TWI Core Research Programme Annual Symposium 2025

Dr Morana is a Senior Corrosion and Materials Engineer at BP, with over 20 years of expertise across the energy sector. Holding a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Palermo and a PhD in Surface Engineering from Loughborough University, he has honed his skills in corrosion mitigation, material selection, welding, and structural integrity for onshore, offshore, and subsea assets.

Since joining BP in 2013, Roberto has led the Materials and Corrosion discipline for the NEP CCUS project in Northeast England. He is a Chartered Engineer as a member of the TWI, a Fellow of IOM3 and ICorr, and an active member of AMPP actively shaping industry standards and innovation.

Tomaso Maccio is a Project Engineer and Laboratories Manager specialising in Additive Manufacturing repair and coatings at based at TWI Yorkshire. Tomaso spearheaded TWI’s first Extreme High-Speed Laser Application (EHLA) project in 2022 and has been working in additive manufacturing since 2012. Currently, Tomaso is leading the EU-funded COMPASS project, which focuses on developing solutions to combat corrosion in geothermal environments.

Pedro is working as an Advanced Manufacturing Engineer in TWI’s Friction Welding and Processing section, managing client relationships and the delivery of projects involving friction welding technologies, predominantly for the aerospace and space sectors. Due to his experience in engineering projects, Pedro is affiliated with the Engineering Council and The Welding Institute. As an active STEM ambassador, he frequently presents and supports workshops on engineering related topics to audiences ranging from Year one to sixth form students.

Channa has worked at TWI since the beginning of 2003 on completion of an undergraduate degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Imperial College, London. Channa undertook an Engineering Doctorate degree while working in TWI with the Metallurgy Department of the University of Birmingham, delivering a thesis on the development of phased array ultrasonic techniques for inspection of heterogeneous anisotropic materials such as composites and austenitic welds.

Channa is the Chairman of the sub-commission for Ultrasonic Testing (UT) for the International Institute of Welding. Channa worked in the sub-commission to generate the ISO 23864 and ISO 23865 standards for FMC/TFM, performing the role of master editor of ISO 23865 and writing significant parts of the technical content of the document. Channa’s work involves finding advanced and practicable solutions to inspecting for critical damage mechanisms in industry. Channa’s role in TWI involves the development of techniques and procedures for UT, providing technical guidance in this field for TWI and its Members.

Dr Ahamed Ameen is a materials engineer with a strong background in materials characterisation, phase thermodynamics, and failure analysis. He began his career as a PhD candidate at TWI in 2021, where his research focused on the influence of wire feedstock composition on the deposition properties of wire and arc additive manufactured (WAAM) low carbon steels.

Upon completing his doctoral studies, Ahamed transitioned to the role of Materials Engineer within TWI’s Materials, Corrosion and Surfacing group. In his current role, Ahamed has been actively involved in assessing the environmental performance of various materials, including pipeline steels, corrosion-resistant alloys (CRAs) such as 316L austenitic stainless steel, and nickel-based super alloys. He has also undertaken numerous failure investigations related to fracture toughness testing programmes conducted at TWI for member organisations. His work is supported by expertise in advanced materials characterisation techniques, including Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) and Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD).  

Gustavo Prass is an Engineer in the Laser Additive Manufacturing section at TWI, based in Yorkshire. He leads projects utilizing Laser Directed Energy Deposition (L-DED) processes, including Extreme High-Speed Laser Application (EHLA), working with both metallic powder and wire feedstock. His experience spans a range of materials, from stainless steels to nickel-based superalloys.

He is currently completing a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at the Federal University of Paraná (Brazil), which included a research placement at the University of Birmingham (UK), where he explored both DED and Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) technologies for processing powder mixtures containing nanoparticles.

Although Gustavo joined TWI in November 2024, he brings over 5 years of experience in additive manufacturing research applied to industrial sectors, including oil & gas, energy, automotive, and aerospace.