Susan Brench, Akemi Associates

Background

Since founding Akemi Associates in 2018 Susan has successfully established a portfolio of interests. Building on the foundations of over 30 years' experience in the manufacturing sector; commercial management, stakeholder engagement, marketing and international business development. Throughout her career Susan has worked with clients across the globe including Europe, the USA, and Japan. Her expertise is derived primarily from the chemical manufacturing sector and she has also worked for 2 major UK financial institutions.

A Physical Natural Sciences – Chemical Engineering graduate from the University of Cambridge, Susan passionately believes in the importance of innovation in science & engineering, as applied to the manufacturing sector, for building a more sustainable society.

Mentoring of start-up businesses is a particular focus. In 2019 Susan took on the challenge of driving the former University of York green chemistry spin out, Starbons Ltd, towards commercial success by taking on the role of CEO. She is also on the Advisory Board of Women in Chemicals and seeks to promote diversity and visibility to attract women and girls into STEM careers.

Kevin Matthews, Scott Bader

Background

Kevin is Group CEO of Scott Bader Company Ltd, a speciality polymers business, and a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Vectura plc, a listed specialist contract development business. Kevin has more than 25 years’ experience in senior management roles in the chemical, technology, and pharmaceutical sectors.

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Kevin has a strong interest in commercialising technology. He has previously held CEO roles at technology companies including Itaconix plc, an AIM listed biobased polymers business, Isogenica, an antibody drug discovery company and Oxonica plc, an advanced materials business.

Previously, Kevin served as a Non-Executive Director and Remuneration Committee chair of Low & Bonar plc, a FTSE listed performance materials business and Elementis plc, a FTSE 250 specialty chemicals business. He also served as a Non-Executive Director of Cellectricon AB, a Swedish biotechnology company dedicated to drug discovery and research in the areas of chronic pain and neurodegenerative disease.

Nima Roohpour, Reckitt Benckiser

Background

Nima Roohpour is the Head of the Polymer and Formulation Science Platform at Reckitt, he is responsible for the finding and evaluation of inventions and new technologies/products and identifying innovation partners for Reckitt health and nutrition businesses. Passionate about scientific breakthroughs, Nima has worked with many health-tech start-ups negotiating partnerships and commercialisation, he is continually looking for the next big ideas, identifying cross-category platforms that can bring significant growth for Reckitt.

During his career Nima developed expertise in product research and development through developing new technologies, evaluating external opportunities, innovating and supporting new product claims together with managing R&D teams and projects including all stages of the product lifecycle from exploration to launch.

Nima joined Reckitt in 2019 from GSK consumer healthcare where he was a Principal Scientist in consumer health R&D with more than 12 years of experience in innovation and new product development. Nima is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry with Ph.D. in Biomaterials from the Queen Mary University of London.

Jason Harcup, Unilever

Background

Dr. Jason Harcup is currently Chief R&D Officer, Beauty and Wellbeing within Unilever. He has been an R&D Leader in Beauty for the whole of his 25 year professional career, spending more than ten years outside his native UK leading R&D in the Americas and in North Asia. In the last dozen years, he has driven the creation of a suite of blockbuster Skin Care technologies that have now added almost a billion Euros in incremental turnover to Unilever. He has also been with the Prestige Division since its inception, helping reach the growth target of €1 Billion, years early through the leverage of Unilever know-how in more than 100 marketed innovations. 

He is a Cambridge University Natural Scientist and has published work in diverse fields ranging from Hair follicle biology through skin barrier dermatology to explorations of the connection between the skin and the health of the brain. He was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society of Biology in 2016, having also been made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2015.

His broader service to the industry over the years has included Chair of Judges for the RSC's Emerging Technologies Initiative, co-convenor of the Asian Dermatological Forum, Faculty Member for Health and Beauty America, Advisory board Co-founder of the Broadening Horizons cross industry initiative to address inequities in Science professional advancement, Beauty Disruptor with the CEW network and invited Advisory Board Memberships including more recently the Asian Microbiome Congress.

Aldo Guiducci, bp

Background

Aldo is the head of analytical chemistry in bp’s Applied Sciences. The teams he leads are responsible for safely generating data using proprietary analytical capability, providing insights to their customers to enable better decision-making for the business. He has held a number of previous roles within technology, including helping formulate the materials science strategy for the company, and managing the EPSRC ICASE allocation process within bp. He has a strong track record of developing new technologies and is a past winner of the bp-Tallow Chandlers’ Award for Excellence in the Innovation and Application of Technology.

Aldo has 20 years’ experience of working in chemical sciences, including chemical R&D (Shell International Chemicals B.V), consultancy work in mass spectrometry and forensic science (M-Scan Ltd.) and a broad portfolio of technology activity within bp.

He holds a degree and doctorate in chemistry from the University of Oxford and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. A Chartered Chemist and Chartered Scientist, Aldo is also chair of the RSC Admissions Committee, a member of the Professional Standards Board, and former treasurer of the Formulation Science and Technology Interest Group.

Julie Dimakou, PA Consulting Group

Background

Julie is a Management Consultant Chemist at PA Consulting’s Global Innovation Centre in Cambridge. Bringing 29 years’ experience in manufacturing, Physics, Chemistry and innovation in the Food and Drinks sector, she is responsible for leading innovation programmes through Process Design and inventing novel packaging barrier films, as well as advising start-ups and multinational corporations on Business Case building, sustainability strategies and Intellectual Property.
 
Julie has invented and patented novel products and processes, as well as novel home-compostable packaging films. She started her career with rheology, cereal science, meat and fat replacers. She subsequently worked for Foss, creating in-line analytical chemistry solutions enabling businesses to run intelligent data-driven high yield processes before moving to a start-up as a CEO. During her career she has worked with dairy, bakery products, oils, wine, juice, beer, coffee and functional ingredients.

Simon Turner, Alacrita

Background

Simon has over the past three decades focused on the development and commercialisation of life science technologies in early-stage companies, as an entrepreneur, executive, venture capital investor and advisor. 

After an early career as a bench chemist at Eli Lilly and ICI Agrochemicals and 10 years as a strategic management consultant to blue chip life science companies, he became the first CEO of University of Cambridge spin-out Biotica Technology, an early-stage venture-capital backed drug-discovery company based on microbial genetic engineering, which he led for five years. 

He has since been involved as an investor and advisor to research-based life science companies and IP owners in two investment firms and more recently as Managing Partner of boutique biopharma management consultancy Alacrita. In the latter capacity, he has been involved in identifying and advancing several bioscience spin-out opportunities. He was also a Non-Executive Director at Green Biologics Ltd, a biobutanol company, and is a founder director of Foothold America, a business which assists UK companies to establish a presence in the USA. 

Simon has an MA in Natural Sciences and a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Cambridge and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Jessica Jones, Cargill

Background

Jess is the Applications Team Leader for the Cargill Bioindustrial Energy Technologies team. The UK Energy Technologies application team focusses on delivering tailor-made solutions to complex customer problems within the automotive and industrial lubricants sector.

Jess started her industrial career at Croda as a research scientist within the synthesis team, subsequently working in several roles across the UK synthesis group she joined the Energy Technologies team in 2020. Following the acquisition of Croda’s Performance Technologies business she joined Cargill in July 2022 within the Bioindustrial group. Jess holds an MCHEM from the University of Liverpool and PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Nottingham.

Sarah Davidson

Background

Currently working as Technology Development Lead at Croda, Sarah has a diverse role assisting Croda’s research and technology teams across Chemistry, Biotechnology and open innovation. In this role, her goal is to champion new sustainable technologies, seeing them progress from ideation through to research and development and to scale up. Building on her previous experience working in Croda’s Group Sustainability team, Sarah brings life cycle thinking to each project, ensuring it has sustainability embedded from start to finish. Her previous work has included developing a sustainability checklist for use during research and development, and tools to predict the carbon footprint of a new product before manufacture. 

Prior to this, while on Croda’s highly sought after Graduate Development programme Sarah had placements within Research and Development in Croda’s product applications and chemical synthesis teams. This played to her educational background, whereby she attained a Master’s Degree in Chemistry from the University of Sheffield, graduating in 2018.

Alongside her day job, Sarah also plays an active role advocating within and for the sustainable future of the chemical industry. This includes her current role within the Society for Chemical Industry’s committee on Sustainable Materials for Consumer Products and previously as the Chemical Industry Association’s Young Ambassador. 

Jeremy Compton, Givaudan

Background

Jeremy Compton is the Global Head of Science and Technology - Fragrances at Givaudan. With over 35 years experience in the Fragrance and Flavours industry since graduating in Chemistry he has had a diverse global career with significant management positions in commercial, development and research functions and has held senior management positions in the Fragrances, Flavours and the Fragrance Ingredients businesses.
 
He is passionate about the positive impact Fragrance can have on consumers' lives and how research into new materials, formulations, methods and forms of delivery can make this true.
 
In addition to the UK he has lived and worked in Brazil, Indonesia, France, the United States and Singapore and is now based in Kemptthal, Switzerland.

Mark Selby, Ceres Power

Background

Dr. Selby is Chief Innovation Officer at Ceres where he is looking for the next generation of clean technology leaders to build partnerships that accelerate their route-to-market, improving their probability of success and lowering the barriers to commercialisation.

Mark's goal is to build collaborations with progressive companies to solve hard science and engineering problems to get world-changing science out of the lab and into their products changing the world. He is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

William Goundry, AstraZeneca

Background

William Goundry is a Principal Scientist in Early Chemical Development at AstraZeneca’s Macclesfield Campus. Following his DPhil in organic synthesis at Oxford University and Post Doc at Indiana University Will joined AZ at Macclesfield in 2006. He has developed a strong track record in process design and scale up working from grams to tonnes, including Biocatalysis and flow chemistry.

Will is currently AstraZeneca’s scientific lead for the early phase scale-up of New Modalities, including antibody drug conjugates (ADC), peptides, and nucleotide based drugs. In this role he is developing the commercial routes and processes for ADC payloads, whilst directing the manufacture of clinical trial material.

He has a strong innovation track record including winning an internal AstraZeneca technology competition through delivering a pitch. He is an Honorary Lecturer at the University of Manchester in the Division of Pharmacy, and an industrial lead for both the Centre for Biocatalytic Manufacture of New Modalities and the Centre for Doctoral training (CDT) in integrated catalysis. William is both a Chartered Chemist (CChem) and a Fellow (FRSC) of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Rory Back, NSG

Background

Rory Back is the NSG Group’s R&D Incubator Technical Manager. The Incubator is a dedicated R&D resource for building partnerships with start-ups, global companies, and academic institutions. Its purpose is to enable early-stage innovation to find new methods and products for glass technology, relating to Architecture, Automotive, and Solar Power applications.

He joined NSG in 2015 after studying Chemistry at Durham University. He began as a Technologist in the Thin Film Technology department, developing nanocoatings for advanced optical and surface-functional properties.
Rory moved to his role in the Incubator in 2018, working on innovation, collaborations, and product development. He is the author of multiple patents in thin-film coatings and glass technology.

In 2021, an advanced multifunctional glass roadside barrier concept developed by Rory won in the Environment Category of Highways UK’s Civils and Materials Innovation Awards. Rory is a Chartered Chemist and a Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, including the committees of the Surface Coatings Interest Group and the Liverpool Local Section. He is a regular speaker at surface science and glass conferences, including Glass Performance Days, Advanced Building Skins, Surfex, and RSC Formulating Functional Thin Films and Coatings.

Andrew Muir, UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund

Background

Andrew is Investment Director for the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (a £102M early-stage venture capital fund building and growing technology companies stemming from the UK’s research base) and the Stephenson Fund at specialist venture capital firm Future Planet Capital. Our funds hold investments in some of the UK’s most innovative companies, in areas as diverse as fusion energy, ocean carbon capture, cancer therapy, biostimulants for improved crop yields, “green” chemicals and airport security.
 
Andrew has a degree and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Oxford. After an initial research career at ICI and Zeneca he went on to roles in business development at the medical device company Biocompatibles and to be Vice President of Technology for Sterilox Technologies. Andrew started his career in venture capital with the Invention and Innovation seed capital fund at NESTA.

Ellen Norman

Background

Ellen is the Lead for Safety and Regulatory Service at Reading Scientific Services Ltd (RSSL).  As a service provider RSSL needs to be agile and adaptive to the market needs ensuring the capabilities match client expectation on quality and cost. She also coordinates major investigative projects covering a wide variety of issues including contamination, adulteration, developing new analytical techniques and troubleshooting product failures.

She originally joined RSSL in 2007, having previously worked for 10 years at Brewing Research International (now part of Campden BRI). Throughout her career she has had a variety of responsibilities including running training courses, research, surveillance and government funded projects. She has a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Birmingham.

''I have been involved with the emerging technologies competition mainly through judging for more than five years now. It is a fantastic way for people in established industries to connect with innovators and entrepreneurs in the chemical sciences, perhaps an area where innovation is sometimes hard to bring to a wider market. 

The competition enables us to make lasting connections, seeing the passion that people have for their amazing ideas and being able to guide and support the growth of those businesses is immensely rewarding. The emerging technologies that we see are addressing some of our key challenges in society and it makes you feel proud to be part of such an amazing community''.

Victoria Steadman, Sai Life Sciences

Background

Dr. Vicky Steadman is Vice President Business Development and Integrated Partnerships at Sai Life Sciences. A medicinal chemist by background, Vicky has nearly 20 years industry experience in Big Pharma and within CROs. She is named on over 25 peer reviewed publications and patents including a Nature paper, and has worked in the therapeutic areas of anti-virals, antibiotics and neuroscience.

Vicky has a BSc in chemistry from Imperial College and a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Cambridge. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Geetha Srinivasan, PETRONAS

Background

Dr. Geetha Srinivasan as an applied chemist with 23 years of research experience is passionate about sustainable chemistry, currently with PETRONAS as a Principal Scientist in R&D Chemistry. Richly experienced in leading and directing research and development at the interface between academia and industry with a strong innovation record of technologies.
 
Recipient of several awards including the outstanding women in science award from L’Oreal-UNESCO-Royal Society in 2012 for her work on ionic liquids in biomedical applications.
 
This was followed by three Institute of Chemical Engineering – IChemE awards and Don Nicklin Medal in 2013 as a key researcher in an environmental mitigation project dealing with toxic heavy metal removal from petrochemical streams, showcased by RSC as one of the 175 faces of Chemistry, recipient of Rising Star in Science and Engineering Category Award UK in 2018. Recently, recipient of Industry Project Award and highly commended for Energy Award from IChemE 2024, as key technical personnel of the Team developing PETRONAS PEM hydrogen technology.
 
Professional recognition includes Elected Member Appointment in the Royal Society of Chemistry Industry and Technology Division in 2020, International Editorial Member for ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, and Associate Editor in Green Chemistry Reviews and Letters. Geetha is a Chartered Chemist (CChem), Chartered Scientist (CSci), Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). 

She has mentored and supervised numerous doctorates at different stages of their careers and passionate about talent development.

Besides chemistry, Geetha is a diversity and inclusivity champion.

Tony Gough

Background

Tony Gough is Director of Innovation for Sustainability at Innospec and is responsible for identifying routes for making Innospec’s Performance Chemicals portfolio of products free of virgin fossil-derived materials and making their manufacturing processes more efficient to increase their sustainability profiles.
 
Tony has a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry and has worked in R&D/technical roles for over 35 years, mainly within the personal-care product industry, but also spent several years in homecare and industrial products areas. Prior to joining Innospec, Tony held management/senior-management roles at Unilever, Alberto-Culver, COSi, Surfachem and ISP/Ashland; has numerous patents and publications, and has a track record of innovation and successful major product launches. He is also Immediate Past President of the International Federation of Cosmetic Chemists (IFSCC), was President of CESIO  from 2021 to 2023 and is a member of CESIO’s Executive Committee. He is also a past President of the UK and Ireland’s Society of Cosmetic Scientists (SCS) and remains active in the SCS as a member of its International Journal of Cosmetic Science (IJCS) committee and is on the IJCS editorial board.

Steve Mcbridge, Knowledge Centre for Materials Chemistry

Background

Steve is the Head of Knowledge Centre for Materials Chemistry (KCMC) at the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI). A materials scientist by training his career spans aerospace, automotive and chemicals sectors, working in global supply chains to commercialise highly engineered materials and products.

Applying his industrial experience to knowledge transfer, he leads the KCMC to drive collaboration across academia, industry and the wider innovation network, supporting the research and innovation needs of companies to establish new product and processes. 

Jo Slota-Newson, Venture Capital Investor

Background

Jo Slota-Newson is a venture capital investor supporting early stage and growth ventures across deep technology sectors. Jo has worked in technology commercialisation for 17 years, in technical, commercial and investment roles. She has experience working with high growth technology businesses in the advanced materials, electronics, photonics, cleantech, industrial engineering, medical technology, and software sectors.
  
Jo started her career as a research scientist in nanotechnology and applied electronic materials at the University of Cambridge, and the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, where she also lectured in biomedical engineering and renewable energy technologies. She has also served as CTO for an early stage photovoltaics company, and director of operations for an online equity investment platform focussed on the Life Sciences and Biotech sectors.
 
Jo holds an MA, MSci and PhD in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge, and also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Edwin Raj, Johnson Matthey

Background

Edwin Raj is a Senior Programme Manager in Johnson Matthey’s Catalyst Technologies Transformation Office where he manages FT-CANS/HyCOgen sustainable solutions programme. Prior to moving to Transformation Office, Edwin was a Principal Scientist at Johnson Matthey Technology Centre at Sonning Common where he led several R&D NPI projects in automotive conductive pastes and black pigments as well as leading the Flame Spray Pyrolysis facility.

Edwin has a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Madras and carried out postdoctoral research at Imperial College London and University of St Andrews. Edwin is a Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry, Charted Chemist and APM PMQ certified project manager.

Matilda Bingham, Concept Life Sciences

Background

Tilly Bingham is a drug discoverer with >20 years’ experience of working in the pharmaceutical R&D sector (Organon, Schering-Plough, MSD, Redx Pharma, Concept Life Sciences) and is currently CSO/COO at GIO Therapeutics and Executive in Residence at Cumulus Oncology. 

Tilly’s early career was spent working as a medicinal chemist in CNS therapeutic areas where her research focussed on design strategies for getting small molecule therapeutics across the blood brain barrier for targets including the GPCRs OX2R, V1R and CGRP. Then, as Head of Research and Operations at Redx Pharma she oversaw the discovery and development of oncology and fibrosis clinical candidates, including the clinical candidate porcupine inhibitors RXC004 (oncology), RXC006 (fibrosis,/AZD5055), Pan RAF inhibitor (JZP815) and FDA approved BTK inhibitor (Pirtobrutinib /Jaypirca®). As CSO/COO at GIO Therapeutics Tilly is bringing to bear her proven ability to craft strategic roadmaps and metamorphose fresh ideas into impactful new products

Imran Afzal, Worth the Squeeze

Background

Imran is a free-lance consultant and board level advisor to start-up founders and consumer packaged goods companies in the foods and beverages space.  As Founder of Worth The Squeeze, he helps companies to accelerate their growth and to create value now.

He has held product category roles at Tesco and at Sainsbury’s, where he helped managed a diverse range of products worth in excess of £200 million annually. He was also at ASDA as their Head of Quality, delivering the largest private label consumer testing program in UK history. He then joined the Board of a start-up creating gluten and dairy free products for retail and foodservice customers, where he led the creation of a factory, and set the R&D agenda resulting in a range of award-winning products. And finally, at PepsiCo he led open innovation programs across Europe working with an array of stakeholders.  Imran is a passionate advocate for the role of start-ups as we transition to a net zero economy.  

Steve Dobson, Nexeon Ltd 

Background

Steve is a Chartered Scientist and a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers. After a 40-year career in the chemical industry, Steve retired from full-time work last year and returned to the UK, having lived the previous 31 years in Germany, Singapore, Belgium, South Korea and Taiwan.

For the last ten years, Steve was Head of the Electronic Chemicals division of Solvay SA, a business which grew more than tenfold under his leadership to around 250M USD turnover, with 14 operating plants all over the world and in which commercializing new technologies and materials for the semiconductor, display, battery and PV industries played a key role, including working with a number of start-ups and spin-out companies.

Steve holds various degrees and postgraduate diplomas from the University of Nottingham, Manchester Metropolitan University, MIT Sloan Business School, INSEAD and FT Pearson and presently serves in a number of part-time roles including as a Non-Executive Director in Nexeon Ltd, a Non-Executive Director in Tullis Russell Group Ltd, a member of the Governance Board in the IChemE and a Governor and Council member at the University of Chester.