Cmdre John Voyce OBE

Halo Programme Director, GE Vernova

John Voyce OBE is the Halo Programme Director for GE Vernova’s Power Conversion and Storage business. During 35 years in the Royal Navy John served on various mechanical and electrical drive ships up to Aircraft Carriers, was involved in the development of the first military Advanced Induction Motor currently fitted to Type 46 and Carriers, and was the Platform Chief Engineer and then Team Leader for Type 45 Class Support. He commanded HMS Sultan and HM Naval Base Portsmouth. Two of John’s 3 degrees are in Marine and Electrical Engineering, chartered in HR and he is a Fellow of the IMarEST.

Nicholas Smith

Executive: Global Systems Product and Technology Leader, GE Power Conversion

Responsible for proposing, developing, and executing Advanced System and Product Solutions, as well as managing system NPIs to support system offerings.

Nick has more than 30 years’ technical leadership experience with the Marine & Power Conversion Business, including more than 25 years in commercial, offshore and Military Marine solutions. 

Responsible for the Design, build and setting to work of Many Naval Power and Propulsion Systems including Type 23 Frigates, Type 45 Destroyers, Albion Class LPDs, Zumwalt Class Destroyers, the Electric Ship Technology Demonstrator, and the Queen Elizabeth Class Power System, as well as numerous commercial marine platforms.

Has also spent significant periods of time in Mining Systems, and in Power Electronics and system engineering for onshore and offshore wind applications around the world.

He has significant experience of customer technical solution development, project execution, site work, commissioning and after sales support, both onshore and offshore, in Africa, Asia, US and Europe.  Nick has also held significant technical leadership roles in volume power electronics manufacturing and global software production.

Nick has an Honours degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, sits on the Lloyds Register Technical Committee for Naval and Offshore, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering & Technology

Jasper Vollbrandt

Researcher, TU Delft and NLDA

Jasper Vollbrandt is currently working on his PhD thesis at the department of Maritime and Transport Technology at the Delft University of Technology and the Netherlands Defence Academy of the Dutch Ministry of Defence. His research focuses on dynamic performance of marine internal combustion engines running on natural gas and methanol. After receiving a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Delft University of Technology he worked at the Dutch Ministry of Defence, Command Material and IT, gaining experience in the design and simulation of naval propulsion systems. Before returning to the Delft University of Technology, he fulfilled the role of project engineer hydraulics at Netherlands largest steel mill TATA Steel and was mainly involved in the revamp of the cold mill plant.

Captain Rinze Geertsma FIMarEST

iSCSS Chair, TU Delft and NLDA

Capt (E) Rinze Geertsma currently is associate professor at the Netherlands Defence Academy and research fellow at Delft University of Technology with a research interest in military energy systems. He previously has been Marine Engineering Officer of HNLMS de Ruyter and HNLMS Tromp. Earlier experience includes system and project engineering and innovation roles.

Dr Andrea Coraddu

Associate Professor, TU Delft

Prof. Andrea Coraddu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Maritime and Transport Technology at Delft University of Technology. In 2012, he was awarded a Laurea and a PhD in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at the University of Genoa. His research lies at the forefront of the maritime energy transition, delving into the topology design, performance optimization, and control of hybrid and full electric marine energy systems.

Janne Roivainen

Senior Principal Engineer, ABB Marine

Janne Roivainen was born in Helsinki, Finland, in 1967. He received the M.Sc. degree in technology and the D.Sc. degree in technology from Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, Finland, in 1994 and 2009, respectively.

He worked for ABB Motors and Generators, Helsinki from 1994 to 2022 dealing with testing and noise & vibration issues related to electric machines. Currently he is working for ABB Marine with focus on underwater noise. He is convenor for IEC TC2/MT2 and member of CIMAC WG22 (underwater noise). 

Tuomas Sipilä

Senior R/D Engineer, Hydrodynamics, ABB Marine

Tuomas Sipilä was born in in Turku, Finland, in 1978. He received his M.Sc. degree in technology and the Licentiate of technology degree from Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, Finland, in 2004 and 2012, respectively.

He worked at VTT Technical Research Center of Finland, Espoo from 2004 to 2020 focusing on ship propeller hydrodynamics and underwater noise and acted as a team lead in ship and arctic technology research team. At 2020, he started working at ABB Marine and Ports and is focusing on hydrodynamics and underwater noise.

Julia Alvarez Mari

Principal Engineer (Marine Systems), Babcock International Group

Julia Alvarez is a Principal Marine Engineer at Babcock, with a background in concept design from long term secondment in the Naval Design Partnering Team, including over five years as Marine Systems Lead. She now works on concepts for future naval combatants.

Steve Goor

Principal Marine Engineer, Babcock International Group

Steve Goor is a Principal Engineer at Babcock specialising in Marine Engineering and has spent his career designing complex propulsion and auxiliary systems for large Yachts and naval vessels. He is now working on concepts for future naval combatants.

Andrew Vanner

Principal Electrical Engineer, Babcock International Group

Andrew Vanner is a Principal Electrical Engineer at Babcock, with 36 years’ experience in the marine industry. He has worked on the Type 23 Power Generation and MCAS Update and the Type 31 bid process. He is now working on Concepts for future naval combatants.