Centre of Excellence for Anaerobic Digestion

James is Head of the Department of Biology at the University of York and Director of CEAD. He has a background in molecular biology and biochemistry, and has held fellowships from BBSRC (David Phillips), the Royal Society (Industry) and Oracle. 

His research uses multi-omics and computational approaches to understand anaerobic microbial community dynamics for resource recovery. In addition to the close collaboration with Yorkshire Water, through CEAD he works on interdisciplinary projects with a number of other other UK water- and waste-processing industrial partners.

Sarah is an Associate Lecturer within the Department of Biology and leads the Analytical Team within CEAD. 

Her research involves the use of big data analyses to interrogate and understand microbial community interactions in AD. She uses multi-omic approaches to achieve this through the use of metagenomics and metabolomics. She is a co-lead of the EBnet Bioinformatics working group and has a keen interest in the development and delivery of bioinformatics training resources that are FAIR compliant. 

She also lectures on reproducible data analysis and statistics at the University of York at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Matt is a BIEI (Building Industrial Engagement and Impact) Research Fellow within the Department of Biology and leads the Experimental Team within CEAD. He is a bioprocess engineer with a background in industrial anaerobic digestion and fermentation. 

Matt held an EPSRC Innovation Fellowship to investigate the exploitation of anaerobic gut fungi for their ability to rapidly convert cereal straws into industrially valuable products such as biogas and organic acids. 

His BIEI role is to build and strengthen links between the university and industrial partners in the agricultural and water treatment sectors by delivering impactful solutions to address global challenges in waste management and resource recovery.

Jon is a Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence embedded in CEAD with more than 30 years experience in the Water Industry. 

Jon led Yorkshire Water’s bioresources department prior to ten years working to establish YW as a leader in the industry for innovation before heading the Innovation function for six years. 

Before entering the water sector, Jon had a career in agriculture.  He also runs his own advisory business working across water, agriculture and waste sectors to deliver innovative options for industry to implement.