WHO WE ARE
Innovators Passionate About
Advancing a Net Zero Society.
Our Story
Humble Beginnings
Our story begins in 2018 at the University of Oxford. Three innovative students came together at Oxford’s Thermofluids Institute — one of the UK’s premier institutes for aerospace technology.
It was through their collaboration and shared passion for sustainability that Qdot Technology was born.
Flying Far and High
Qdot’s vision is simple: to enable clean flight.
But our story is far from finished.
At Qdot, we believe that hybrid propulsion systems are the sustainable solution. Our emission-free hybrid electric propulsion systems improve aircraft efficiency and performance.
To date, we have raised over £1.6M in pre-seed funding, over £2.6M in grant funding, and £700,000 from consulting to develop Qdot’s core technologies. Our high-value tech innovations have also received recognition across other industries. Currently, Qdot supports Tokamak Energy in engineering critical systems for their nuclear fusion reactor.
At Qdot, we believe that doing good is a great investment.
Meet the Team
Leadership

Dr. Jack Nicholas
Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Holt Wong
Co-founder, Chief Operating Officer

Strategy and Business Development Officer
Engineering

Head of Materials & Manufacture

Dr. Daniel Fahy
Lead Aerothermal Engineer

Dr. Martin Rogall
Lead Battery Engineer
Advisory Board

Tom Zhou
Manufacturing Research Engineer
Tom joined Qdot in 2020 after earning his integrated engineering master’s degree, with a specialization in heat recovery and thermofluids, from the University of Oxford. Tom also leverages the knowledge in materials sourcing and procurement that he acquired through multiple process optimization and lean manufacturing and logistics internships at Roll-Royce to help build a resilient supply chain.

Zachary Jackson
Aerothermal Research Engineer
Zach has a background in heat transfer research in the aerothermal and fusion fields, with a particular focus on developing experimental test systems. He is currently undertaking a Ph.D. in heat transfer at the Oxford Thermofluids Institute, where he manages a state-of-the-art laser testing facility while investigating the heat transfer performance of supercritical carbon dioxide under intense thermal loads

Dr. Martin Rogall
Head of Battery Development
After earning an electrical engineering degree in Germany, and a doctorate specializing in battery packs at WMG, Martin joined Qdot Technology, combining an extensive academic and industrial prowess to design sustainable and higher energy density batteries that enable the transition to affordable clean aviation.

Dr. Daniel Fahy
Head of Aerothermal Engineering
Daniel joined Qdot in 2020 after earning his doctorate at the University of Oxford’s Thermofluids Institute, where his work focused on heat transfer in gas turbines. He was awarded the ‘Best Thesis in Heat Transfer’ by the UK National Heat Transfer Committee, as well as numerous international awards including the Stratasys Design Challenge and the Airbus Challenge.

Alasdair Morrison
Head of Materials & Manufacture
Dr. Alasdair Morrison is Head of Materials & Manufacture for Qdot.
He brings a background in the development of materials and manufacturing processes for critical components in nuclear and aerospace.
Alasdair leads Qdot’s use of additive manufacture in new concepts.

Dr. Jack Nicholas
CEO
Jack earned his Ph.D. at the University of Oxford developing heat transfer technology for nuclear fusion reactors. After completing his doctorate, he served as a research fellow at the University of Oxford where he led the design of a £1 million facility for testing next-generation gas turbine materials in collaboration with industry.

Prof. Peter Ireland
CSO
Peter is Head of the Oxford Thermofluids Institute and holds the Donald Schultz Chair in Turbomachinery. He is a Fellow of St. Catherine’s College, the Institute of Mechanical Engineering, and the Royal Academy of Engineering.
At the University of Oxford, his research group has focussed on the technologies used to cool aero-engines and to decarbonise flight. He has published more than 230 refereed papers, supervised 28 D.Phil. doctoral graduates, and is a co-inventor for over 25 patents. He directly supervises a group of 16 students and postdoctoral researchers.
Between 2007 and 2011 he was the UK Corporate Specialist in Heat Transfer at Rolls-Royce Aerospace where he held the senior heat transfer specialist role for projects involving turbines, fuel cells, nuclear power, fire modeling, manufacture, instrumentation, heat exchangers, power electronic cooling and combustion.
Peter co-founded two companies that spun out from the University of Oxford.

Dr. Holt Wong
COO
Holt conducted his doctoral studies at the OTI on aerospace thermal management. There, he developed novel intellectual property and experimental techniques that have since been adopted in academia and industry to improve cooling effectiveness in the most challenging part of the gas turbine engine and increase fuel efficiency.
He co-founded Qdot in order to use our combined thermal management IP and expertise to aggressively advance the development of clean energy, from nuclear fusion power to zero-carbon-emissions flight.

Strategy and Business Development Officer
Omar is leveraging his MBA from the University of Oxford and his chemical engineering degree from the University of Waterloo to bridge the technical and commercial aspects of Qdot.
In addition to founding and managing a sustainable materials company, he has served as a process engineer and project engineer on the construction of a $920 million froth treatment facility, and as the project engineer for projects totaling $458 million in the Oil Sands Patch in Alberta.

Advisor
Robert is currently Octopus Investments’ Director for the Middle East, leading Octopus’ relationships across all asset classes with Middle Eastern investors.
Prior to Octopus, Robert was a senior British diplomat specialising in Gulf investment into the UK. He spent four years as the UK Government’s Head of Investment for Saudi Arabia, and two years as the Director for Investment Middle East, based in the UAE, during which time he played a leading role in securing the £10 billion UAE-UK Sovereign Investment Partnership. He was awarded an MBE in the 2020 Queen’s Honours for services to UK Trade and Investment.
Prior to his government service, Robert spent five years in London working for a number of investment banks, including UBS and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Robert holds degrees from the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and the London School of Economics.

John Patterson
Strategy Advisor
John Patterson is a former Army officer whose final appointment was as a board member and executive director responsible for a £3.5bn pa portfolio including information systems; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. John now advises innovative tech companies, including experts in engineering; machine learning; medical technology; space, surveillance, and uncrewed systems. He is on the advisory board of the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund and of Bean Partners, a strategy and corporate finance advisory firm. He’s also a Non-Executive Director and Trustee of Stop the Traffik, a UK-based global charity dedicated to ending human trafficking; and is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.