Lionel Clarke is responsible for facilitating the planning and delivery of strategic research and technology programmes to Shell across the ‘Biodomain’ (‘Biofuels and other biotechnology applications’), deploying internal and external resources to deliver innovative solutions to market. He leads Shell’s global biomass team.
Prior to joining Shell, Dr. Clarke studied physics at Imperial London, then researched catalysis fundamentals via electron diffraction at the Cavendish Laboratory Cambridge, culminating in the publication of his monograph ‘Surface Crystallography’.  He was elected to a Research Fellowship in Cambridge University and awarded a Royal Society European Research Fellowship which he pursued at the Université Scientifique et Médicale de Grenoble, France.   He is now based at the Shell Technology Centre Thornton, UK.

Within Shell he has worked extensively at the interface between fuels and engines, designing and supporting transport fuels initiatives, including the worldwide removal and replacement of leaded gasoline, and the introduction of cleaner and improved performance fuels in developed and developing markets.  Working with the Brazilian fuels market for a number of years gave him early first-hand experience of the potential as well as practical issues associated with the use of bio-fuels.  He has been responsible for establishing numerous research links with universities consistent with an Open Innovation approach to research and development. He has been responsible for facilitating the planning and delivery of strategic research programmes including bio-fuels and other applications within Shell for more than ten years.