David Hollinshead is Science Policy Director at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals.
He is a member of the Industry and Technology Forum (ITF) Executive and a member of the new Science Policy Board.

Q What drew you to a career in industry? 
A  I started out as an academic with, I must admit, a very biased view of research in industry. I thought all the 'proper' research was done in universities. But I gained a completely different perspective when I started collaborating with some inspirational people from ICI.
Industry offers you a true multi-disciplinary approach to science, solving problems by working with experts from many disciplines. I was very pleased when I made the move from academia to join ICI pharmaceuticals.

Q What made you become involved with the RSC ITF?
A I wanted to see the RSC more involved in representing the concerns of the chemistry community than it had done historically. I perceived it as more of an 'old boys' network'.
At about this time, the discipline's historic strength in the UK was starting to come under question.
It was pointed out that if I wanted to change things I needed to get involved. As an industrialist, the natural entry point was via the ITF.

Q What are the main benefits to involvement in the RSC?
A Over the past few years, I do think the RSC has become more effective in representing UK chemistry. It has become more 'joined-up' in its approach rather than just tackling the problems with point solutions.
Colleagues from biosciences tell me that they wish their discipline had the same sort of structure to support its needs.
From a personal perspective, I'm pleased that I took the decision to get involved and had the opportunity to help.

Q What more can the RSC do to effectively engage industry?
A My perception is that the RSC is still academically biased. I think this is due to the make-up of some of its board and committees, where industrial influence probably isn't as strong as it should be. It needs to get more industrial members on these bodies.

Q In your career, what are your two biggest achievements?
A I'm very proud of my work in developing robotic systems for high throughput chemistry. There were many technological, logistic and chemical challenges to overcome.
Looking to the future, I'm very excited about a collaborative project with Astra Zeneca, GSK and Pfizer, with EPSRC support. We are aiming to improving PhD training experience by sharing the good practices in academia and industry. Maybe we can gain also from the multi-disciplinary approaches in industrial research.