2017 marks a key milestone for IFRF which starts a ‘new era’ hosted by the University of Sheffield in the UK.  At this point, the Foundation is also seeing a change in its leadership – both in some of the  ‘Officers’ that provide leadership and governance, and in its Director.

Professor Dr.-Ing. Hartmut Spliethoff of Technische Universität München is standing down as President of IFRF and chair of its governing council with effect from the end of 2016, with Ing. Sauro Pasini, the Head of New Technologies Deployment, Global Thermal Generation, Enel SpA (and previously a Vice-President of IFRF) taking over the role of President.  Also, Gérard Flament, formerly of Lhoist Coordination Centre SA, Belgium, and who was an Investigator at IFRF in the IJmuiden Research Station from 1978 (becoming Scientific Manager from 1979 to 1983), is standing down as a Vice-President of IFRF.  A new Vice-President will be appointed in due course.

The IFRF would like offer its sincere thanks to both Hartmut and Gérard for all their hard work and support for IFRF over many years, and wish them both well in their future activities.  Our congratulations go to Sauro in becoming our President and we look forward to his continuing support for us in his new role.

With IFRF’s move from Livorno to Sheffield, we also say farewell to Dr. Neil Fricker as IFRF Director.  Neil has been associated with IFRF since the 1960s when he was a Research Investigator. In the 1980s, he became British Gas’s representative on IFRF’s ‘NG NOx’ consortium (which he also chaired) and then Chaired IFRF’s Gas Panel from 1989.  Neil became Interim IFRF Director in 2005 relocating the IFRF from The Netherlands to Italy. Since 2015, he has taken a similar interim role to move the IFRF again, this time from Italy to the UK.  He is standing down at the end of 2016, with Philip Sharman, formerly Director of Technology External Affairs at Alstom Power, taking over the permament role of Director from 1^st January.  Our thanks go to Neil for all his hard work and we wish him well in his other activities.