Emma Kendrick is Chair of Energy Materials in the School of Metallurgy and Materials at the University of Birmingham. Her research addresses sustainable battery technologies across the full materials lifecycle, from raw materials and electrode manufacture to in-use performance, diagnostics, and end-of-life recovery. Her work integrates materials chemistry, electrochemistry and manufacturing science, informed by extensive industrial experience.
Prior to joining Birmingham, she held academic roles at the University of Warwick (WMG) and senior industrial positions including Chief Technologist for Energy Storage at Sharp Laboratories Europe and lead scientist roles in battery start-ups. This dual academic–industrial background underpins a strong focus on translational research, scale-up and manufacturability.
She co-leads the Energy Materials Group, within which she has a large, interdisciplinary research portfolio funded by the Faraday Institution, Horizon Europe, Innovate UK, EPSRC and industry. The group’s research is structured around four themes: battery materials, manufacturing and formulation, testing and parameterisation, and recycling and reuse, with a strong emphasis on sodium-ion and next-generation hybrid systems.
She has been recognised for her research in sustainable batteries and her continued support to the research community through several awards; 2021 Faraday Institution (FI) Researcher Development Champion, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) 2021 Environment, Sustainability and Energy Division Mid-Career Award, and the 2019 Hothersall Memorial Award for outstanding services to Metal Finishing.
Professor Kendrick has published over 220 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters and patents, and serves on multiple editorial boards. She is co-director of the Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage and an active member of the Birmingham Energy Institute and Birmingham Centre for Strategic Elements and Critical Materials. She has delivered numerous invited, keynote and plenary lectures internationally, and contributes regularly to policy, standards and public engagement activities in energy storage and critical materials.