Innovation Lead for Hydrogen in Transport at Innovate UK, UK Research and Innovation.

Dr Vit Janik is Electrification Skills Network Skills Provider Engagement Lead. Vit joined Coventry in July 2017 after spending five years at WMG, University of Warwick as Research Fellow in Materials Characterisation. In 2008 during his PhD study at the Czech Technical University in Prague he was awarded the EU Science and Technology Fellowship China and joined School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, China as postdoctoral researcher. Vit obtained MEng (Dipl. Ing.) in Materials Engineering in 2005 and PhD in Materials Engineering in 2009 both at the Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic.

Yahya Alvar has over 25 years of experience within the automotive industry in mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, product development life cycle, project and program management, electrification, and battery design and development projects. He joined UKBIC’s commercial team in 2022 as Business Development Manager, before becoming Head of Business Development in July 2024, where he supports UK and international customers to develop, optimise and scale-up their battery electrodes, cells, modules, and packs.

Prior to UKBIC, Yahya worked at Ricardo UK where he delivered consultancy services for battery module and pack design and development projects, and for Ford, at its Technical Centre, where he managed engineering consultancy projects and the delivery team for Altran UK. He holds a dual MSc degree in International project management and BSc in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.