Dr Sam Brooks is part of the Connected Factories (MSCF) Project in DIAL, focusing on the VOOM demonstrator. For the past three years, he has worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at City, University of London, developing the concept of self-engineering systems. Self-engineering includes systems that can self-repair, self-adapt and self-heal in response to a loss of function. Inspiration was drawn from nature and engineering research to design mechanisms for food processing, wind energy and power transmission industries. He supervised several MSc projects with industry partners, including Frazer Nash, Future Pipe, WCIT and Engineers Without Borders. At the beginning of 2022, he was awarded Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. In 2021 he worked with appliance manufacturers and the Department for Business and Industrial Strategy, researching for the Fridge 2050 project. Previously he obtained his PhD in Mechanical Engineering, which focused on creating alternative ice slurry production methods from the University of Bristol. Alongside his PhD, he completed a placement designing and constructing the first Aeroponics R&D farm in the UK in Bristol.