The IOM3 Iron & Steel Group (formerly the Iron & Steel Society) brings representatives from across the iron and steel community, including academic and business experts from all key institutions in the industry and associated supply chain. Our aim is to provide technical expertise and advice to our members and the wider stakeholders of IOM3. The group organises conferences and other events on all aspects of steel production and use to enable sharing, learning and networking across the community and support the future success of the iron and steel industry.
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Meet the Iron & Steel Leadership Team
Dr Jitendra Patel
Jit is a steel technology and business professional with 25 years of international experience. In 2008 he founded International Metallurgy, a consultancy and advisory service provider to the steel and allied industry sectors. He is an internationally recognised expert in the area of microalloyed steel and its physical metallurgy and processing. He has a proven industry track record in steel product development and value chain application to end-user. Jit has a strong drive and passion for the industry, with established strong links with international steelmakers, science base, RTOs, associations and policy makers.
Chris Melvin
Chris is the Young Members Representative from the Iron & Steel Board. He currently works as a Process Technology Specialist at TATA Steel in Port Talbot, South Wales. His work is currently focussed around reducing the Cost of Liquid Steel of the Port Talbot Heavy End using machine learning and providing data driven insights.
Chris has a strong through process understanding of ferrous pyrometallurgy and surface chemistry of flat metallic coated products. He studied for a Material Science undergraduate degree at Swansea University then pursued a Steel Technology Masters working on Galvanising Steel Dewetting with TATA Steel in Shotton. He wrapped up his education by completing an Engineering Doctorate in Material Science at Swansea University sponsored by TATA Steel Packaging, Crown Packaging and Akzo Nobel Coatings with a thesis entitled the “Fundamentals of Adhesion for Steel Packaging Materials.”
Chris is part of the IOM3 Assessors group for professional accreditation for Chartered Scientist and Engineers and was the South Wales Materials Association President from 2018-2021.
In his free time, Chris enjoys reading, having deep debates, running and playing boardgames though less of the latter with current COVID restrictions.
- Twitter:
- @ChrisPMelvin
Dr Laura Baker
Dr Laura Baker has over 20 years’ experience in the Steel Industry including senior leadership roles within Technical, Supply Chain and Manufacturing functions.
Laura has represented the industry at many international events and has an excellent understanding of the challenges facing manufacturing and the steel industry supply chain in particular. She is an advisor to the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council where she helps shape the direction of research funding.
Laura is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Mining and Minerals, a Chartered Engineer and holds both a Bachelor’s degree in Materials Engineering and an Engineering Doctorate in Steel Technology from Swansea University.
Laura is a keen STEM ambassador and is passionate about engaging youngsters, particularly young women, in STEM subjects.
Claire Davis
Claire Davis is the Royal Academy of Engineering / Tata Steel Professor of Low Energy Steel Processing and she leads the Advanced Steel Research Centre (ASRC) at WMG, University of Warwick. The ASRC comprises over forty people carrying on research on steel where the focus is to develop new and improved steels and understand new processing technologies. The work tackles both fundamental and applied research from steelmaking, through to production. Claire’s personal research interests are on the development of microstructure during processing and the relationships between microstructure and properties (both physical and mechanical) in steels. She also works on the non-destructive evaluation of steel microstructure using electromagnetic sensors
Richard Thackray
Richard Thackray is an academic at the University of Sheffield. He holds a degree in Materials Science and a PhD in Metallurgy from Imperial College London. His current research interests are related to the production of steel, including development of mould powders for continuous casting, and the role of thermomechanical processing on inclusion behaviour. Richard is also involved in a number of projects focussing on aspects of sustainability in steelmaking. These include initiatives to reduce energy consumption, reuse and recycling of by products and waste material, and life cycle assessment of steelmaking operations. He is also a key member of the University of Sheffield’s team for SUSTAIN, the EPSRC funded Future Steel Manufacturing Hub. Richard is past chair (2010-2015) of the Iron and Steel Society of IOM3, and a current member of the Sustainable Development Group.
Martin Smith FIMMM
Martin Smith graduated from Imperial College, London with a degree in Process Metallurgy in 1987. An initial engagement with the steel industry started with British Steel Teesside both before and during study. This was followed by employment with the then Davy McKee Iron and Steel group with a focus on iron and steelmaking related technologies. Following overseas secondments to many of the world’s most famous iron and steel makers for commissioning and troubleshooting type roles, Martin was promoted to become Manager of Process Engineering and then to Head of Blast Furnace Technology whilst the company transformed through various guises to be the Primetals that is now a leader in the iron and steel technology supplier market. Martin has now taken a permanent transfer to the Primetals Taiwan office with a responsibility for business development over iron and steel technologies in the Asia region. Martin is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, a member for its Iron and Steel Division subcommittee and a nominated reviewer of papers for the Ironmaking and Steelmaking journal.
Bob Ruddlestone MIMMM CEng
Bob started work in 1964 at the Parkgate Iron and Steel Company in Rotherham, as a Junior Metallographer. During the next 42 years he progressed through the various management levels to Works Manager of both the Corus works of Stocksbridge (1994 to 2001 and 2003-2006) and Aldwarke Steelworks (2001-2003). During his early career he worked and studied part time, gaining an HNC in Metallurgy at Rotherham Technical College followed by a degree course at the Sheffield Polytechnic where he graduated with an honor’s degree in Metallurgy.
On leaving Corus in 2006 he became Technical Manager for UK Steel and the Director of the British Manufacturing Plant Constructors Association. In December 2014 he became non-executive chair of the newly formed MPI. He retired from UK Steel at the end of 2015, the BMPCA in 2017 and MPI in 2021.
He is a chartered engineer MIMMM CEng and has been a member of the IOM3 for over 30 years. He was responsible for organising the successful series of Steel Strategy Seminars and 2 European Electric Steelmaking Conferences.
He has been President of the Sheffield Metallurgical and Engineering Association since September 2024.
Lauren McLean
Lauren is the Student and Early Career representative of the Iron & Steel Group. She currently works as a Research and Development Engineer at Ingram Tribology. Her current role includes testing, analysis and test method development to better understand lubricant performance and its interaction with steel surfaces.
Lauren holds a degree in Materials Science and is also completing her Engineering Doctorate with Tata Steel and Swansea University, focussing on the high temperature oxidation behaviour of a DP steel using Rapid Alloy Prototyping.
Radhakanta Rana
Radhakanta Rana is a metallurgist at Tata Steel Netherlands where he started working in 2008 and is also a Guest Researcher at the Materials Science and Engineering Department of Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) since early 2024. He leads interdisciplinary project teams and manages large projects related to Automotive and Engineering sectors, and Decarbonisation of steel manufacturing. His expertise spans alloy design, processing, microstructure-property relationships, and sustainable metallurgy, leading to development of novel steels.
Radhakanta has also formed and coordinated a number of European consortia involving academia, steel producers and automakers for collaborative research at the interfaces of science, manufacturing and applications to further the impact of steel innovations at larger scale.
Radhakanta is recognised for his thought leadership though his several journal editorial and editorial board positions. He renders his service to the materials profession in various capacities such as journal Editor, Editorial Board Member, Key Reader, Advisory Board Member, Expert/Scientific Committee Member, Conference Topic Coordinator, Conference Session Chairman, Grant Evaluator etc.
Radhakanta holds a Bachelor of Engineering, Master of Engineering and a Ph.D., all in Metallurgical Engineering.
