Joe leads the Chemical Reaction Engineering Group in the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham. He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and BEng in chemical engineering from Loughborough University. Joe’s research encompasses a range of projects on catalysis, carbon capture and cleaner energy. Topics covered include chemical recycling of plastics, catalysis with bio-nanoparticles, development of carbon capture adsorbents, heavy oil recovery in-situ and conversion to clean hydrogen. His research is mainly funded by EPSRC and he has supervised ~25 PhD students.

Joe joined the Catalysis Special Interest Group in 2008 and was Treasurer for several years, before becoming Chair in 2018. He enjoys organising and attending in-person seminars and conferences, which act as a forum for chemical engineers working on catalysis to meet and discuss their research together, as well as for early career researchers to present their work. More recently, webinars have provided an opportunity to keep abreast of developments during COVID-19 and attract a wider audience to the SIG, including international members.