The IOM3 Composites Group (formerly the British Composites Society) aims to provide a single authoritative voice for the community of professional scientists and engineers working with fibre-reinforced composite materials and structures. The group supports education, skill training, and professional development, and develops the technologies and sustainability of composites, to present a coherent face of the industry.
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Meet the Composites Group Leadership Team
Paul Hogg
Paul is currently Chair of the Composites Group of the IOM3. He was a founding member and secretary of the original British Composites Society formed in 1987 and after merger into the IoM he served as a committee member and then Chair from about 2003 to 2009, returning as Chair in 2021. Paul has had a long career as an academic specialising in composites research, working at the universities of Liverpool, Queen Mary, Manchester and Royal Holloway. He was Head of Materials at QMUL and Manchester and was Vice Principal for Research and Enterprise and Dean of Science at Royal Holloway, until 2021. Whilst at the University of Manchester Paul was the Director of the NorthWest Composites Centre and the National Composites Certification and Evaluation facility.
He now works as a consultant, specialising in the mechanical properties and manufacturing of composites, as well as supporting a number of start-up technology businesses.
Han Zhang CEng, CSci, FIMMM, FHEA
Han Zhang (CEng, CSci, FIMMM, FHEA) is a Reader in Multifunctional Polymers and Composites at WMG, University of Warwick. His expertise spans manufacturing to characterization of advanced polymer composites and nanocomposites, with a focus on multifunctional composites for future lightweight structural applications. His current research is centred on the sustainable development of advanced composites, including energy efficient composites manufacturing, integrated sensing and structural health monitoring, and easy repairing functionalities to extend component lifespan.
Han is the recipient of the Silver Medal from the IOM3 for his outstanding contribution to the field of composite materials as an early career researcher, and the RH Craven Award in 2010 for excellence in polymer materials. He is also a member of the EPSRC Early Career Forum in Manufacturing and Circular Economy.
John Summerscales
John Summerscales (CEng, CEnv, CSci, FIMMM) joined the Plastics Institute as a chemistry/polymer joint honours student in Cardiff. After a masters degree in the molecular science of materials at University of Greenwich, then a year indexing polymer industry patents, he moved to Plymouth for his doctoral studies on hybrid composites. He then spent five years characterising glass fibre composites for MOD(Navy). He returned to University of Plymouth (UP) as a founding member of the Advanced Composites Manufacturing Centre (ACMC) to provide professional development for composites manufacturing personnel. He has been Stage 4 “with composites” pathway tutor for undergraduate engineering students since 1990.
His research interests include composites manufacture especially infusion processes, and sustainability focussed on bio-based materials and end-of-life composites. He (co-)edited books on non-destructive testing (NDT), microstructural characterisation, and marine applications of composites. He currently leads the UP MAterials and STructures (MAST) research group. He has been involved in 10 previous Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP), including the development of the award-winning inFINITE beamless seating for modern passenger terminals with Zoeftig Limited, and now a KTP with SWMAS to develop a Scope 3 assessment tool. He was awarded the IOM3 Outstanding Service Award in 2004, and the IOM3 Leslie Holliday Prize in 2023.
Richard Craven
Richard is a Senior Consultant at BAES, he obtained his PhD in Composite Structures from Imperial College London. He is a Chartered Engineer and is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining and the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. He has been a member of the IOM3 Composite Leadership Group since 2019. Richard is currently the chair of the Professional working group which also acts as the Skills Development Group for the Composite Leadership Forum. Richard significant experience of the design, simulation, analysis, optimisation and failure of large composite and steel structures for the maritime and renewables sectors. He is also a NAFEMS member and sits on the Continuum Solid Mechanics working group.
Mike Hinton
Prof Mike Hinton’s career spans 40 years of R&D conducted for the UK Ministry of Defence (and latterly QinetiQ) followed by 12 years (so far !) in support of the UK High Value Manufacturing Catapult. In addition, Mike is the CEO of a micro-SME which develops, manufactures and sells innovative structural health monitoring systems for the management of capital assets.
Mike has a breadth of experience across the full TRL and MRL 1-9 spectrum, with understanding of the associated business drivers across a wide variety of sectors, across academia and the links into Government policy. He has a wide-ranging network and personal experience of working on leading edge research (author of a book and many highly cited publications), major defence procurement programs, international defence collaboration, and many industrially focused development programs.
He is a World Fellow of ICCM (awarded by the International Committee on Composite Materials), a visiting professor at Nottingham University and honorary professor at Bristol University.
Edward Archer
Dr Edward Archer is a Senior Lecturer of Advanced Composite materials in the School of Engineering at Ulster University. He is currently chair of the Meetings and Events Working Group in the IOM3 Composites Leadership Team. His research is focused on manufacturing and characterising 3D woven composite reinforcement structures and the prediction of their properties with key aspects of the work carried out in collaboration with major companies in several industrial sectors. His research group operates both within the Engineering Composites Research Centre at Ulster University and at Northern Ireland Advanced Composites and Engineering Centre (NIACE) in Belfast.
Dr Koon-Yang Lee
Dr Koon-Yang Lee is Professor in Polymer Engineering at Imperial College London. He currently leads the Future Materials Group, a young and dynamic research group consisting of 'multilingual' scientists and engineers proficient in the development of chemical engineering-driven environmental friendly material innovations for a sustainable future. His research is highly interdisciplinary, often crossing the fields of materials chemistry, chemical engineering, physics and materials engineering, to develop novel polymeric materials. The core research focus include the design of nanocellulose-derived advanced composite materials, the manufacturing of cellulose and lignocellulose-derived sustainable materials, valorisation of waste into engineering materials and the development of lightweight porous materials, guided by the concepts of simple design, manufacturability and radical effects.
Dr Sophie Cozien Cazuc
Sophie’s expertise is in materials science, characterisation, manufacturing and processing. She specialised in polymer composites with a focus on their sustainability for the automotive sector (in terms of materials selection, manufacturing and end-of-life). Throughout her career, she has established a network and built relationships with key stakeholders in the composite and transport industries. She also has a few qualifications in Leadership from Nottingham Trent University.
Sophie joined the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK as a Senior Strategist in March 2024. Sophie obtained her French Engineering Degree in Materials in 2002 (ISITV engineering school), her MSc in Advanced Materials in 2002 at Cranfield University and her PhD in bio-medical composites in 2007 from the Polymer Composites Group at the University of Nottingham. After holding a Research Fellow position in the same group, she joined Syensqo/Solvay Composites (Derby) Ltd (formerly Umeco Composites Structural Materials/Advanced Composites Group Ltd) as a Collaborative Research & Technology Project Manager in December 2008. In November 2013, Sophie started at Far-UK Ltd as a Technical Programme Manager and managed and led research projects, which were part-funded by the UK and the European Commission. She became a Technical Manager in February 2018 and developed the company’s roadmap and set new collaborative research and commercial projects up. Sophie joined the IOM3 Composites Leadership Team as a board member in December 2014. In May 2023, she was appointed as the Chair of the IOM3 CLT Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Working Group. Additionally, since 2006, she has been a committee member of the East Midlands Materials Society (EMMS), which is affiliated to IOM3. She is also involved in the Composites Leadership Forum; she is a member of the Vehicular Composites Group since February 2023 and a member of the Skills Development Group since April 2023. In October 2019, Sophie also joined the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE) UK & Ireland Chapter as a committee member.
Dr Yi Liu
Yi Liu is a Senior Lecturer in Polymers and Composites at Loughborough University. Her research focuses on polymer processing, multifunctional composites, and sustainable materials, with particular interests in polymers/composites recycling, sustainable manufacturing, and smart materials for thermal management and sensing applications.
Yi was awarded the IOM3 Silver Medal (2025) in recognition of her contributions as an emerging leader in the field. She was a finalist for the Top 50 Women in Engineering (2024). In addition, she was recognised with the Loughborough Inspirational Women Award (2023) for her contributions to research, teaching, and outreach.
Dr Geoffrey Neale MIMMM
Dr Geoffrey Neale is a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow and Lecturer in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Sheffield. His research focuses on the development of next-generation multifunctional and high-temperature composite structures, with particular expertise in through-thickness reinforcement, structural hybridization, and Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMCs). Passionate about "rethinking what composite materials can do," Geoffrey’s work aims to integrate non-structural functionalities, such as thermal and electrical conductivity, into load-bearing aerospace structures. He has a strong passion for scientific public and policy engagement with stints on the Foundation for Science and Technology Future Leaders Fellowship and a secondment into the Government Office for Science.
Dr Colin Robert PhD
Dr Colin Robert is a specialist in advanced composite materials and manufacturing, with expertise in automated processing, sustainable composites, multifunctional materials, and structural applications for renewable energy. His research focuses on developing innovative manufacturing technologies that enable cost-effective, high-performance composite structures. He developed a novel automated tapeline for producing powder-based composite tapes and is currently advancing the technology towards multifunctional "smart" tapes capable of integrating sensing and other functional capabilities within structural composites. His recent research includes the Cotide and MaxBlade projects, which explore next-generation composite manufacturing for renewable energy applications. Colin is passionate about translating research into industrial impact through scalable manufacturing technologies that support the transition to net zero.
