Our People

ConnectFlow Experts

Pete Appleyard Pete Appleyard is the software manager for ConnectFlow. He has a background in Physics and works primarily on development of ConnectFlow and modelling projects. He has developed, tested and verified numerous product releases and new software developments, and has done extensive modelling using ConnectFlow for customers in the UK, Sweden and Finland, in addition to responding to support queries from ConnectFlow users.
David Applegate Dr David Applegate is the lead developer for ConnectFlow. He is a computational physicist specialising in radionuclide transport and groundwater modelling, with over 15 years of experience. His most recent development within ConnectFlow is the implementation of solute transport within combined CPM-DFN models. David is highly profficient using a diverse set of tools for software development, including Fortran, Java, Perl, Python and the MPI library for parallel programming.
Hannah Woollard Dr Hannah Woollard is the team leader of the Disposal Concepts and Models team at Jacobs. She has worked on a variety of modelling projects both nationally, for LLW Repository Ltd., Sellafield Ltd., the NDA and NuGen, and internationally, for SKB and Posiva. She currently concentrates on leading the work on hydrogeological modelling of Quaternary deposits in Cumbria, using continuous porous medium (CPM) models in ConnectFlow.
Khalil Ghabaee Dr Khalil Ghabaee is a Senior Technical Consultant with 33 years wide ranging experience in thermal-hydraulic and structural modelling. Most of his work has been connected with UK's civil nuclear power program, supporting the continued operation, improved performance and safety of the operating or planned reactors, radioactive waste transport flasks thermal and structural performance analyses, and groundwater and contaminant transport analyses associated with the radioactive Geological Disposal Facilities (GDF). He is now part of Jacobs's ConnectFlow software development team, involved in developing and testing the software used in groundwater flow and transport simulation.
Peter Jackson Dr Peter Jackson is an acknowledged expert on the modelling of groundwater flow and solute transport, and on performance assessments for underground repositories for radioactive waste, with over 40 years experience. He has undertaken many studies for customers including Nirex, SKB in Sweden, and ANDRA in France. He had overall technical responsibility for modelling carried out for the Nirex 97 assessment for a potential repository at Sellafield. He was a hydrogeological consultant for the Low-Level Waste Repository (LLWR) in support of their 2011 Environmental Safety Case. Peter is also an expert mathematical modeller.
Simon Watson Simon Watson is a Mathematical Modelling Consultant who joined Jacobs in 2021, after receiving his First-Class integrated Masters in Mathematics from the University of Bath. Throughout his degree, Simon developed modelling expertise in a variety of fields including Climate Modelling, the subject of his Masters thesis, which involved building and solving complex heat flux models. Simon now provides expertise in using ConnectFlow in groundwater flow modelling, as well as using other modelling tools such as GoldSim and COMSOL.
Adam Paxton Dr Adam Paxton is a mathematical modeller who joined Jacobs in 2021, following previous research work in numerical climate modelling. He has a DPhil in pure mathematics from the University of Oxford, where he specialised in geometric analysis and partial differential equations. He has a wide range of interests spanning mathematics, physics, and the environment.
Joseph Elmes Dr Joseph Elmes is a Mathematical Modelling Consultant and joined Jacobs in 2022. Before joining Jacobs, Joseph completed a PhD in Applied Mathematics at the University of Leeds. Joseph has a strong background in analytical and numerical modelling of geophysical fluid dynamics. As part of his PhD, Joseph investigated idealised mathematical models to improve the performance of ocean-atmosphere circulation models. This required developing software implementing (discontinuous Galerkin) finite-element methodology, along with generating variable-resolution meshes along coastal regions.
Tanu Singh Dr Tanu Singh is a Mathematical Modelling Consultant who joined Jacobs in 2022. Prior to this, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Technical University of Munich specialising in flow and transport modelling in subsurface systems and uncertainty quantification, after completing her PhD at the University of Birmingham. Tanu works within a groundwater modelling team and is primarily involved in projects that use Connectflow.

Wider expertise

Chris Coleman Dr Chris Coleman is a Chartered Geologist specialising in the development of 3D digital geological models used for engineering decision making and hydrogeological studies. He has an expertise in Quaternary geology and geomorphology. Chris has extensive experience of site characterisation delivery, including geophysical techniques, as well as the integration and management of site characterisation data and communication of variability and uncertainty in ground conditions to clients.
Andrew Hoch Dr Andrew Hoch is a theoretical physicist with over three decades' experience of working on a range of issues surrounding the disposal of radioactive waste (corrosion of waste containers, groundwater flow and transport, geochemical evolution of the near field, and gas generation and migration), for clients both in the UK and overseas. Andrew has a unique background in the modelling of both physical and chemical processes in geological disposal facilities.
Ben Swift Ben Swift has over 20 years' experience of working on nuclear waste packaging and disposal issues, for organisations both in the UK and overseas. Much of his work has concerned waste package issues during all stages of the life-cycle, including storage, transport and following disposal in a facility. Ben is an expert in both developing and applying models for a wide range of processes important to the behaviour of waste packages, and in particular in modelling gas generation from radioactive waste materials.
Simon Myers Dr Simon Myers is a mathematical modeller who works on a variety of projects for customers in the nuclear industry. Simon has developed and updated software toolkits, including SMOGG (gas generation calculation), TDT (Thermal Dimensioning Tool), and supports Jacobs' groundwater modelling team, including the implementation of new functionality in ConnectFlow.
Javier Rodriguez Corral Dr Javier Rodriguez Corral joined Jacobs in 2019 as a geological modelling consultant. In addition to providing support on ConnectFlow modelling projects, he has significant experience with several modelling packages for geotechnical design such as PLAXIS, LUSAS and Settle3D.
JieJie Wu Dr Jiejie Wu joined the team as a Mathematical Modelling Consultant after completing her PhD at the University of Manchester. Jiejie has been providing mathematical models for thermal (T), hydraulic (H) and mechanical (M) processes in the geological disposal facilities, underground water safety assessments, and other geological disposal projects. She is an expert in the use of finite element modelling tool, COMSOL Multiphysics, which can be used to solve a wide range of physics problems.