Programme Grant Researchers Showcase Hydrogen at Cryogenic Fuel Systems ATI Conference 2026 - University of Nottingham

Researchers from the EPSRC Programme Grant Making Hydrogen Work in Zero Carbon Jet Engines played a prominent role at the ATI Cryogenic Fuel Systems Conference, held on 9–10 June 2026 at the University of Nottingham's Jubilee Campus.

Organised by the University of Nottingham, the conference brought together leading researchers, industry representatives and policymakers working to address the challenges of hydrogen storage, distribution and utilisation in future aviation systems. We are particularly grateful to Professor Carol Eastwick, a member of the Programme Grant's Independent Advisory Committee, and her colleagues for hosting a successful event and creating an excellent forum for discussion across the hydrogen and cryogenics community.

The strong presence of the Programme Grant consortium highlighted the breadth of research being undertaken across the UK to enable hydrogen-powered flight.

Professor Peter Ireland was invited to present "Recent Progress in the EPSRC Programme Grant – Making Hydrogen Work in Zero Carbon Jet Engines", providing delegates with an overview of the programme's latest achievements and the collaborative research being carried out across the consortium.

Programme Grant researchers also presented a series of well-received technical papers that showcased the range of expertise within the partnership:

• "Machine Learning–Enhanced Cryogenic Sensing for Real-Time Monitoring of Hydrogen Systems" — Konstantina Vogiatzaki and Giovanni Tretola
• "Effect of Surface Roughness on Chilldown Time for Cryogenic Fuel Systems" — Farheen Muhammed, Peter Ireland and Edmond Walsh

These presentations highlighted important advances in cryogenic hydrogen fuel systems, spanning topics from real-time monitoring and diagnostics to the thermal-fluid processes that govern fuel transfer and conditioning.

The conference also featured an invited presentation from our colleagues at NCCAT—Professor Jon Carrotte and Dr Ashley van Bruygom of Loughborough University—who highlighted the facility's expanding capabilities and its increasingly important role in supporting experimental research for future aerospace propulsion systems.

Reflecting on the event, Professor Peter Ireland said:

"Cryogenics and hydrogen propulsion are attracting unprecedented interest across both academia and industry. What is particularly encouraging is the significant transition we are now seeing from computational modelling towards experimental investigation. As new facilities and capabilities come online, researchers are increasingly able to validate concepts, generate high-quality data and accelerate the development of the technologies needed for zero-carbon aviation."

The conference provided an excellent opportunity to share emerging research, strengthen collaborations across the hydrogen aviation community and celebrate the contributions of researchers from across the consortium. As interest in hydrogen-powered flight continues to grow, events such as these play an important role in bringing together the people and ideas that will help deliver the next generation of zero-carbon aircraft.