Dr Carolina Cruz-Cardona

Carolina joined the group in October 2025 as a Postdoctoral Research Associate on the Faraday Institution SAFEBATT project. She is a computational scientist specialising in multiscale and multiphysics modelling of battery materials, integrating quantum, molecular, and continuum methods to link atomistic processes with macroscopic performance. Carolina completed her PhD in Chemical Sciences at the Polish Academy of Sciences as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie doctoral fellow and recently completed a postdoctoral position at Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), where she worked on modelling and simulation of electrolytes for next-generation batteries.

Dr Hosein Sadeghi

Hosein is a visiting Research Associate in the group. He initially joined as a PhD student in June 2022 and completed his PhD in 2026, studying multiphysics simulations of lithium-ion battery fires. His background is in Mechanical Engineering and Thermofluids. Prior to joining KCL he was a research assistant at the fire safety engineering group of Aalto University, funded by the Academy of Finland and the Finnish Fire Protection Fund. He graduated from Aalto University with his Licentiate degree in 2022.

Ally Mamgain

Ally joined the group as a part-time PhD student in June 2023, studying the impacts of lithium-ion battery fires in a confined subterranean environment. She obtained her MSc in Chemical Process Engineering from UCL in 2017, where her thesis focused on multi-criteria optimisation of emergency isolation valves on transportation pipelines. She has since worked as a Fire Safety Engineer primarily in the rail sector. In her free time, Ally enjoys playing badminton in the District league.

Abdullah Rehman

Abdullah joined the group as a PhD student in October 2024, studying the impact of wildfires on wildland urban interfaces as part of the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society. He obtained an MEng in Biomedical Engineering from Imperial College London in 2022, specialising in computational methods and data analysis, and has since worked as a software engineer developing digital twins and surgical simulations. In his free time he enjoys hiking and running.

Elena Funk

Elena joined the group as a PhD student in October 2024. Her research focuses on developing methodology for battery design fires. She holds a BEng in Mechanical Engineering from Örebro University (Sweden) and an International Master of Fire Safety Engineering (IMFSE) from Ghent University and Lund University. Elena is undertaking a joint industrial PhD with the Danish Fire Safety and Security Technology Institute (DBI). She also holds a Master's in Psychology and worked in industry for 12 years before her recent studies. In her free time she enjoys calisthenics, cooking, foraging, and hiking.

Marissa Dauner

Marissa is a PhD student who joined the lab in October 2025, studying wildfire spread for the development of a physics-based global-use model. She graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2025 with an MS in Mechanical Engineering and received her BS from Marquette University in 2022. Her previous research focused on VOC emissions monitoring of prescribed fires in the US. Her PhD is funded by the ERC FIREMOD project.

Natalie Yeap

Natalie joined the group as a PhD student in October 2026. Her research focuses on quantification of the fire safety of new battery materials. She graduated from King's College London with a BEng in General Engineering in 2026. Her PhD is funded by the Faraday Institution and EPSRC DLA.

Jiancheng Lin

Jiancheng joined the group as a PhD student in October 2026, focusing on physics-based modelling and sensitivity analysis of wildfire spread. He holds a BSc in Physics from University College London and an MSc in Materials Science & Engineering from Imperial College London. In his free time he enjoys playing badminton. His PhD is funded by the ERC FIREMOD project.