Welcome
Cooke Associates is a network of consultants delivering to three sectors; Sports Engineering, Sustainable Engineering and Management Development.
Alison gives lectures for a number of organisations based on her engineering experience, including for Carnival UK on cruise ships. The slides for these talks can be found at the links below:
Alison was until recently (2011-2019) a trustee of the Mayden Foundation: a not for profit charity whose primary objective is to provide free-to-use web information services for the public benefit. For more information, and to look at the projects that the foundation is working on, follow this link.
Sustainable Engineering
Cooke Associates CO20 Project in 2021


Dr Alison Cooke, founder of Cooke Associates, has recently been working in the following areas:
1. Energy & Climate Change - PPL PWR SCL CLB
2. Climate Change & the UN - PPL PWR SCL CLB
3. Sustainable energy - PPL PWR SCL CLB
4. Wingsail Technology - PPL PWR SCL CLB
Previously, Dr Alison Cooke has worked in the following areas:
- Energy Efficiency in the Built Environment (EEBE): this project looked at how energy would be used in buildings in 2050, what are and how to overcome the barriers to energy efficiency and how policy can improve energy efficiency in buildings.
- The Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership (CISL): CISL is an institution dedicated to working with leaders from business, government and civil society on the critical global challenges of the 21st century.
YOUTH CLIMATE SUMMIT 2020:
- Dr Anna Hands, an associate in our network, was invited to give a talk for the Youth Climate Summit in her capacity as Director of PPL PWR (More information can be found at People Power pages). Coordinated by the environmental charity Global Action Plan and a team of dedicated teachers, the Youth Climate Summit was a free, week-long virtual festival (9-13th November 2020) of themed discussions and activities, aimed towards primary and secondary aged children. This official event, took place instead of COP26 that has been postponed till November 2021 and the event provided over 160 free online sessions over the 5 day period.
- A more detailed report can be found in our Sustainable Engineering pages under Youth Climate Summit 2020, including a thorough report of Anna Hands' insightful talk called 'Ingredients to make a Change'.
Dr Anna Hands, one of Alison Cooke's associates, gave a recent TedX talk which looks at climate change with the theme 'Resilience Amidst Disruption' and titled 'Combating the climate crisis through community' on Saturday, March 27th, available via this link.
Tom Hands, another Cooke Associate, is currently involved in a project with People Power that looks at creating a cheap particulate air sensor to help map out the air quality in Camden Town in London. He specifically worked as part of a data team looking to use extrapolate things from data that would collect the data and present it in useful ways for the local council to use.
Sports Engineering
In 2013, the Sports Engineering educational resources developed by Cooke Associates were made available in the eLibrary of the National STEM Centre of the University of York, in association with Mayden Foundation:
- Sportscience and Engineering in Education
- The Science of Tennis
- The Physics of Tennis
- The Physics of Spin in Sport
Sports Engineering projects range from creation of a number of interactive education packages to consultancy on development of wingsail technology.
Alison Cooke, the founder of Cooke Associates, was until 2005 a member of the Executive Committee of the International Sports Engineering Association, which manages the journal Sports Engineering and related conferences, this included being a member of its editorial board. She was also Director of Sports Engineering Research at Cambridge University from 1999-2000.
Watch this video about 'what tennis pros look at when they pick a ball', released in June 2021. This gives a little insight into professional tennis players perspective of what makes a better tennis ball and the physics behind it.
Management Development
Management Development Projects include:
- Developing leadership skills for Manufacturing Industry in association with the Manufacturing Leaders' Programme, Cambridge University
- Culture management in Higher Education
- Change management and management communications for the National Health Service
- Mentoring workshops and work on Careers Management issues for Cambridge University
Alison Cooke was an industrial tutor and course leader for Industrial Systems, Manufacture and Management (ISM – previously ACDMM) at Cambridge. In this post she managed in excess of 120 collaborative projects with industry ranging from multinational companies to small high tech companies. From 1991 to 1994 she was also the RTZ Industrial Fellow in Manufacturing Strategy.
Alison Cooke has published a number of articles on Management Development. She has also mentored for the Marie Edwards college as an alumni in 2020 - link to programme.