Biography
 
Dr. Diego Alonso Álvarez studied Physics at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain), where he also got a master in “Nanostructured materials: fabrication and characterization”, in 2007. Finished in 2011 at the Instituto de Microelectrónica de Madrid (IMM-CNM, CSIC, SPAIN), his PhD was focused on strain balanced epitaxial stacks of InAs/GaAs quantum dots and posts for optoelectronic aplicacions. On this topic he has published 12 papers, between high quality journals, conference proceedings and popular science publications, including three Applied Physics Letters and one Advanced Materials as first author. His experience ranges from the epitaxial growth of III-V semiconductor nanostructures, infrared photodetectors and novel solar cell concepts to their design, spectroscopic analisys and theoretical modelling. Curently he holds a Postdoctoral position as Research Associate on Spectral Conversion for CdTe Photovoltaic Modules in the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Heriot-Watt University and the Scottish Institute for Solar Energy Research (SISER).

• Quantum dot infrared photodetectors (QDIPs)
• Quantum dot intermediate band solar cells (QD-IBSC)
• Hot excitons solar cells
• Up/down converters

Biography
 
Aruna Ivaturi received her B.Sc and MSc in Physics from University of Delhi, India in year 1997 and 1999 respectively. Later (Mar 2001-Dec 2005) she worked for her Ph.D in Experimental Solid State Physics at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, India. Her thesis was focused on detailed study of the structural, optical and electronic properties of rare earth nanoparticle layers for ‘switchable mirrors’. From Sept 2006 to June 2007 she worked as research associate at the Institute for Nanostructures and Technology (NST), at University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany on synthesis and application of metal and metal-oxide nanoparticle layers for gas sensors. Later (Sept 2007- Feb 2009) she was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt (AvH) Fellowship to carry out self-proposed work on the synthesis of rare-earth oxide nanoparticles via gas phase for potential technological applications at Institute for Nanostructures and Technology (NST), at University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. From June 2009 – Dec 2010 she worked as a Research Associate at Nanoscience Centre, University of Cambridge, UK on the growth and application of metal oxide nanowires for solar cell technology. Since Jan 2011 she is working as research associate at Renewable Energy group at Heriot Watt University.

• Growth of nanostructured materials via physical or chemical routes
• Application of the nanomaterials for technological applications e.g., Switchable mirrors, Gas sensors, FET, Solar cells etc.
• Photovoltaics: Organic-inorganic hybrid cells, Dye sensitised cells, Si solar cells
• Upconversion, Downconversion and downshifting

Biography
 
Abdelfateh Kerrouche received his PhD degree from City University London “Optical fiber sensors systems for structural health monitoring”. He was awarded the degrees of Master of philosophy in Electronics from Pierre & Marie Curie Paris VI University (France) and a Master of Electronics, Electrotechnique and Automatics from Marne-La-Vallee University, France. He has been working as researcher in the Smart Energy Laboratory at Glasgow Caledonian University and researc h associate at Oxford Brookes University.

• Solar Energy
• Fabrication of photovoltaic (PV) modules
• Integration of solar energy technologies into buildings
• Luminescent solar concentrator (LSC)

Biography
 
Jose Marques Hueso received his MSc in Physics from the University of Valencia (Spain) in 2004. From 2002 to 2005 he worked in the Colloids Group at the Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz (Germany) on the design, fabrication and characterization of 3D colloidal photonics crystals. In 2006 he obtained an Advanced Studies Diploma in Photonics at the University of Valencia, where he also completed his PhD in the Optoelectronic Materials and Devices Group. His PhD involved participation in different projects, mainly based on the development of active and passive photonic crystal-based devices and new plasmonic nanostructured materials.

• Solar photovoltaics
• Photonic crystals: 2D and 3D colloidal
• Silicon and III-V integrated optical nanodevices
• Quantum dots applications
• Nanofabrication techniques (EBL, UV Lithography, dry and wet etch, RF sputtering…
• Sensor technologies
• Plasmonic nanocomposites

Biography
 
Sendhil Kumar Natarajan obtained his B.Tech. in Mechanical and M.Tech. in Energy Technology from Pondicherry Engineering College, India in the year of 2001 and 2003. Latter he obtained his Ph.D from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India in 2008 in the area of investigation of cavity receivers for fuzzy focal solar parabolic dish concentrator system. He worked as a Senior Research and Development Engineer, in the solar Energy sector of CSEM-UAE, RAK, UAE. Since May 2009, he has been working as a Research Associate in the Solar Photovoltaic Group at Heriot -Watt with Dr Tapas Kumar Mallick.

• Solar photovoltaics
• Concentrating PV
• Solar concentrating collectors - parabolic dish and trough
• Solar desalination
• Heat transfer and fluid flow