About
The High Voltage and Energy Storage Group is a research group within the Faculty of Technology, Design and Environment at Oxford Brookes University. We focus on developing novel solutions to problems within the electric energy storage field including modelling at both the pack and cell level, energy storage controls, and second life development.
Prof. Denise Morrey
Head of Group
Research Lead / Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Denise is Research Lead and Professor of Mechanical Engineering. She was the principal architect behind the development of the Motorsport Engineering programmes at Oxford Brookes University, and the recipient of £ 2.1M of capital funding from SEEDA to establish a Motorsport Engineering Centre at the Wheatley campus. Denise’s research work in the past has mainly been in the areas of structural and vehicle dynamics, but more recently the focus has moved to the field of sustainable mobility and integrated transportsystems. She has been the recipient of funding from EPSRC, Innovate UK, APC, EU, Leverhulme, andprivate organisations including: Norbar Torque Tools, Oxfordshire County Council and Williams
Grand Prix Ltd.
Recently she has been overseeing the establishment of an interdisciplinary theme in the ‘Future of Transport’, central to this is the shift of our Motorsport and Automotive Engineering activities to a zero emissions platform, in line with global and national policy change. A key development to
support this has been the establishment of the HVES Group and Laboratory, which she has been instrumental in setting up.
Gordana Collier
Head of School
Gordana held senior R&D and management roles in the Electronic industry until 1999, when she moved to Kingston University London, to lead a major three-faculty project on Electronics curriculum and laboratories development.
In addition to academic leadership and pedagogical research into teaching science and engineering, her industrial research focus has been on Mechatronic systems modelling with real-time embedded implementation. Due to her special interest in robotic, electric and autonomous vehicle applications, Gordana served on the UK Embedded Steering Committee and has received funding from Innovate UK.
Her enthusiasm and commitment to providing an exceptional student experience resulted in starting up a range of extra-curricular activities, including the Kingston University Robot Club and the Formula Student e-racing team. She continues her electric vehicles focused work at Oxford Brookes University as the Principal Academic Adviser for Oxford Brookes Racing EV and one of the key stakeholders of HVES laboratory development.
Gordana has gained a national profile for her work in the area of professional practise, serving on the UK IET Academic Accreditation Committee, influencing the UK quality standards as set by the UK Engineering Council.
Dr. Paul Henshall
Lecturer
Dr Paul Henshall is a Vice Chancellor Research Fellow at Oxford Brookes University (OBU) within the Architectural Engineering Group, part of the School of Architecture. He has a PhD in thermal systems engineering and is a Chartered Physicist. Prior to working at OBU he worked within the space sector as a Thermal Engineer and prior to this as a Research Associate at Loughborough University doing research on high performance vacuum solar thermal systems and thermal energy storage materials. His research interests are in the area of renewable energy systems and storage, including: advanced solar thermal systems, second life battery packs and thermal management of battery packs.
Brady Planden
Research Fellow
Brady is a Future of Transport research fellow and a key driver behind the HVES lab. He started his PhD in 2018 with a focus in high performance controls for electric motorsport vehicles. Electric motorsport vehicles are often subjected to extremely harsh conditions during operation with drivers pushing the vehicles to the limit at every possible turn. Current trends in automotive electrification include improvements in vehicle range, performance, and reliability which all provide a cutting edge benefit to electric motorsport vehicles. His research is aimed towards improving vehicle range and performance through optimal real-time controls and high-performance Li-Ion cell modelling. These improvements lead to vehicle performance through improved strategies such as optimal energy deployment and dynamic power limitation.
Katie Lukow
PhD Candidate & Technical Instructor
Katie has recently joined the group as an Technical Instructor with a focus on battery modelling and testing. Katie has been a key member in the creation of the HVES lab and is looking forward to getting into the new equipment. She has interests in developing state-of-charge and state-of-health predictive models and enjoys working alongside the group developing this research. Katie is in charge of the experimental testing and ensuring that the lab runs safely and smoothly.
Davide Domenico Sciortino
Lecturer / Research Fellow
Davide has recently been appointed Lecturer in Electro-Mechanical Engineering and Research Fellow in Future of Transport. He is completing a PhD in CFD modelling of multiphase flows and thermal analysis applied to modern propulsion systems. His areas of expertise include experimental testing for pollution characterisation, development of surrogate models in combination with advanced statistics and optimisation techniques, and HPC.
He has a strong interest in data analysis and digital twins to support the shift from prototype testing to model-based development. Within the HVES group, his research has focused on numerical modelling for battery thermal characterisation and design optimisation of battery packs.
Dr. Nabil Yassine
Senior Lecturer
Nabil is currently a Senior Lecturer in Electric Vehicles. Previous experience includes Lecturer, Research Fellow, Research Assistant, Lab Demonstrator and Associate Lecturer. He also joined the Electronics and Instrumentation Group early in his career at Oxford Brookes University and is still an active member.
He has a background in Biomedical Science and Electronic and Communication Engineering. His PhD was in machine learning techniques, which involved designing a driver fatigue and distraction detection system using neural networks, designed in Python.
He teaches electric vehicle-related modules to undergraduate and postgraduate students and is also the high and low voltage academic advisor for the Oxford Brookes racing team.
Nabil has a keen interest in machine learning techniques, including Adaptive Neural Networks (ANNs), and low and high-voltage systems for autonomous and electric vehicles. Since joining the HVES lab, his current research interests include battery management, bi-directional DC-DC converter control systems and inverter control systems.