Professor Simon Weeks

Simon was appointed Chief Technology Officer in September 2014, assuming responsibility for the ATI’s technology direction. Simon leads the definition of the UK’s national aerospace technology strategy and provides thought leadership for the ATI’s technical output.

Simon’s professional career, of which over half has been in aerospace research and technology, has equipped him with a global network of contacts within industry, government and academia. This helps to ensure that the ATI remains at the forefront of setting the UK’s technology strategy for aerospace. Simon was appointed Visiting Professor in Engineering Sciences at the University of Oxford in December 2020, chairs the NATEP National Steering Board and is a member of the Warwick Manufacturing Group Advisory Board.

Prior to joining the ATI Simon spent most of his professional career in Rolls-Royce, most recently as Head of Aerospace Research & Technology, leading the global research and technology programme for future jet engines for Rolls-Royce. Before this Simon held other senior technical leadership roles including Director of Engineering Operations for Aero Engine Controls (a RR-Goodrich joint venture) and Technical Director for Eurojet in Munich (leading the development of the EJ200 engine for the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft). Seeing (and hearing) the Typhoon fly with those engines is still one of his career highlights!

Simon is a chartered engineer and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He gained a MA in Chemistry and a DPhil in the Electro-Chemistry of Fuel Cells at Oxford University.