Dave spent almost 20 years serving as a Police Constable with Humberside Police. After four years, he successfully transferred to the Roads Policing Unit, where remained until leaving the force in 2016. This wide-ranging role involved dealing with offenders and casualties, hazardous materials incidents, vehicle examinations, escorts, operational surveillance and contributing to major national policing operations. Frequently deployed to incidents with limited information, Dave was responsible for managing large and complex scenes, coordinating with partner agencies, witnesses and other involved parties, ensuring incidents were handled correctly to support successful investigations.

Dave sought a change in career and relocated to rural Northumberland, where he ran a local business. Wishing to give back to the community that welcomed him, he joined Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service as a retained firefighter. Once again responding to unpredictable and challenging incidents, Dave applied his operational skills across a wide range of emergency situations.  

In July 2020, he successfully applied for specialist training in Fire Investigation. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, this training was delivered in house, allowing Dave to merge his extensive investigative background from policing with his growing technical knowledge of fire behaviour. He quickly developed strong competencies and became an on-call Fire Investigator, attending complex fire scenes across Northumberland. These investigations included domestic, agricultural, industrial, vehicle and wildland fires, some involving fatalities. 

In 2023, Dave  joined Cleveland Fire Brigade as a full time Fire Investigation Technical Manager. In this role, he led the fire investigation team, coordinated continuing professional development, and developed policies and procedures aligned with national guidance from the Forensic Science Regulator. He also worked closely with Cleveland Police on complex and high-profile fire investigations. Dave has been involved in more than 150 fire investigations and has provided expert testimony in Magistrates’, Crown and Coroners’ Courts on multiple occasions.

Dave joined Hawkins in March 2026 and is an Associate based in our Leeds office. 

Stefano graduated with highest honours from the University of Napoli Federico II, where he earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering. He then pursued a PhD in the Engineering of Industrial Products and Processes, completing his thesis in Computational Fluid Dynamics in 2025.

Jari began his career in forensic investigation in 2017 as a Trainee Process Engineer while completing his BSc thesis at LFoundry, a 200 mm semiconductor manufacturer. His research focused on characterising volatile organic compound (VOC) contamination in the photolithography area. Using TD-GC/MS and thermal outgassing analyses on silicon wafers manufactured in the cleanroom, he identified the source of contamination and developed a mitigation strategy to manage and reduce it, contributing to significant potential cost savings.

During his Master’s degree, Jari participated in an exchange programme at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), where he developed a mathematical resilience indicator to analyse the vulnerability of hazardous industrial installations to domino effects triggered by intentional and unintentional events. His work combined resilience assessment with cost-effectiveness analysis to support optimal recovery strategies for chemical industrial clusters following major incidents.

Jari has extensive experience as a forensic engineer for major insurance companies, providing expert technical consultancy (CTP) in both civil and criminal proceedings. He has conducted over 400 investigations involving fires and explosions, both in Italy and further afield. These cases ranged from small domestic incidents to multi-million-euro losses affecting retail premises, warehouses, process plants, factories, photovoltaic installations, wind turbines, and wildland areas. His work included analyses using FDS (Fire Dynamics Simulator) and arson fire investigations.

Jari also has experience reconstructing road traffic collisions, including vehicle examinations and 3D simulations with dynamic analysis using PC-Crash software.

He joined Hawkins in October 2025 as an Associate, based in our Italy office.

Originally from Italy, Andrea completed a MSci degree in Materials Science and Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge, undertaking short research projects on 3D-printed alloys and battery manufacturing during his studies. 

In 2021, he began his doctoral research within the Energy Materials Group at the University of St Andrews, focussing on ceramic processing and waste pyrolysis. He gained experience in high-temperature solid-state chemistry, combustion, gasifier operation and the fabrication of glass-ceramic components. Andrea is a member of the Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining and completed the Corrosion Science and Engineering MOOC from the University of Manchester. 

William gained a broad and deep understanding of materials science during his integrated master’s degree, specialising in high-resolution characterisation of aluminium alloys for his final-year research project. During this time, he completed internships across diverse fields, from battery and nuclear material development to data analysis for a professional cycling team.

Oscar began his career in Engineering with an apprenticeship as an Electrical Maintenance Engineer at Warburtons. His responsibilities included machine maintenance, installation, and breakdowns, covering a wide range of technologies used in an industrial bakery.

After completing his apprenticeship, Oscar pursued full time studies at The University of Nottingham, graduating with a First Class MEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. As part of his degree, he spent his second year at Concordia University, Montreal. In his final year, Oscar focused on power electronics and control, completing a dissertation on simulating and developing control methods for HVDC voltage converters. During his time at university, Oscar joined Siemens Digital Industries (DI) through the E3 Academy scheme, working with the company during university breaks.

Following his degree, Oscar joined Siemens as a Graduate Engineer. As part of the graduate scheme, Oscar spent a year in Berlin on Siemens’ International Tech Talents program. His work involved training on various Siemens technologies relevant to the Digital Industries branch, such as PLCs, Variable Speed Drives (VSDs), robotics, and a 9-month project focused on developing an Automated Guided Vehicle.

Upon returning to the UK, Oscar worked as a Field Service Engineer within the General Motion Control department of Siemens DI. In this role, he was part of a small team covering UK wide customer sites in the commissioning, servicing, and fault finding of VSDs, ranging in size from less than 1kW, to over 1MW. Oscar has gained experience across a multitude of industries, including power stations, water treatment, recycling plants, and mining /quarry operations. 

Oscar joined Hawkins in 2025, and is an Associate based in our Bristol office.

L’esperienza di Jari nelle investigazioni forensi è iniziata nel 2017 durante la laurea triennale, lavorando per LFoundry (SMIC), un produttore di semiconduttori da 200 mm, dove ha svolto il ruolo di Ingegnere di Processo durante il progetto di tesi di laurea. La sua ricerca si è concentrata sulla caratterizzazione della contaminazione da composti organici volatili (VOC) nell’area di fotolitografia. Attraverso analisi TD-GC/MS e di degasaggio termico su wafer di silicio prodotti in camera bianca, ha identificato la causa della contaminazione e sviluppato una strategia di mitigazione per gestirla e ridurla, contribuendo a potenziali risparmi significativi per l’azienda.

Durante la tesi di laurea magistrale, Jari ha preso parte a un programma di scambio presso la Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), dove ha sviluppato un indicatore matematico di resilienza per analizzare la vulnerabilità degli impianti chimici agli effetti domino, innescati sia da eventi di natura intenzionale che non. Il suo lavoro ha combinato la valutazione della resilienza con un’analisi costo-efficacia per la ricostruzione dei poli industriali a seguito di incidenti di entità rilevante.
Jari ha esperienza come consulente tecnico di parte (CTP) per conto di importanti compagnie assicurative, sia in procedimenti civili, che penali.

Durante le sue precedenti esperienze in Forensic Experts S.r.l. e Arson S.r.l., ha condotto oltre 400 investigazioni forensi relative a incendi ed esplosioni, sia in Italia che all’estero. Questi casi hanno spaziato da piccoli incidenti domestici a danni da diversi milioni di euro che hanno coinvolto esercizi commerciali, magazzini, impianti di processo, fabbriche, impianti fotovoltaici, turbine eoliche e aree boschive, incluse analisi di fluidodinamica computazionale condotte con FDS (Fire Dynamics Simulator) e indagini su incendi di natura intenzionale.

James graduated from Swansea University, with a BEng and an MSc in materials engineering. During his undergraduate studies, James completed a year-long internship with Airbus UK, gaining experience within both the part compliance and failure analysis teams.

After completing his Master’s degree, James earned a PhD in Materials Engineering at Imperial College London. His research focused on the development and characterisation of tungsten diboride ceramics, a highly effective neutron shielding material vital for the advancement of smaller spherical tokamak designs. In his thesis, he developed novel sintering manufacturing processes for tungsten diborides, enabling a number of mechanical and thermal properties to be experimentally characterised for the first time.

James’ PhD was partially funded by the Nuclear Energy Futures Centre for Doctoral Training, where he received specialist training from leading academics on key topics within the nuclear industry. He served as cohort representative, leading outreach activities including the Cambridge Science Festival and an exhibit at the Science Museum.

Following his PhD, James secured funding to continue as a postdoctoral researcher. His work focused on scaling up manufacturing processes industrial application and investigating the effect of varying the tungsten to boron ratio in his materials. James has published in two leading journals: Nuclear Fusion (IOP) and the Journal of the European Ceramic Society (Elsevier).

James joined Hawkins in November 2025 as an Associate based in our London office.

Chris graduated with a BSc in Cartography in 2007 and began his career in land and engineering surveying. He gained extensive commercial experience in 3D laser scanning, as-built CAD 3D modelling, and reverse engineering for major projects, including airport terminals, stadium construction, and mining, oil, and gas developments.

In 2012, Chris trained as a Police Constable with the Western Australian Police Force. In 2017, he joined their Major Crash Investigation Section as a Collision Reconstruction Officer, covering the world’s largest policing jurisdiction, sometimes travelling up to 3,000 kilometres to attend a collision. During this time, he completed credits towards a Diploma in Road Crash Investigation.

Chris relocated to the UK in 2018 and joined the Transport Research Laboratory as a Collision Investigator. Working primarily on a Department for Transport project, he conducted live and retrospective collision scene and vehicle examinations alongside police investigators. He applied forensic investigation techniques to determine the root cause of collisions and the injuries sustained by vehicle occupants and vulnerable road users, before recommending countermeasures. He has a particular interest in CCTV analysis and 3D reconstructions.

In 2020, Chris joined Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Constabulary as a Forensic Collision Investigator. He led scene examinations of fatal, serious injury, and police-involved collisions across Hampshire and Thames Valley Police areas. His responsibilities included reconstructing collisions and producing detailed reports, often presenting expert evidence in criminal trials and coronial inquests. Chris received multiple commendations for his collision reconstructions during his tenure.

Chris joined Hawkins in November 2025 and is an Associate Road Traffic Collision Investigator based in our Reigate office.

Ellie is a Civil Engineer with a strong specialism in highways design and engineering, supported by a broad background in urban realm improvement, active travel infrastructure, and utilities coordination.

Ellie’s career in highway engineering began at AECOM, where she undertook an internship within the Transport Hub, designing vehicle restraint barriers using the Road Restraint Risk Assessment Process (RRRAP) for the M6 J21–26A Smart Motorway scheme. Following this, Ellie completed her Master’s degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Manchester, graduating with first-class honours. Her degree covered a range of disciplines including Structures, Geotechnics, Hydraulics, Fire Engineering and Operations Management. For her master’s group project, Ellie specialised in highway design, developing optioneering designs for a road bypass in Broughton from concept design through to detailed design, utilising the DMRB, Traffic Signs Manual and TSRGD.

After graduating, Ellie joined Arcadis as part of their Graduate Programme within the Highways and Transportation team, gaining invaluable experience across a variety of projects. During a client secondment at Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, she worked as a Project Manager focused on business case development and funding approvals to support the growth of Ebbsfleet Garden City, with a strong emphasis on active travel strategy and green corridors. Ellie successfully gained approval for three business cases through the Infrastructure Investment Panel and Board, contributing significantly to the regeneration of pedestrian and cyclist facilities in the area.

Following this, Ellie worked as Utilities Manager for the G2S development area of HS2, where she was responsible for the design, management and assurance of utility diversions. She achieved Level 3 assurance sign-off for two major diversionary schemes and was recognised with the “People and Culture” award for her contribution to the team and project delivery.

Upon returning to the Urban Highways Design team, Ellie developed extensive experience across the full design lifecycle of highway infrastructure projects, from concept through to detailed design and construction support. Over five years, she worked predominantly as Design Engineer, Design Lead and multidisciplinary coordinator, delivering a range of high-profile urban realm and cycle/pedestrian safety improvement schemes across the UK. Her work included utilities coordination and design for the Oxford Street Programme, as well as active travel design on major client frameworks including Transport for London and local authorities.

Ellie has also taken on commercial responsibilities, managing change events and supporting fee preparation and bid submissions for new projects. She is CSCS-accredited and regularly supports on-site activities, providing technical assistance to contractors during the construction phase.

In addition to her technical and commercial work, Ellie has a strong passion for professional development and wellbeing. She led Arcadis’ Urban Highway Design Professional Development Forum for three years, focusing on both personal and professional growth within the team. Ellie was instrumental in organising training sessions, hosting guest speakers, and leading workshops and presentations on key industry topics. She also trained as a Mental Health First Aider and acted as a Wellbeing Advocate within her team, promoting positive workplace culture and support initiatives. Ellie has additionally volunteered with Coast to Capital providing assistance for their virtual work experience day as part of their STEM initiatives, delivering workshops for students to inspire future careers in the construction and engineering sectors.

Ellie is an Associate based in our London office.