TBA

Caroline joined TWI Ltd as CEO in July 2025 and is responsible for the Institute’s leadership, supported by a team of directors.  Leading one of Europe's foremost research technology organisations, enabling their industrial members through innovation, facilitating global energy transition, economic security and bridging engineering skills shortages across; aerospace, construction, oil & gas, renewables, defence and nuclear sectors.  In addition, promoting career development and pathways, through The Welding Institute's network of Professional Members and positioned as a recognised Professional Engineering Institution with Engineering Council.

Before her tenue at TWI, Caroline had been CEO with the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), the global professional body for the built environment, leading a widely acknowledged and very successful business transformation. Prior to this, she had an extensive business transformation career within the engineering industry, both in the UK and overseas.  Business transformation was also the key focus of her tenure at the membership organisation Make UK, formerly known as EEF.

Caroline is also a Director of the Board of Trustees for the Institute of Export & International Trade, a Trustee of the CIOB's benevolent fund (now known as CIOB Assist), and has been appointed as Visiting Professor of Global Engagement and Transformation – Built Environment at Loughborough University’s School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering.

Caroline studied with The Open University, achieving a BSc (open) in social sciences, whilst developing her career in industry. She was also awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science from The University of Wolverhampton.

Paul Davies is semi-retired, and was previously the Discipline Manager for Systems Engineering at Network Rail Infrastructure Projects. In that role he was responsible for promoting improvements in process and in practitioner competence in all aspects of systems engineering. Prior to this, he worked for Thales UK, with nearly thirty years’ experience in SE research, innovations management, SE functional leadership, project engineering management, systems integration and (a long time ago) mathematical modelling and performance analysis. To prevent boredom in retirement, Paul delivers consultancy and training in all aspects of Systems Engineering, part-time. He is a Past President of INCOSE UK, and has been a popular presenter and tutorial lead at many INCOSE events, both in the UK and internationally.

Advanced Paper One - 11:00 - 11:30 - Weaving the Digital Thread: An Intermediary for Architectural Correspondence - Ran Wei, Jason Joannou and Siyuan Ji

Ran Wei

Dr Ran Wei is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at the School of Computing and Communications of Lancaster University. His research interests include Model Driven Engineering, Model Based Systems Engineering and Safety Critical Systems Engineering. He is currently looking into methodologies and developing enabling technologies for efficient and assured complex systems engineering.

Jason Joannou 

Jason Joannou is a Chartered Engineer and Head of Systems Engineering at the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), where he leads the systems engineering capability across a diverse portfolio of fusion energy, robotics, decommissioning and engineering research programmes. He is motivated by the potential for systems thinking and digital engineering to help tackle complex engineering and societal challenges, and has a particular interest in how architecture, model-based systems engineering and digital thread approaches can improve decision-making in complex engineering environments.

Alongside his role at UKAEA, Jason is a Visiting Fellow in Systems Engineering at Loughborough University and represents UKAEA on the Institution for Systems Engineering (IfSE) Corporate Advisory Board. He enjoys working at the boundary between research and practice, exploring how new ideas can be applied to real engineering challenges.

Siyuan Ji

Dr Siyuan Ji is a Reader in Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) at Loughborough University. He earned his PhD in Quantum Physics from the University of Nottingham in 2015, before transitioning into systems engineering through a Research Associate position at Loughborough. Since then, he has developed a strong and growing academic profile in MBSE. In 2018, he joined the University of York as a Lecturer in System Safety Engineering, where his teaching and research focused on model-based safety assessment and assurance. During the 2021 academic year, he served as programme director of the prestigious Safety-Critical Systems Engineering MSc. He returned to Loughborough in 2022 as a Senior Lecturer, playing a key role in advancing MBSE, including co-founding a Doctoral Training Centre and leading the revitalised Quantum Systems Engineering Research Group. He teaches a series of three flagship postgraduate modules that apply a model-based paradigm to system architecting, design, and verification and validation. Dr Ji is also a co-author of Essential Architecture and Principles of Systems Engineering, a widely used postgraduate textbook on model-based systems architecting.

Advanced Paper Two - 11:30 - 12:00 - Substituting complex behaviour descriptions via Hardware-in-the-Loop integration with SysML system models - Ethan Spall and Robert Stacey

Ethan Spall

Ethan Spall brings over five years of dedicated MBSE experience to his role as an MBSE Specialist at Dassault Systèmes UK. Specialising in SysML and system architecture modelling, he supports UK Aerospace and Defence programmes through rigorous model development, structured training, and hands on mentoring, both within Dassault Systèmes and across client organisations.

He recently completed an MSc in Systems Engineering at Cranfield University while working full time as a model based systems engineer, further strengthening his technical and methodological foundation. His experience spans Aerospace and Defence, pharmaceutical and mobile network programmes, where he has led and supported the deployment and scaling of MBSE within complex, highly regulated environments.

With the rapid evolution of modelling languages and digital engineering technologies, Ethan continues to advance his capability, ensuring he delivers robust, future ready MBSE solutions aligned to the demands of UK defence and other high assurance sectors.

Rob Stacey

Technical Lead: Digital Systems Design

Rob Stacey is Technical Lead for Digital Systems Design at the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC). Joining the AMRC in 2018 as a Project Engineer for Software, Rob delivers technical solutions across haptics, IoT devices, control architectures, immersive visualisations (VR/AR), and systems integration.

His work focuses on applying digital technologies to complex engineering environments. Key project highlights include developing systems architecture for MediTel (a medical telepresence platform for hazardous environments), building an Industry 4.0 Digital Operating Theatre, and applying Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) principles to demonstrate the AMRC’s Digital Thread initiative.

Prior to joining the AMRC, Rob served as a Teaching Technician in the University of Sheffield's Virtual Reality Lab, where he created interactive VR walkthroughs for the Diamond Pilot Plant and Mappin Heartspace. He holds a BSc in Games Software Development from Sheffield Hallam University.

Advanced Paper Three - 12:00 - 12:30 - A Verification-Driven MBSE Workflow for Controlled System Architecture Baseline Evolution - Nancy Wang and Matei Popa

Nancy Wang

Nancy Wang is a systems engineer and Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) practitioner based in London. Her experience spans railway systems engineering, system architecture development, requirements compliance, validation