On 11 November 2025, the Henry Royce Institute hosted their third annual hydrogen conference at Cranfield University. Over 80 delegates benefitted from sharing best practise in applied hydrogen research, learning more about the support ecosystem around using hydrogen as a fuel, as well as hearing from keynote speakers Element, on their hydrogen testing, and JCB on how they addressed challenges developing their own hydrogen-fuelled engines.
Robert Sorrell, CEO of the Royce Hydrogen Accelerator opened the Third Royce Hydrogen Conference, highlighting capital investment in Royce at Cranfield’s liquid hydrogen testing rig.
Dr Francesco Fanicchia and Professor Fabio Scenini introduced an exciting new project, that will pioneer a validated process or best practice guidance for setting the standard for testing the effects of liquid hydrogen on materials. Offering a two-tiered investment proposal, Cranfield University are leading this project and have already gained the support of ASTM International, Darvick, element, National Physical Laboratory, The Henry Royce Institute, The University of Manchester and the UK Civil Aviation Authority.
Rebecca Advani, Connected Places Catapult introduced the Hydrogen Innovation Initiative. Working to support British organisations involved in hydrogen production, supply, distribution and usage. Their focus is on new materials and material recycling methods for higher performing and more sustainable products across the hydrogen economy. Plus digital technologies to enable system, product and process design; for asset monitoring and robust certification of hydrogen.
Dr Sibimol Luke talked about UK-HyRES, which covers the themes of production, alternative liquid fuels, end of use, safety and storage and distribution in looking for low-carbon fuels.
Dr Robert Sorrell commented,
“The quality of the flash talks, poster presentations and speakers today has been inspirational. Events such as this, that bring together experts from across the hydrogen ecosystem, from industry to government and academia, are invaluable to identifying hydrogen’s contribution to forging the UK’s path to net zero.”
Dr Francesco Fanicchia, Reader in Sustainable Surface Engineering, Cranfield University said,
“We are delighted to host the third annual Royce conference. Today we were able to showcase the benefits of some of the facilities here at Cranfield, available free of charge to SMEs and researchers, through the Royce Access Scheme. With the support of the Henry Royce Institute, we can see the work we do on materials testing in liquid hydrogen, hydrogen permeation and embrittlement, not to mention coatings, applied in the growing UK hydrogen sector.”
Cranfield University is an Associate Partner of Royce.
Royce facilities at Cranfield are situated within the University’s National High Temperature Surface Engineering Centre, delivering leading capability and expertise in materials performance assessment and coatings design and manufacture for extreme environments. Cranfield University supports the research area of Materials Systems for Demanding Environments.
Royce at Cranfield aims to apply fundamental science and thought leadership to solutions, expressing the philosophy of “Smart, Clean and Green” across all manufacturing and materials sectors, working closely with industries from aerospace to automotive, pharmaceutical to bio-engineering, and construction to railways, supporting all tiers of the supply chain with SMEs and OEMs.
