Hawkins Welcomes Materials Engineer Sebastian Altus

Hawkins is pleased to welcome Dr Seb Altus to the team as an Associate in our Leeds office. Seb is a materials engineer with a strong background in advanced materials, battery technology, and failure analysis. His experience spans research, industry, and engineering environments, giving him a well-rounded perspective on the investigation of material performance and degradation across a range of sectors.

He began his career as a non-destructive testing (NDT) inspector of subsea oil and gas components. He then went on to gain further industrial experience in the steel sector, where he investigated product performance and helped mitigate equipment failure in high-temperature environments.

Seb holds a First-Class degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Swansea University, where his final-year research focused on sodium-ion battery technologies. He later completed a PhD at the University of Sheffield, funded by the Faraday Institution, where he investigated degradation mechanisms in next-generation solid-state lithium-metal batteries. During this time, he developed strong expertise in electrochemical analysis and advanced characterisation techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray computed tomography.

Following his doctorate, Seb held postdoctoral research roles, working on cutting-edge battery materials and hydrogen technologies, in collaboration with organisations including the Faraday Institution and the Henry Royce Institute. Through this work, he built significant expertise in battery testing, data analysis, and post-mortem cell analysis, alongside broader electrochemical systems.

Seb’s cross-sector experience, spanning energy, manufacturing, and oil and gas, allows him to bring a practical and analytical approach to understanding material behaviour, degradation, and failure. Now part of the Hawkins team in Leeds, Seb brings valuable specialist knowledge at a time of growing interest in energy technologies and material performance.