Professor Ricardo Martinez-Botas recently began his role as Associate Dean (Industry Partnerships).

Ricardo obtained a MEng in Aeronautical Engineering from Imperial College London in 1989 and a DPhil from the University of Oxford in gas turbine heat transfer in 1993. He joined Imperial College as a Lecturer in February 1994.

He leads a research group in the area of sustainable high speed turbomachinery applied to waste heat recovery, turbochargers, low carbon vehicles and energy storage.

He directs The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHIET) Future of Boosting Innovation Centre and co-directs a centre in Malaysia Low Carbon Transport (LOCartIC).

He is a member of the Science Advisory Council at the UK Department for Transport. Ricardo was the independent expert who oversaw the Vehicle Emissions Testing Programme initiated by the British government in the aftermath of the VW emission scandal.

In 2019 he was awarded the President’s Medal for Excellence in Research (External Engagement).

We caught up with him to discuss the possibilities and challenges of the role.

What are you looking forward to in your role as Associate Dean?

I would like to bring my experience in working with industrial partners across different countries over the past two decades. Imperial has a very wide engagement with industry and the question is: how can we enhance our interaction, breadth, and impact? It will be exciting to engage with my colleagues in Engineering to learn about their exciting opportunities and support where I can. I see this as an academic voice within the Industrial Partnership team.

What are the current challenges for Imperial in this area, and how do you see us overcoming them?

Part of the role is to learn what the key issues affecting our ability to engage with Industry and what are the key issues that affect this, both for large programs and smaller relationships. It is important to increase the communication from and with the IPC team and this role can assist in this avenue. The change in landscape for research, funding, and locality are also challenges to consider.

Find out more about the Faculty of Engineering's leadership team.