Professor Will Drury
Chief Executive Officer
Power Networks Demonstration Centre
Personal statement
Will is a leading expert in PEMD, with extensive experience in energy systems, electrification, and innovation strategy. As CEO of the Power Networks Demonstration Centre (PNDC), and Professor of Practice at the University of Strathclyde, he drives cutting-edge research and commercialisation in power networks, renewable integration, and transport electrification, accelerating the transition to net-zero energy systems.
Prior to PNDC, Will served as Executive Director for Digital & Technologies at Innovate UK, where he managed a multi-hundred-million-pound investment portfolio spanning AI, semiconductors, quantum, future telecoms, and cybersecurity. He also led the Driving the Electric Revolution Challenge, strengthening UK PEMD supply chains across automotive, aerospace, energy, and industrial sectors.
Earlier in his career, Will spent eight years at Ricardo, a leading global engineering consultancy, where he held senior roles including Head of Electronics & Electric Machines. At Ricardo, he led power electronics R&D, working with automotive, rail, marine, and industrial clients to develop next-generation electrification and energy solutions.
Will is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the IET and Senior Member of the IEEE, with a PhD from the University of Bristol. He regularly speaks at global events on power electronics, smart grids, and electrification, sharing insights on how innovation can drive sustainable energy transformation.
Qualifications
MEng PhD CEng FIET SMIEEE
Publications
- High Power Density, 48V Electrified Drivetrain Technology for Future Hybrid and Electric Vehicles
- Drury William, Patel Chintanbhai, Atkins Andrew, Wearing Anthony
- SAE Technical Papers Vol 1, pp. 55-60 (2019)
- https://doi.org/10.4271/2019-26-0034
- Deploying SiC BJTs in an 800-V switched-mode power supply for hybrid & electric vehicles
- Hopkins Andrew, McNeill Neville, Drury William D, Atkins Andrew
- 2017 IEEE 26th International Symposium on Industrial Electronics (ISIE) IEEE 26th International Symposium on Industrial Electronics, pp. 1431-1438 (2017)
- https://doi.org/10.1109/ISIE.2017.8001456
- Adaptive sensorless position estimation of a field-weakened permanent magnet machine over an extended temperature range
- Drury WD, Holliday D, Drury D, Mellor PH
- 5th IET International Conference on Power Electronics, Machines and Drives (PEMD 2010) 5th IET International Conference on Power Electronics, Machines and Drives (PEMD 2010) (2010)
- https://doi.org/10.1049/cp.2010.0110
- An adaptive structure based sensorless position estimator for permanent magnet machines in aerospace applications
- Drury Will, Holliday Derrick, Drury David, Mellor Philip
- IEEE International electric machines and drives conference, 2009. IEMDC '09. Proceedings IEEE International Electric Machines and Drives Conference 2009 (IEMDC '09), pp. 1264-1269 (2009)
- https://doi.org/10.1109/IEMDC.2009.5075365
- A comparison of a flux observer with a back-emf technique for sensorless rotor position estimation
- Drury W D, Holliday D, Mellor P H
- 41st International Universities Power Engineering Conference, UPEC 2006, Conference Procedings 41st International Universities Power Engineering Conference, UPEC 2006 41st International Universities Power Engineering Conference, UPEC 2006, Conference Procedings Vol 2, pp. 714-718 (2007)
- https://doi.org/10.1109/UPEC.2006.367572
Professional Activities
- Net Zero is upon us, we have done much, but we have so much more to do!
- Invited speaker
- 26/11/2025
- IEEE Tech Summit 2025
- Speaker
- 2/10/2025
- Ofgem (External organisation)
- Member
- 1/10/2025
- 10th IEEE Workshop on the Electronic Grid
- Speaker
- 30/9/2025
- Power Electronics: The Backbone of Future Energy Systems
- Speaker
- 9/7/2025
- PNDC: A replica environment for innovation validation
- Invited speaker
- 10/6/2025
Projects
- CETP Grid Scale-up
- MacKinnon, Calum (Co-investigator) Benghalia, Gladys (Co-investigator) Jones, Kit (Co-investigator) Knight, Richard (Co-investigator) Drury, Will (Principal Investigator) Nikolov, Aleksandar (Co-investigator) Dowson, Martin (Principal Investigator) Cantwell, Paul (Principal Investigator) Agzennai Soares, Samir (Co-investigator)
- In pursuit of the energy transition, £40 bn is to be annually invested in the GB power system to help meet the UK Government's mission for clean energy. Global supply chains are already under strain from similar aspirations internationally, such that demand for power system assets and equipment is likely to exceed available supply capacities. In turn, supply constraints could delay infrastructure upgrades and hence risk clean energy ambitions.
This project lists, and then quantifies, volumes of power system assets required to meet existing plans for new infrastructure, before estimating associated economic opportunities, all of which is supported by engagement with industry representatives. Together this reveals where market failures arise in global supply chains when faced with significantly scaling demand.
This £183,000 project is an early example of collaboration among industry-facing University centres on behalf of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, and draws on contributions from across a 'triple-helix' of interests in UK-based and international supply chains, from: academia; catapults; SMEs; OEMs; network operators; and the UK Government forming a Grid Industrial Growth Plan aligned to the UK's Modern Industrial Strategy. - 02-Jan-2024 - 31-Jan-2026
Contact
Professor
Will
Drury
Chief Executive Officer
Power Networks Demonstration Centre
Email: will.drury@strath.ac.uk
Tel: Unlisted