New MP for North Somerset and Bath Pharmacy graduate, Sadik Al-Hassan, visited IAAPS at the Bristol & Bath Science Park on Thursday 29 May for a tour of the world-class facilities and an overview of the University’s world-leading aviation and hydrogen research, expertise and capabilities.
With Bristol Airport within his constituency, Sadik is particularly keen to champion the potential of hydrogen as a future fuel source for aviation and to decarbonising flight. He recently called for a Parliamentary debate focused on the opportunities and challenges of developing hydrogen for aviation.
Decarbonising aviation
As air travel is projected to grow substantially in the coming years, reducing emissions and decarbonising flight remain pressing challenges. Sadik believes hydrogen-powered aviation could simultaneously drive economic growth, create jobs, attract investment, and meet the UK’s net zero targets.
Hydrogen combustion emits only water vapour and no CO₂, making it zero carbon at the point of use. While electric aircraft are also in development, the significant energy demands of flying mean battery-powered solutions remain impractical for mid- to long-range flights.
However, substantial engineering challenges remain — including aircraft design, hydrogen production, and storage — before hydrogen-powered flight becomes a reality. IAAPS and the University of Bath are playing a leading role in addressing these challenges and are planning to expand their capabilities in the near future.
World-leading propulsion research
IAAPS is a world-leading centre of excellence supporting the transport sector’s decarbonisation across all sectors. A wholly owned commercial subsidiary, it builds on over 40 years of propulsion systems research at Bath and is set to rank among the top three independent research and innovation centres of its kind globally.
Working alongside industry partners, IAAPS is also a leader in hydrogen research and development. Its green hydrogen production plant – the first of its kind in the South West – can produce up to 10kg of hydrogen gas per hour, powering the centre’s research and innovation needs.
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This includes projects focused on cryogenic hydrogen – cooling hydrogen to extremely low temperatures to produce liquid hydrogen. The team is also developing a funding bid to support UK aerospace in developing, testing, and certifying net-zero propulsion technologies, with a focus on liquid hydrogen and hybrid-electric propulsion systems.
Extensive hydrogen expertise
Beyond IAAPS, Bath is also home to broader hydrogen and aviation R&D through projects such as UK-HyRES, GW-SHIFT, both led by Prof Tim Mays, and Zero Emission: The Next Generation of Integrated Technology for Hydrogen Research (ZENITH), led by Prof Richard Butler.
During his visit to IAAPS, Sadik toured the facilities and learnt more about the University’s historic and ongoing hydrogen and aviation research, as well as its future ambitions. He was joined on the tour by Prof Rob Oliver (IAAPS Managing Director), Prof Xiaoze (Shirley) Pei (Professor in Sustainable Transport) and Prof Richard Butler (Professor of Aerospace Composites).
Commenting afterwards he said: “It was great to visit the IAAPS facility - a true model of British innovation that highlights our future role as a global tech hub. As a University of Bath alumnus, I'm particularly proud to see how IAAPS Ltd, as a subsidiary of the University, brings together international partners to develop novel solutions for the challenges facing our world today.
“I remain passionate about developing and accelerating hydrogen's role as a future aviation fuel, helping us achieve our climate ambitions while providing sustainable transport for all our futures."
Prof Rob Oliver (IAAPS Managing Director) said: “We were delighted to welcome Sadik to IAAPS to showcase to him how we are addressing pressing challenges in transport decarbonisation, whilst also supporting skills and investment in the region.
“Decarbonising aviation represents a significant engineering challenge, and at IAAPS we are actively working with our network of commercial partners to help address this. The development and adoption of hydrogen for future flight offers a real opportunity for IAAPS, the University of Bath more broadly and the wider region.”
Prof Xiaoze Pei added: “Our ambition is to achieve cryogenic and superconducting electric propulsion systems for hydrogen aviation. We think there is a unique opportunity here at IAAPS with the University of Bath to develop, test and mature these enabling technologies to help decarbonise aviation – and we’re excited to work with Sadik to help advance this work at pace.”
Sadik graduated from the University of Bath’s MPharm in 2007 and subsequently worked in pharmacy roles spanning nearly two decades. He also served at the University as a Practice Placement Tutor for Pharmacy between 2018-22.