Matthew Read

Dr Matthew Read serves as a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at City St George's, University of London, and is a member of the Center for Compressor Technology. He joined the institution as a Research Fellow in June 2012 and advanced to Lecturer in March 2016, maintaining continuous employment through the 2024 merger of City, University of London and St George's.

His academic qualifications include:

• PhD from Imperial College London (November 2006 – November 2010)
• MEng in Aerospace and Aerothermal Engineering from the University of Cambridge (September 2001 – July 2005)

Research Interests: Dr Read specializes in low-temperature power generation and waste heat recovery systems, with expertise in compressor and expander technologies for organic Rankine cycles (ORC) and supercritical carbon dioxide applications. His work integrates thermodynamic modeling with experimental validation to optimize energy conversion efficiency, particularly in industrial waste heat scenarios and hybrid power-train systems. Current projects focus on predictive tools for off-design performance of supersonic turbines and two-phase screw expanders.

Awards:

• Donald Julius Groen Prize 2021 (awarded by IMechE Fluid Machinery Group, 2022)

Research Funding: Dr Read secured EPSRC funding for the NextORC project (2017) investigating fundamental ORC expander design and the SCOTWOHR project (2021) developing supercritical CO₂ cycles for industrial waste heat recovery. NextORC established validated computational tools for predicting design-scaling and off-design performance of ORC systems, incorporating experimental testing of supersonic turbines and screw expanders into dynamic and techno-economic cycle simulations.

Laboratory Affiliation: As a core member of the Center for Compressor Technology, he contributes to experimental and theoretical research in rotating machinery design, with facilities supporting compressor/expander performance testing and thermodynamic cycle validation.