Speakers

Matthew has worked in vehicle safety for 35 years. Now as Strategic Development Director for Euro NCAP his role is focussed on developing new strategic safety goals for the organisation in its pursuit of its 2030 vision zero objective. His current focus is the implementation of a new Heavy Goods Vehicle program that will see European Trucks independently safety tested for the first time. Designed to address the growing number of vulnerable road user and car occupant crashes on European roads involving heavy commercial vehicles, the suite of tests will initially focus on active safety measures but move into passive safety in the future complimenting the commercial van tests already in the program. Matthew spent 35 years as Director of Research at Thatcham Research in the UK where he was instrumental in new whiplash tests subsequently adopted by consumer rating schemes globally. He then turned his attention to Active safety and was a pioneer in the development of tests for Car and Pedestrian AEB as well as Lane Support Systems integrated into Euro NCAP testing since 2014. Educated at Bournemouth University, Matthew has received numerous international awards for his vehicle safety work including the Prince Michael of Kent Road Safety Award, the NHTSA Special Award and the Automotive Safety Council’s, Pathfinder Award. Matthew regularly appears on TV and radio promoting vehicle safety issues encouraging all to take a safer route.

Luca Baroncelli  is the Operating Sector Manager of the Full Scale Sector in CSI and has been working in passive pafety for the past 27 years. He is also a qualified Euro NCAP  2nd Inspector and member of the Euro NCAP  frontal, side, and rescue working groups.

Aeronautical engineer from ESTACA, supplemented by a DEA in fluid mechanics. A short stint at UTAC in the 1980s as an approval and research engineer on protective helmets, then for 20 years within a French SME, manufacturer of PPE, as type approval manager then successively Quality Director, R&D Director, and Customer Service Director. Joining UTAC at the end of 1999 as Head of the Passive Safety department, then in 2006 Head of the Safety department and from July 2012 in charge of Regulatory Affairs for the UTAC Group. In addition to monitoring regulatory developments in Geneva, within the framework of the GRSP, or in Brussels, with the European Commission, Pierre was President of various international working groups, on frontal impact and the compatibility of light vehicles as well as on a new regulation for child restraint systems. Member of the board of directors of Euro NCAP from 2000 to 2022, he was its President from 2017 to the end of 2020 and still actively participates in the work of Euro NCAP by chairing technical groups (tertiary safety). Retired from UTAC at the end of 2017, since February 2020 he has been a member of the French Committee of Experts placed under the National Road Safety Council and the Interministerial Delegate for Road Safety.

Dirk-Uwe Gehring is co-founder and managing director of BGS Böhme & Gehring GmbH. BGS has over 20 years of experience in pedestrian protection. Dirk-Uwe Gehring is in charge of Euro NCAP testing, type approvals according to R(EC)78/2009 and UN-R 127 as well as development and research test programs. He is member of international working groups on pedestrian protection.

Mohanad Ismail is an Associate Director at WSP, with a strong track record in automotive safety, regulatory strategy, and transport innovation. He is both a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered Manager. As Chair of the Data for Road Safety (DFRS) Technical Group, Mohanad leads collaborative efforts to advance road safety across Europe. With extensive experience, he brings a unique perspective on harmonising technical excellence with strategic foresight. His work focuses on driving impactful change through data-driven insights, stakeholder engagement, and cross-functional leadership.

James Jackson is a specialist in automotive human factors and ergonomics. Following from studying human factors design at Loughborough University, he spent the first part of his career working in OEM product development focussing on vehicle usability and cabin design. He joined IDIADA in 2018 and now leads human factors activities, managing user centred design and testing. This involves responsibilities for work alongside industry partners concerning safety and mobility of transportation users, with driver behaviour and condition being of central focus. For Euro NCAP James is a member of the working groups for Occupant Status Monitoring and Human Factors / Human Machine Interaction.

Adriano Palao is an Automotive Engineer with over 10 years of experience in the Vehicle Testing and Validation domain. As a Technical Manager for ADAS & AD at Euro NCAP, he steers the many Working Groups related to Active Safety into developing ever-increasing requirements towards promoting enhanced vehicle safety.

Volker Sander has been head of the Vehicle Safety Department of ADAC, which includes active safety, passive safety and accident research, since 2010. Before that, from 1999-2007 he was in charge of the construction of ADAC’s crash test lab as a team manager. From 2007-2010 he led the Passive Safety Department of ADAC. At Euro NCAP he is a member of the Board of Directors and chairman of the frontal impact working group. In addition to that he is member of the side impact working group, the technical working group and the ratings group of Euro NCAP. He is also lecturer for vehicle safety at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich.

Richard Schram started his career as a consultant at TNO Automotive in 2005. From 2010 to 2021 he was Technical Manager and Technical Director at Euro NCAP. He has been back at Euro NCAP as Technical Director since January 2023, after a short period as Director of Product Safety at Arrival.