Matt Rooney leads the IMechE’s Engineering Policy Unit. He works closely with the Director of Policy and Impact and the IMechE’s expert member committees to develop policy positions for the Institution. He also manages relationships with key external stakeholders and works with the communications team to promote the IMechE in the media.
He is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer and holds an MPhil in Technology Policy from the University of Cambridge and an Meng in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering from the Queen’s University of Belfast.
After spending six years as a mechanical engineer working on the design and manufacture of components for particle accelerators at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Matt returned to university to study technology policy. The main focus of his research was on deployment strategies for new energy technologies, with case studies including carbon capture and storage and small modular reactors. Following this, he spent 18 months as an Energy Policy Research Fellow at the prominent think tank Policy Exchange in Westminster before joining IMechE in May 2018.
He is a British Science Association Media Fellow, having worked briefly as a science journalist with Times Higher Education. His other media work includes appearances on BBC News, BBC World Service, and the Naked Scientist. He has had articles published in BusinessGreen, Professional Engineering, and The Engineer and he has been quoted in the Financial Times and on the BBC News website.