Tick Zero was founded by Professor Julian Allwood and Fran O’Neill Sergent, and is part of a research group at the University of Cambridge specialising in climate mitigation.
We know that climate change is real, we know it’s caused by human activity, and we know it’s already causing damage. The UK is legally committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, as are many other countries.
Professor Julian Allwood is author of the book “Sustainable Materials: with both eyes open” which can be read online for free. He was a Lead Author of the 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) with a focus on mitigating industrial emissions. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, a Fellow of the International Academy of Production Engineering (CIRP) and chairman of its metal forming section, a member of the UK’s Energy Research Partnership and is joint editor-in-chief of the Journal of Materials Processing Technology. He was the creator of the national STEM outreach project 88 Pianists in 2019, which invited children from all over the UK to become engineers. He is the author of Absolute Zero which was debated in the House of Lords in 2020. He speaks regularly on BBC radio and is a frequent contributor to various newspapers, including The Guardian and the FT.
Fran O’Neill Sergent is a design, communications and multimedia professional who has been working in expanding the outreach and impact of climate mitigation research for a decade. She is passionate about using visual storytelling to increase the impact of research, in addition to advocating for improved access to STEM education to increase equality and diversity within STEM subjects. She has previously worked for the BBC, Pozzitive Television, Fever Media and RDF media as well as spending a year as a senior graphic designer at the Leeds Playhouse.