Congratulations to Professor Pam Thomas
It is with pleasure that we announce the appointment of Professor Pam Thomas (Pro-Vice-Chancellor - Research) as CEO of the Faraday Institution (FI), the research arm of the UK’s £289m national battery challenge, following on from her 30 years as a member of academic staff at Warwick.
A founding member of the Board of Trustees at the FI since 2018, Pam is passionate about addressing the challenges faced by the wider energy storage ecosystem and the UK’s quest towards Net Zero.
She will continue in her PVC Research role to lead Warwick through its REF2021 submission at the end of March next year simultaneously with continuing to build the portfolio of CEO at the FI.
Commenting on her time at Warwick and her new role, Pam said:
“Since joining Warwick in March 1990 as a Lecturer in the Department of Physics, I have been privileged to have been part of the wonderful journey that the University has made to the excellent international multi-faceted institution that we know today. My roles and remits at Warwick have been numerous and diverse from Director of the Science City Research Alliance in 2009 through four years as Chair of the Faculty of Science to the institutional lead for REF2021 across all Departments.
In my first 30 days as CEO of the FI at this pivotal point in its own story, I’ll be working hard to make sure that battery research in the UK is positioned to flourish and grow as well as engaging with the 22 universities currently involved in Faraday – including Warwick! – better to understand their important work."
Vice-Chancellor Professor Stuart Croft said:
“It has been a great pleasure to work with Pam. She has had an immense and commendable impact on the research landscape at Warwick. She has been pivotal in developing strong partnerships in a number of key sectors and has fostered a culture of interdisciplinarity. Her extensive achievements include leading the Ferroelectric Crystallography Group in the Department of Physics (a role she intends to continue), chairing the UK's Open Research Data Task Force, chairing the Faculty of Science and relaunching the research strategy in 2019.
Pam will remain with us to lead the University’s REF submission, and I am delighted she will maintain strong links with the University - particularly in the ever-growing areas of battery research, innovation and manufacturing. I would like to wish Pam every success in her new role, and personally thank her for her tremendous work and leadership over the past 30 years.”
Further information about Pam’s work at the University can be found on her staff profile page.
About the Faraday Institution
The Faraday Institution is the UK’s independent institute for electrochemical energy storage research, analysis and skills development. It drives early stage, industry-inspired research with a clear mission: make significant scientific breakthroughs in battery research in the global race to electrification.
Since inception the organisation has launched significant research programmes that have already delivered a number of scientific and industrial outputs, along with raising the profile of the UK battery research through international partnerships. Its research model is different to many other groups around the world. It funds highly collaborative projects, integrating the efforts of its 22 partner universities, from St Andrews to Southampton, to focus efforts on tackling specific thorny research issues that, should they be overcome, would be game changers for the automotive and other sectors.
For more information about the Faraday Institution, please visit www.faraday.ac.uk or follow @FaradayInst on Twitter.
Professor Pam Thomas, (Pro-Vice-Chancellor - Research)