair of the European Metrology Network on Advanced Manufacturing, and past chair of VAMAS, overseeing pre-standards research across 15 technical areas involving 300+ organisations in 40+ countries. He is Visiting Professor at the University of Surrey and was a member of the Steering Committee of the Joint Programme on Photovoltaics - European Energy Research Alliance, which delivers the EU Strategic Energy Technology Plan.

Fernando delivered ~100 invited/keynote presentations in 25 countries and has represented the UK in numerous high-profile meetings and international fora, including in UK-Korea and UK-Taiwan semiconductor policy dialogues. His work spans from critical and emerging technologies to metrology and international standards, cutting across renewable energy and sustainable technologies.

Subhamoy Bhattacharya, a Chartered Engineer (CEng) and Fellow of ICE (Institution of Civil Engineers, London) holds the Chaired Professor in Geomechanics at the University of Surrey. He is also the Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Renew Risk (London), A spin-off company which specializes in insurance and re-insurance risks analytics for renewable energy.

He is an expert in geotechnical and earthquake engineering, where his main interests are in offshore foundations and earthquake engineering. He earned his PhD from University of Cambridge investigating failures of pile-supported structures during seismic liquefaction. Following his PhD, he worked in Offshore consultancy Fugro designing foundations for offshore structures. In 2005, he transited to academia first at University of Oxford where he was a Departmental Lecturer then to University of Bristol before taking up the Chair at Surrey in 2012. His undergraduate education was at Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur) and Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST, Shibpore).