Richard Critchley is a senior lecturer in impact and explosive engineering at Cranfield University, who previously worked as a lecturer in mechanical engineering at the University of the West of England and a project engineer in industry for an SME. He is the holder of a PhD in mechanical engineering from Southampton University, which focused on bioinspired technologies for mitigating behind-armour blunt trauma. He is a subject matter expert in the field of force protection and blast engineering and is a chartered member of the IMechE. He has extensive experience in teaching all levels of higher education and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Authority. He has supervised over 50 students at all levels of higher education in research topics including natural fibres for ballistic protection, novel infills for helmets, and 3D printing of novel lattice structures for blast mitigation. He has authored numerous papers in his academic career in areas including blast mitigation, auxetic materials, and impact mechanics, and collaborates with several defence partners, including DSTL and DE&S.
Nicholas Márquez-Grant has a BA Hons in Archaeology and Education from the University of York, a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from the University of Bradford, an MSc in Osteology, Palaeopathology and Funerary Archaeology from the University of Sheffield, and a DPhil in Biological Anthropology/Archaeology from the University of Oxford. From 2008 to 2013, he worked full-time as a forensic anthropologist and archaeologist for two major forensic science providers in the UK, attending crime scenes and mortuaries for several police forces in England and Wales. He is a Chartered Forensic Anthropologist, as recognized by the RAI (UK). He continues to consult for police forces, forensic science providers, and NGOs in the UK and abroad. He is also a Research Associate at the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography at the University of Oxford, where he has been teaching since 2001. In 2013, he was employed by Cranfield University as a Lecturer in Forensic Anthropology, with promotion to Reader/Associate Professor in 2023.
