Geoff Scamans is a Professor of Metallurgy at Brunel University and is the Chief Scientific Officer at Innoval Technology. His expertise is in aluminium alloys and their applications in the automotive and aerospace industries and in knowledge transfer from the research base to industry. His main interests are in developing higher performance recycled aluminium alloys and in the closed loop recycling of end-of-life aluminium scrap in order to transform the aluminium industry from primary to secondary production dominance. He has developed and managed a significant number of Innovate UK supported collaborative R&D projects on the sustainable use of aluminium sheet, extrusions and castings in industrial applications with, for example, automotive OEMs including JLR, Nissan, BMW and Volvo. These collaborative projects span applications from transportation to construction, packaging and energy with a core theme of full metal circulation. These have delivered major technological advances, including the development of high-performance alloys with excellent mechanical properties and structural integrity that can be fabricated using 100% recycled scrap content.

Geoff was awarded the Gold Medal by The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3). The award recognised a remarkable record of internationally acclaimed, multidisciplinary research that spans several decades and every element of the materials cycle. Although, best known for his pivotal work on surface engineering and corrosion mechanisms in aluminium alloys, work that remains the leading reference material on the subject to this day, the award acknowledged the tirelessly campaigning for sustainable manufacturing and the efficient use of materials, especially aluminium. This has been inculcated in the vision of full metal circulation that is the core of the Circular Metals Centre and the Liquid Metal Engineering Hub at the Brunel Centre for Advanced Solidification Technology at Brunel University.

Geoff was presented with the Aluminium Industry Award at the Aluminium Federation’s 2017 dinner. This recognised both his academic achievements and his industrial career that started at Alcan International in Banbury in 1974. He became, perhaps their youngest, Principal Scientist in 1983 a role he continued when moving to Innoval Technology in 2003 a company he helped found based on the principle of joint ownership of all employees. The award also reflected his world authority on automotive light-weighting and his involvement with aluminium car body development for Ford and then Jaguar Land Rover that resulted in their current range of aluminium intensive vehicles and the closed loop recycling system for press shop scrap. It was noted by AlFed that “Geoff has succeeded not only in becoming the aluminium “go-to” expert, but also in developing and nurturing younger and talented scientists throughout his career”. He is only the fourth recipient of this rare award.