Aviation Reimagined

Dr Emma Whittlesea

Dr Emma Whittlesea was previously the Program Director for Griffith’s Climate Ready Initiative and is now the Head of Partnerships at Stralis Aircraft. She has over 25 years’ experience working with communities and public, private, and not-for-profit sectors within the UK, Europe, and Australia to advance sustainability. Her professional focus is to enable climate action through effective partnerships and collaborative projects, with a particular interest in the advancement of zero emission travel.

Professor Tim Ryley

Tim Ryley is Professor of Aviation, within the School of Engineering and Built Environment at Griffith University. With over twenty-five years of transport research experience, his current research includes environmental issues associated with aviation, such as the relationship between aviation and climate change. Tim’s research is typically inter-disciplinary and industry-linked; he has developed research and consultancy collaborations with many aviation industry stakeholders, including airport, airlines and Government bodies.

Andrew Murphy, Aviation Director, Transport & Environment

Andrew joined T&E in 2014 having previously worked for the Green European Foundation and at the European Commission's transport directorate. Andrew is Irish, with a bachelor of arts degree in political science and law and a bachelor of law from the National University of Ireland, Galway. Since 2021, he is a member of Ireland’s Climate Change Advisory Council.

Ken Conway, Head of Sustainable Aviation, Airbiz

Ken leads the Sustainable Aviation business for Airbiz, a boutique international aviation consultancy, from Sydney. Over a career spanning more than two decades, Ken has helped airports across five continents strengthen their sustainability/ESG credentials, bringing ideas to reality through evidence-based planning, performance-driven strategies, influencing regulators/C-suites and responding to the public’s changing perceptions to air transport.

Airports worldwide enlist Ken’s help to shape strategies that support cleaner, quieter and smarter operations. For Airports Council International (ACI-World), Ken led the recent completion of an 18-month long study by Airbiz/ICF recommending a Global Long-Term Carbon Goal for Airports and sectoral decarbonisation roadmap.

Fredrik Kämpfe, Director Industry Affairs, Swedish Aviation Industry Group

Fredrik worked for the Swedish CAA, worked for EASA for 14 years, and in 2018 took the position of Director Industry Affairs for the Swedish Aviation Industry Group which forms part of the Swedish Confederation of Transport Enterprises. Fredrik has a technical background in mechanical engineering and graduated with a Master of Laws from Uppsala University and has a second master’s degree in International Air and Space Law from University of Leiden. Fredrik is a private pilot with over 400 flight hours as pilot in command and has worked several years at Stockholm Arlanda Airport for a ground handling company.

Dr Michelle Carter, Head of Transport, KTN

Michelle is Head of Transport at KTN, the UK’s innovation network. Michelle oversees KTN’s Transport activities including rail, maritime, automated vehicles, zero emission vehicles, aviation, Mobility as a Service plus the systems and services associated to delivering them. Working with strategic partners and innovators, KTN’s Transport Team support the national agenda to decarbonise transport and create more efficiencies in the way we move people and goods. The team help innovative businesses access R&D funding and find expertise, services or technology to deliver transformative mobility solutions. Michelle oversees the secretariat for the Jet Zero Council Sustainable Aviation Fuel Delivery Group.

Rhyan Wardman, Board Chair & Director, Sounds Air

Rhyan invested in Sounds Air in 2009, becoming a Director in 2013 and appointed Board Chairman in November 2019. His career has spanned various industries and roles, ranging from founding start-ups to holding executive positions in multi-national companies. Rhyan was a Wine Marlborough Director from 2014, concluding his tenure as Board Chairman in 2017. He is a Board Director for Wellington-based tech start-up, Marama Labs, and recently co-founded The Coterie and acquired the iconic Seresin Estate Winery in Marlborough. Rhyan is a member of the Institute of Directors.

Hugh Ross, Assistant Director, National Emerging Aviation Technologies Policy, Australian Government

Hugh Ross is an Assistant Director in the National Emerging Aviation Technologies Policy section of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, and is responsible for drone and Advanced Air Mobility infrastructure and regulation. Hugh has a background in strategic policy and program development across the education, employment and infrastructure portfolios.

Dr Ruth Knibbe, Senior Lecturer, University of Queensland (UQ)

Dr Ruth Knibbe is a Materials Engineer with a particular interest in materials for electrochemical energy generation and storage systems. Ruth has researched and developed fuel cell, electrolysis and battery materials with various end use applications. After working at the Danish Technical University and Victoria University of Wellington, Ruth joined the University of Queensland in the School of Mechanical & Mining Engineering in 2016. Since joining UQ Ruth set up a research group developing novel battery systems with a current focus on solid state batteries.

Paul Perera, CTO and Co-Founder PXL-ICE

Paul has been in business for 34 years, covering roles as diverse as Programme Manager, Strategy and Planning Director, General Manager, Strategy & Future Programmes Director, VP for Technology and Innovation, Operations Director across Military Technology, and Aerospace industries as well as the founder of 3 start-ups, and Non-Executive Director. Paul is currently completing a Global MBA whilst setting up 3 companies including PXL-ICE, which is building on innovation leveraged from Manufacturing collaboration and digital twins for discrete event modelling.

Val Miftakhov, Founder & CEO, ZeroAvia

Val Miftakhov is a Founder & CEO of ZeroAvia, Inc, a California company developing the World's first practical zero emission aviation powertrain. Val is a serial entrepreneur in EV space - his previous company eMotorWerks has developed the World’s leading platform for EV battery aggregation to provide grid services, and was acquired in 2017. Prior to that, Val held a number of senior business and product positions at Google and McKinsey & Company, and was a nuclear researcher at Stanford Linear Accelerator. Val holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Princeton University, Masters in Physics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and was a two-time winner of Russian Nationwide Physics competitions. In his spare time, Val makes good use of his airplane and helicopter pilot licenses.

Dr Lauren Burns, Chief of Strategic Partnerships, Heart Aerospace

Dr Lauren Burns has a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from RMIT University. Her early career focused on lightweight design of carbon fibre structures at Boeing Research & Technology – Australia where she was lead author on 2 patents. Since 2018 she has worked on the design of electric aircraft: at Seattle-based start-up Zunum Aero on the ZA10 hybrid electric aircraft, and currently for Swedish-based Heart Aerospace which is commercialising the world’s first 19 seat all-electric regional airliner.

Liam Megill, Co-founder of AeroDelft

Liam is co-founder of AeroDelft and an MSc aerospace engineering student at the TU Delft. His work focuses on sustainable aircraft design and aviation climate policy. He is also a flight instructor in Germany.

Marina Bylinsky, Head of Sustainability, ACI EUROPE

Marina Bylinsky joined ACI EUROPE in September 2015 and is responsible for the coordination of all aspects of the association’s sustainability strategy. In this regard, she represents ACI EUROPE in various high-level European and global fora. She also monitors the administration and ongoing evolution of the global carbon management standard, Airport Carbon Accreditation which belongs to ACI EUROPE. Marina was leading the development of ACI EUROPE’s Sustainability Strategy for Airports and the airport industry’s contribution to the Destination 2050 initiative.

Ken Lau, Senior Manager, Environment and Airport Information Technology, ACI Asia-Pacific

Ken has been with ACI Asia-Pacific since January 2012. He is responsible for the coordination of Environment and IT and promotes cooperation amongst airports in the Asia-Pacific region. He is the secretariat of ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Environment Committee and the ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Airport Information Technology Liaison Group He is also the Manager of Airport Carbon Accreditation in the Asia-Pacific region covering airport members from the Middle East, Mongolia to Australia and New Zealand. Ken’s background includes chemical engineering, environmental plant management; construction project, certified environmental officer and was responsible to maintain good safety, health and environment of environmental treatment plants.

Denise Pronk, Head of Sustainability, Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam

Denise Pronk is an acclaimed Sustainability Manager, who is working around the clock with a vision that sustainability is an integral part of the business. She is based in the strategy department, working on embedding sustainability in the organisation activities and way of working. Next to transferring the airport to a sustainable one, contributing to a net-zero-carbon emission aviation sector by 2050 is one of her main focus areas. Denise is an active member at ACI Europe and ACI World.

Raechel Paris, Executive General Manager Governance, Brisbane Airport Corporation

Raechel Paris is the Executive General Manager Governance at Brisbane Airport. Raechel drives the sustainability strategy for BAC in fulfilling its vision to “Connect the World – Create the Future” and ensuring BAC continues its focus on delivering sustainable value to its 4 Bosses – the Community, its Employees, its Shareholders and its Customers.