Committee

Dr Malcolm Faers, Bayer CropScience AG, Monheim, Germany
Malcolm studied chemistry at Sheffield University then colloid science at Imperial College and is a formulation scientist with over 25 years formulation experience in Europe and Asia. His areas of interest cover firstly the stability of colloidal suspensions, especially the link between interparticle forces and microstructure of colloidal gels on the microscopic scale and the rheology and bulk stability on the macroscopic scale, and secondly, the enhancement of biodelivery in colloidal formulations containing adjuvants and the role of colloidal and interfacial forces in engineering structures in drying sessile drops with both enhanced association with the adjuvants and enhanced performance.

Dr Peter John Dowding, Infineum UK Ltd
Pete Dowding graduated from the University of East Anglia in 1995 with a BSc and PhD in chemistry. Pete then worked as an Industrial Chemist at Synthomer, developing emulsion polymers before moving to Bristol University in 1995, where he worked as a post-doc for Prof Brian Vincent. He moved to Infineum in 2001, where he works as Principal Scientist in the areas of Surfactants and Colloids. He acts as leader for background and fundamental studies of colloidal additives for future generations of additives used in lubricants. His research interests include: surfactant design and self-assembly, controlled release, use of supercritical fluids in particle production/ purification and modelling structure/ performance relationships for colloidal systems.

Pete was awarded the RSC/ SCI McBain Medal for Colloid and Interface Science in 2009. He acts as Group Treasurer for the SCI Colloid Group and was a Council Member and Industrial Affairs Spokesperson for RSC Faraday Division Council (2004-7), Steering Group Committee Member for RSC Additives 2005 and 2007 Conference Committee (subgroup of the RSC Industrial Inorganic Section) and Honorary Group Secretary for the RSC Colloid Group (2002-6).

Dr Cécile Ayako Dreiss, King's College London
After her PhD (Imperial College, Chemical Engineering, 2003) and a post-doctoral position (Bristol, Chemistry, 2003-2005), Cécile Dreiss was appointed as a lecturer at King's College London (Pharmaceutical Science Division). Her research focuses on understanding and exploiting self-assembly in soft matter, spanning colloidal, polymeric and biological systems, by establishing relationships between properties on the macro-scale (bulk behaviour or functionality) and the organisation of the systems on the nanoscale. She uses neutron and X-ray scattering techniques extensively as well as rheology (more details).

Dr Simon Lawson, University of Leeds
Simon started his career as a Materials Scientist working with, and in, industry and is currently working at the University of Leeds. His PhD and Post Doc on Engineering Ceramics were funded by Tioxide Specialties plc (now Huntsman Tioxide). He joined BNFL as a ceramicist and, after three years of nuclear research, had a brief spell as an academic at the University of Limerick, before joining Applied Photonics Ltd developing world leading laser spectroscopy systems. He joined the University of Leeds in 2000 as Technology Manager, became Director of ParticlesCIC in 2003 and started his latest role, as Faculty of Engineering Director for Research and Innovation, in 2009. He is a founder and director of two companies, Escubed Ltd and Intelligent Formulation Ltd.

Prof Simon Biggs, University of Leeds
Simon Biggs was appointed to the Royal Academy of Engineering/BNFL Chair in Particle Science and Engineering at the University of Leeds in September 2002. He took this chair after spending eight years at The University of Newcastle (New South Wales, Australia). His undergraduate and doctoral education was undertaken in the UK at the University of Bristol from where he has a PhD in Colloid Chemistry. He is currently the Pro-Dean for Learning and Teaching in the Faculty of Engineering and has overall responsibility for the design, delivery and development of degree courses in the Faculty. He is currently the Director of the National Nuclear Laboratory University Research Alliance in Particle Science and Technology, a research centre with more than 20 researchers. He received the 2005 Beilby Medal from the RSC/IMMM/SCI awarded for a substantial contribution towards research of practical significance.

The main research interests of Prof Biggs' group are in the field of colloid and interface engineering. He has a strong interest in the measurement, control, and manipulation of inter-particle forces to allow more efficient process engineering of particulate systems. He has pioneered the use of in-situ imaging with direct measurements of both adsorbed amounts and adsorption kinetics, using precision instrumentation such as light scattering, optical reflectometry and atomic force microscopy. More recently his group have begun to develop expertise in the bottom-up manufacture of functional particles, capsules and surface coatings. He is the founder and director of three spin-out companies from the University of Leeds.

Dr Jeroen van Duijneveldt, University of Bristol
Jeroen was appointed to a lectureship in physical chemistry at the University of Bristol in 1997 and currently is reader in physical chemistry. He obtained his PhD in 1994 at the Van't Hoff Laboratory in Utrecht under supervision of Professor Henk Lekkerkerker and Dr Jan Dhont. Subsequently, he joined the group of Professor Mike Allen at the Physics Department at the University of Bristol. He has over 50 peer-reviewed publications. He is a member of the Royal Dutch Chemical Society, the RSC (CChem MRSC), SCI and the Institute of Physics (CPhys MInstP). He is Treasurer of the RSC Colloid and Interface Science Group and past member and chairman of the RSC's Bristol and District Section Committee.

His research focusses on soft condensed matter - for instance colloidal suspensions, emulsions, liquid crystals, and polymers. This includes many systems of practical or biological importance, such as inks, paints, shampoos, foodstuffs, milk and blood. Real systems tend to be complex, consisting of many components that are often difficult to characterise in detail. Well-defined model systems are therefore studied instead. A central theme is the use of polymers to control particle interactions, structure and phase behaviour in colloidal suspensions.

Dr Jordan Petkov, Unilever R&D

Dr Nguyen TK Thanh, Royal Society University Research Fellow, UCL-RI Reader / Associate Professor in Nanotechnology, The Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory, The Royal Institution of Great Britain, UK and Department of Physics UCL, Honorary Reader, Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool

In 1994, Dr Nguyen TK Thanh was selected for an EU-funded PhD position in Biochemistry. In 1999, she undertook postdoctoral work in medicinal chemistry at Aston University. In 2001, she moved to the United States to take advantage of pioneering work in nanotechnology, an emerging and rapidly growing field of science. In 2003, she joined the Liverpool Centre for Nanoscale Science. In 2005, she was awarded a prestigious Royal Society University Research Fellowship and University of Liverpool lectureship. She was based at the Department of Chemistry (ranked seventh in the UK in 2008 RAE) and the School of Biological Sciences. In January 2009, she was appointed a UCL-RI Readership in Nanotechnology and based at The Davy Faraday Research Laboratory, The Royal Institution of Great Britain, London, UK. She leads a dynamic research team focused on the design, synthesis and study of the physical properties of nanomaterials as well as their applications in biomolecular and biomedical research.

Dr Samiul Amin, Malvern Instruments Ltd
Samiul is currently Strategic Technology Group Manager at Malvern Instruments. Prior to joining Malvern, he worked for Unilever R&D in Port Sunlight as Rheologist and a Science Theme Leader in Complex Fluids. By training, Samiul is a Chemical Engineer. He obtained his PhD in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University in the US and also has an MSc and BSc in Chemical Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University and Rutgers University respectively. He has postdoctoral research experience from The Soft Condensed Matter Physics Group at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. His area of specialisation is in rheology and microstructure of complex and nanostructured fluids. He has extensive experience in various characterisation techniques including rheology, DWS, DLS, SALS, SAXS, SANS. He is a member of both the Society of Rheology (US) and the British Society of Rheology.

Dr Shahriar Sajjadi, Senior Lecturer in Multiphase Dynamics, King's College London
After a BEng and MSc in Chemical Engineering and several years of working in industry and research institutions, he completed his PhD (Loughborough University, 1998) in polymer nanoparticles. After further post-doctoral positions at Loughborough University and King's College London where he was involved with nanoemulsions and nanoparticles, he joined King's College London as a lecturer in 2003. His main areas of expertise are in polymer nanoparticles, polymerisation in heterogeneous media, and emulsion technologies.