Sophie Parsons
Sophie is a Chartered Engineer with expertise in materials failure analysis and corrosion incidents in both the marine and land-based sectors
Jessica Ng
After completing her first degree in Physical Science, Jessica pursued a Master’s in Forensic Science from King’s College London in 2012. Jessica joined Hawkins in 2015, specialising in fire and explosion investigation, contamination assessments, and agricultural cargo claims. Since joining the company, Jessica has investigated the causes of fires in residential and commercial premises, and appliance and vehicle fires in Hong Kong and overseas. Her investigations include contamination assessments of buildings, manufacturing equipment, stock, and lifts/escalator components following fires and floods. In April 2016, Jessica completed the Fire Science and Investigation course at the University of Edinburgh. Jessica also has marine experience investigating fires on yachts, container and bulk cargo vessels and provided advice on ‘live’ ship fires involving cargoes such as coal and other agricultural products. She has investigated the causes of cargo contamination on tankers and has been involved in cases involving the liquefaction of nickel ore and coal, which includes witnessing laboratory tests to determine the moisture content and flow point. She also regularly assists P&I Clubs in supervising the loading process of Group A cargoes. Jessica has been heavily involved with agricultural bulk cargo claims pertaining to soybeans and maize in particular. She is experienced in […]
Charles Murdoch
Charles’ background is in materials, having graduated with an MEng in Materials Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, UK. In his final year of study he took a slight specialism into Aerospace Materials covering aerospace structures and design. After leaving Imperial College, Charles secured a graduate scheme position with Rolls-Royce plc based initially in Derby, UK. As a graduate he spent placements on the shop floor, at the Heathrow field service office looking after British Airways and also spent time in Montreal, Canada, with the Energy business. After 18 months, he graduated from the scheme and into the Rolls-Royce internal Failure Investigation Team investigating a wide range of components from failed bolts to failed fan blades. In the majority of cases investigations concerned metallic components, however polymer, composite or even cardboard components were not uncommon. Investigations regularly included an aspect of tribology or fractography using a high magnification scanning electron microscope. In 2014 Charles relocated back to London and to Hawkins, and has continued to investigate Materials and Mechanical failures. Charles now regularly returns to his ‘student days’ at Imperial College to perform analysis of fracture surfaces on the microscopes available. Since joining Charles expanded his areas of expertise […]
James Morris
James completed his PhD researching a novel enzyme and its mechanism of action in blood cells, before undertaking six years postdoctoral research into the biochemistry of various cellular signalling pathways. In 2007 James took on a role at a small biotechnology company, where he ultimately became responsible for the chemicals production business, serving hospitals through the UK and Europe with histological stains. James built up the product stewardship requirements of the business, and qualified as a road transport Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser. James has since worked as a Product Steward, assessing and assigning hazard and transport classifications to new and reformulated petrochemicals products, for Shell and Gulf Oil. At Hawkins, he will be aiding both the Fire Investigation and Contamination teams, with his extensive knowledge of chemical reactions. He is an Associate based in our Reigate Office.
Paul Moody
Paul completed his undergraduate degree in Metallurgy at the University of Birmingham in 1990. During this time, he was sponsored by British Steel and gained work experience at Swinden Labs in Rotherham. Paul later completed his Doctorate at the University of Birmingham, researching the fracture properties of welded structural steels in relation to the oxygen content of weld metals. The work was sponsored by ESAB, headquartered in Waltham Cross in London. After completing his studies in 1995, Paul began his career at the Defence Research Agency as a Research Scientist, working on welding of high strength naval steels and investigations of failed components. Following this, Paul worked as a Metallurgist at a number of firms including Bodycote Materials Testing Ltd, Ingenco Ltd (formerly Scottish Power Technology), and Doosan Babcock Ltd. Paul’s experience includes facilitating contract materials testing for the offshore oil and gas services industry, performing remanent life assessment on boilers for power plants and petrochemical sites, investigating failed components, and providing support on materials related issues. Since joining Hawkins in 2017, Paul has worked on cases involving escapes of water, personal injuries, petrochemical sites and boilers for power generation. Paul’s boiler and petrochemical site investigations have taken place in […]
Claire Mann
Claire carried out her first Masters Degree at Oxford University, where she remained to complete a DPhil at the Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, working in collaboration with the Process Development Group of Syngenta. Claire then went on to pursue her interest in forensic science and studied for the Master of Forensic Science Degree at Kings College, London. During this time, Claire worked at the Forensic Explosives Laboratory and developed a GC/FTIR method for the analysis of explosives. Since joining Hawkins in 2006, Claire has specialised in the investigation of causes of fires and explosions. These cases have varied greatly in scale from relatively small domestic incidents to large commercial fires. Claire has also lent her chemistry background to the contamination team at Hawkins, where she has carried out post-fire, post-flood and post-chemical spill contamination investigations throughout the world. This work involves determining the effects of contaminants on buildings, production equipment, complex computer systems and products, including food stuffs and pharmaceuticals, and providing advice on the long term effects of the contaminants and best remediation techniques for recovery. During her time at Hawkins, Claire successfully completed the BOHS course for surveying buildings for asbestos and has since carried out asbestos […]
Eleanor Jay
Eleanor graduated with a 1st Class Masters Degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Imperial College London. As part of Eleanor’s first degree, she was employed at Industrial Research Limited in New Zealand (now Callaghan Innovation). Here, she developed specialised ceramic filters for the use in hydrogen cells, assisting in the purification of hydrogen. Following this, her PhD work involved researching ceramic materials for nuclear fuel storage applications (requiring high temperature and pressure resistance). During this time, she worked closely with several nuclear establishments across the globe with whom she collaborated. Eleanor also spent time at Nanyang Technology University in Singapore, where she investigated ceramic systems for a variety of energy applications such as fuel cells, including lithium-ion batteries. After completing her PhD, Eleanor was seconded to the Government Office for Science and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to be part of the Nuclear Energy Research and Development Review Board, chaired by the then Chief Scientist, Sir John Beddington. The work was commissioned after the House of Lords published a critical report on the future of nuclear energy in the UK. She assessed the UK’s nuclear energy landscape, which involved close communication with stakeholders across the nuclear industry […]
Ed Hammersley
After graduating from the University of York in 2002, Ed worked at analytical laboratories in Yorkshire and London, specialising in the field of analytical chemistry. He then moved to Pfizer in Kent, as an analytical research scientist within the pharmaceutical research and development group. During his nine years at Pfizer, Ed specialised in analytical method development and trace analysis for low-level impurities and contaminants in drug substances and products. A wide range of analytical techniques were used, with a particular focus on gas chromatography and liquid chromatography, both coupled with mass spectrometry detection. Some of this work was published in scientific literature and presented at conferences. Ed joined Hawkins in 2021 as a Senior Associate before being promoted to a Principal Associate. He has now conducted more than 850 forensic investigations. Those investigations have included fires, explosions, electrical incidents, contamination assessment, chemical reactions and escapes of water within domestic, industrial and marine environments. He regularly travels overseas to conduct investigations. Several of his high-profile cases have involved material losses of more than £10m, with some exceeding £100m. The marine vessel incidents have involved both engine room and cargo fires, including the TAC Imola, fires onboard large yachts and superyachts, and […]
Richard John Fletcher
Richard started his scientific career undertaking two six-month industrial placements during his third year of his Applied Chemistry degree at the University of Portsmouth. The first six months were spent working in the Chemistry Section of the Naval Aircraft Materials Laboratory (NAML) where he undertook a wide range of analytical work as well as being involved in investigating mid-air collisions of MOD aircraft. The second six months were spent working in the fuel additive section of Nalco Exxon Energy Chemicals, based at Fawley Oil refinery. He was responsible for testing and identifying the fuel additives for multi-national petroleum companies and the development of new additives. After completing his degree, Richard continued to study at the University of Portsmouth for his PhD, researching the effect of magnetic fields on the growth of sulphate reducing bacteria. After leaving University Richard worked for a Dorset based electronic and materials development company. He worked on projects to develop both corrosion monitoring equipment for helicopters, as well as crack detection systems for the rail industry. During his time at the company he worked within a team to investigate the cause of a major UK rail incident.In 2006 Richard joined Hawkins and quickly specialised himself in […]
Christabel Evans
Christabel regularly investigates material failures, escapes of water and oil, system failures, and personal injury claims. She writes CPR compliant court reports and presents at industry awareness days.