Future leaders in British hydrogen are set to take centre stage in Birmingham next week as Hydrogen UK honours achievements from across the sector.
The 2025 Hydrogen UK annual conference and awards will take place on 1 and 2 April at the Birmingham National Conference Centre (NCC).
In addition to showcasing the industry’s future leaders, the awards will recognise excellence in areas such as community engagement, innovation and transport.
In the Future Hydrogen Leader category, nominees include Bridie Haxby from Clean Power Hydrogen (CPH2), Hannah Bryson-Jones from Delta H, Koji Muto from Ki Hydrogen, Megan Backhouse from BOC UK & Ireland, and Sally O’Brien from SSE.
Future UK hydrogen leaders
Speaking to Energy Voice, Delta H founder and director Bryson-Jones said her focus is accelerating the commercial adoption of hydrogen, energy storage and green chemicals.
Prior to founding Delta H, Bryson-Jones worked on the hydrogen team at Element Energy where she helped to develop early demonstration projects across Europe.
She said she is “incredibly proud” of the team she has put together over the last two years.
“Consultancy is a trust-based business; when you start from scratch you have to hold yourself to an incredibly high standard,” Bryson-Jones said.
© Photographer: Sean Gallup/Getty“We have built a brand on a shoestring budget, word of mouth recommendations, and a lot of long hours and hard work.”
On the wider industry, Bryson-Jones said the UK government has shown strong support and provided a strategic direction for the low carbon hydrogen sector.
However, she said the government’s focus should now be “all about execution”.
“We need to avoid any delay and implement these policies as quickly as possible,” she said.
“Clarity and certainty on both support frameworks and their timelines for delivery allows private industry to make investments at the scale and pace needed to achieve decarbonisation targets.”
Industrial decarbonisation
Meanwhile, fellow nominee Megan Backhouse told Energy Voice that she wants to see more young people encouraged to pursue careers in hydrogen.
The BOC senior project engineer started her career as an apprentice in the Scunthorpe steelworks, which she applied for following a careers talk at school.
“If we can get them interested at that young age, they can have the opportunity to do what I did,” she said.
“I was fortunate that I was in industry and I knew where I wanted to go, so I directed a lot of my personal research into hydrogen.
© Supplied by EET Hydrogen“If they know about these things from college, from first going into university, it gives people the experience to come into the industry making a real impact.”
Having grown up in East Yorkshire, close to the Drax and Keadby power stations, Backhouse believes hydrogen can play a key role in securing a net zero future for UK heavy industry.
With many steelworks and power stations closing down across the UK in recent years, and with others still facing an uncertain future, Backhouse said supporting heavy industry to decarbonise is a driving force in her career in hydrogen.
“It’s heartbreaking seeing these old industries shut down, and even the Drax power station seeing the last coal waggon go in, that was bittersweet for everybody,” she said.
“Because yes, excellent, they’ve stopped using coal, but what is next?
“How do they replace that coal and make sure that the power station itself doesn’t meet the same fate that a lot of the others in the area, like Eggborough and Ferrybridge, already have?”
Hydrogen fuel switching
Backhouse started her career at BOC as part of early industrial hydrogen fuel switching projects within the cement and lime industries, and is now leading the design for second stage projects.
Her nomination for the Hydrogen UK awards is a sign that “people are noticing” her achievements, she said, and “not just the people that I work with”.
“It’s really taught me to reflect and look back on what I have done personally and how far I’ve come in the last few years,” Backhouse added.
“It’s beating that imposter syndrome and realising that maybe I do belong in this industry and know a bit more than I like to admit to at times.”
Advice for other future leaders
As for the advice they would give to other young professionals working in the hydrogen sector, both Bryson-Jones and Backhouse said it is important to ask questions and show a willingness to learn.
“Work hard, ask questions, and keep an entrepreneurial mindset – we need everyone to be working to achieve decarbonisation and the opportunities to accelerate your career in the hydrogen sector are effectively unlimited,” Bryson-Jones said.
“Experience is invaluable, but so is the ability to bring people together, solve problems, and get things done.”
Meanwhile, Backhouse encouraged young people to “take every opportunity that is given to you”.
“If you get the opportunity to go out into [existing] industry… take that and start thinking about how the old and the new can come together,” she said.
“Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and ask the questions.
“What you’ll find is that people want to improve you, they want to help young engineers within the industry, they want to train the next generation.
“But you have to put yourself out there, you’ve got to show that you’re willing. It’s not just going to fall into your lap.”
2025 Hydrogen UK Awards
Meanwhile, Hydogen UK’s nominees for the 2025 Hydrogen Person of the Year include Nick Van Dijk from Oort Energy, Qamar Khan from CPH2, Richard Holden from EET Hydrogen, and the management team of the Hydrogen Autoclave Project, a partnership between the University of Manchester and Arcadis.
The full list of 2025 award nominees is available at the Hydrogen UK website.
