Our Judges are all experts in their fields and have been drawn from a wide range of specialisms.
2019 Judges
Liz Rowsell, Johnson Matthey
Liz is director of the Johnson Matthey Technology Centres, Johnson Matthey’s corporate R&D facilities, with locations in the UK, USA, and South Africa. The site at Sonning Common houses the advanced materials characterisation facilities and works closely with Johnson Matthey businesses, customers and academics. She is an inorganic chemist and joined Johnson Matthey as a research scientist in 1993 working on metal based therapeutics for the treatment of sepsis.
During her career Liz has directed a wide range of research including the development of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts, and new technologies for active packaging, biomass processing, and air quality control.
Melissa Hanna-Brown, Pfizer
Melissa is The Pfizer Pharmaceutical Sciences Global Lead for External Technology & Innovation and a visiting full Professor at the University of Warwick (Chemistry). Her previous career was in Academia (Kings College London, Pharmacy) leading a research group and teaching Separation Science. Her Pfizer role spans Pharmaceutical Sciences (Chemistry, Formulation, Materials, Advanced Manufacturing, Analytical and Digital Sciences) and focuses on implementing external innovative partnerships globally to enable acceleration of development timelines and get new medicines to patients faster. Melissa is an elected member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Council and immediate past-President of the RSC Analytical Division. She was named in the Analytical Science 2016 International Female Power List, 2017 Top 10 Pharma Pioneers List and the 2018 Top 30 Women Leaders in European Healthcare report (Pharmaceutical Market Europe).
Mark Selby, Ceres Power
Mark joined Ceres Power in 2006 and, as CTO, is responsible for leading all aspects of the Steel Cell technology development. He works globally with Ceres Power’s customers (including Honda, Nissan, and Cummins) and their wider stakeholders including government, academia, and investors.
Bringing nearly 20 years’ experience, he has a background in Automotive and CleanTech, working in research and complex multidisciplinary product development environments. Prior to joining Ceres Power, he was part of the Control & Electronics Team at Ricardo UK Limited. Mark has degrees in Electronics, Dynamics and Control Systems awarded by the University of Leeds.
John Conti-Ramsden, Knowledge Centre for Materials Chemistry
John is head of materials chemistry and director of the Knowledge Centre Materials Chemistry (KCMC) at the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI). He joined KCMC as director in April 2009, bringing 25 years’ experience in industrial R&D, technology and business management. He is responsible for materials chemistry programmes to support innovation in materials across the UK manufacturing industry.
John started his industrial career in the ICI Corporate Laboratory, subsequently working for a number of ICI and Zeneca businesses in the UK, Holland and USA. During this time he was the technical lead on the Avecia Strategic Research Programme, and led the industry team that established the Organic Materials Innovation Centre in Manchester.
Carolyn Porter, OxStem
Carolyn is currently Chief Business Officer of OxStem, one of the 16 companies she helped spin-out of Oxford University in a previous role as Deputy Head of Technology Transfer. Previously, she held senior business development roles in Novartis and Chiron working on in/out licensing, acquisitions and strategic alliances with deal values in excess of $1bn. Carolyn has also been a member of the investment committee of LAB282 (a £13M fund with Oxford Sciences Innovation and Evotec) and held board positions in 5 companies.
In her earlier career included working as a biotech analyst and then in Corporate Finance at Ernst & Young where she assisted companies with fundraising, acquisitions and company sales. Carolyn has a PhD in Immunology from Trinity College Dublin, an honours degree in Pharmacology from University College Dublin and an MBA from Warwick Business School.
Will Barton, Oxford Biotrans
Will is a non-executive director and consultant working with early stage technology companies, bringing over 40 years of experience in manufacturing, technology and business leadership in the chemical industry. He is co-founder and chairman of Oxford Biotrans, chairman of Added Scientific and Irish Manufacturing Research, and a non-executive director of NiTech Solutions and the Institute for Manufacturing. He has also spent time at Innovate UK as Head of Manufacturing.
Will helped found Oxford Catalysts (now Velocys) and, as its chief operating officer, played key roles in a successful IPO and the acquisition of US-based Velocys. Previously, he had roles up to vice president level in Flexsys, FMC and ICI / Zeneca. He received an OBE for “services to innovation and manufacturing” in the New Year’s Honours List 2016.
Ellen Norman, RSSL
Ellen is a principal scientist at Mondelēz’s Reading Science Centre where she coordinates innovation activities for global analytical sciences, and works on product safety and quality. She coordinates major investigative projects covering a wide variety of issues including contamination, adulteration, developing new analytical techniques and troubleshooting product failures.
She originally joined Cadbury 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.
Pete Wilde, Quadram Institute Bioscience
Pete is a senior research scientist at the Quadram Institute Bioscience (formerly the Institute of Food Research). He is a physical chemist specialising in investigating the breakdown of food structure during digestion to determine how foods can be structured to improve their health impact. The impact of this research will be to aid the design of foods with enhanced nutritional benefits such as promoting satiety and reduced glycaemic and lipaemic response to address the global challenges of obesity, type 2 diabetes and other major diet-related conditions.
He has led a number of multipartner collaborative projects funded through BBSRC, LINK, DTI and EU, involving partners from both academia and industry. He has published over 130 peer reviewed papers, about 40 book chapters and conference proceedings. He sits on the RSC Food Group and is an honorary professor in the school of pharmacy at the University of East Anglia.
Andrew Muir, Midven
Andrew is Investment Director for the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (a £27m 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 Midven. They have held investments in some of the UK’s most innovative companies, in areas as diverse as novel antibiotics, research into Alzheimer’s disease, “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 Vice President of Technology for Sterilox Technologies, a US company with a proprietary technology for sterilisation. Andrew started his career in venture capital with the Invention and Innovation seed capital fund at NESTA.
David Freeman, Croda
David is the research & technology manager for Croda’s lubricants business – responsible for technical developments in base stock and additive technology. His career started in 1998 in ICI’s Paints Division before moving on to Uniqema and Croda. Before his current role he operated in a range of different market areas – including personal care, crop protection, polymer additives and coatings & inks – developing new chemical technology (products and processes) to deliver solutions to unmet market or customer needs.
David received a first degree in chemistry from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Nottingham.
Jason Harcup, Unilever
Jason is Unilever’s vice president for Beauty and Personal Care and is responsible for the worldwide research program across a €20 billion personal care businesses. He leads a team of hundreds of scientists across the US, Europe and Asia, and has delivered a pipeline of dozens of multi-million dollar innovations to market, having also grown laboratories in the US and Shanghai.
Jason is a Cambridge natural scientist, has a PhD from Leeds, and was an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Julie Dimakou, PA Consulting Group
Julie is a Principal Consultant at PA Consulting’s Global Innovation Centre. Bringing 25 years’ experience in manufacturing, technology and innovation in the Food and Drinks sector, she is responsible for leading innovation programs from concept creation to commercialisation as well as advising start-ups and multinational corporations on growth strategies and Intellectual Property.
Julie started her career in the Dalgety Food Ingredients International Development Centre and subsequently worked for Foss, creating end-to-end analytical solutions enabling businesses to run intelligent data-driven high yield processes before moving to a start-up as CTO. She has a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Athens and an MSc in Food Science from the University of Leeds. During her career she has worked with dairy, bakery products, oils, wine, juice, beer and functional ingredients.
Simon Turner, Alacrita
Simon Turner is a Managing Partner at specialist life sciences consultancy Alacrita and has over 25 years’ experience managing and advising on strategic and product development issues in life science businesses, and has been involved in several spin-outs. After an early career as a bench scientist at Eli Lilly and ICI Agrochemicals, Simon spent three years at Venture Capital firm 3i before moving into strategic management consulting, first at Arthur D Little and latterly Andersen Consulting, Simon advised blue chip life science companies on issues related to business strategy, technology management & product commercialization. In 2000, Simon became Chief Executive of Biotica Technology, an early stage venture-capital backed synthetic biology company, which he led for 5 years. He returned to life sciences consultancy in 2008, initially through his own firm and latterly at Alacrita. He was also a Non-executive Director of fermentation biofuels company, Green Biologics Limited, for two years until December 2010. He has been involved in the Emerging Technologies Competition since its inception and is also a regular judging panel member of the BBSRC Biotechnology YES Competition. He has been a member of the RSC Industry & Technology Division Council since 2012. He holds an MA and PhD from the University of Cambridge.
Kevin Matthews, Non Exec Director
Kevin has more than 25 years’ experience in senior management roles in the chemical, technology and pharmaceutical sectors. He has significant marketing, strategy and management expertise and was, until the end of 2018, Executive Chair of Itaconix plc, an AIM-listed polymers business, having successfully led the organisation as Chief Executive Officer. Kevin is currently a Non-Executive Director on the Board of performance materials business, Low & Bonar plc, where he chairs the Remuneration Committee. He is also an advisor to the Board of the specialty chemicals company, Scott Bader. Previously, he served as a Non-Executive Director and Remuneration Committee chair of 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. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Kevin has a strong interest in commercialising technology having previously held CEO roles at technology companies including Isogenica, an antibody drug discovery company and Oxonica plc, an advanced materials business. Prior to this he held leadership roles in multinational chemical companies.
Tim Bradley - Independent
Tim recently retired from National Grid after a 30 year career in the energy industry. He was a founder member of NG’s Group Technology & Innovation team in 2009 where he focussed on developing an understanding of the evolving energy technology landscape and on establishing relationships with several US-based incubators & accelerators, acting as a judge for several competitions and challenges. Most recently Tim worked on executive committee level reviews of IP Exploitation & Commercialisation routes and University, Innovation & Venture Capital partnerships.
Tim has a PhD in Applied Biochemistry and began his research career at Albright & Wilson before joining British Gas R&D in 1990 where he worked for almost a decade on Oil and Gas Exploration and Production technical issues. Tim also held roles as an IS Project Manager and as a Senior Commercial Manager.
Helen Munday, Food and Drink Federation
Helen Munday is the Food and Drink Federation’s Chief Scientific Officer. Helen is accountable for the diverse food safety and science policy briefs, but also has responsibility for sustainability and contributes to health and wellbeing policy.
Helen has a wealth of experience of the food and drink sector. Helen started her career with Mars Petcare where she spent 20 years in various roles including nutrition research, product development and innovation processes. Helen has also held the position of Director of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs for Coca-Cola and worked as Lead Technologist in AgriFood at InnovateUK.
Helen is a Fellow of Institute of Food Science and Technology (becoming President in 2020) and a Registered Nutritionist. With her qualifications in Agricultural and Meat Science, together with her vast business experience, Helen has a broad and deep knowledge across the entire AgriFood chain.
Claire Holt, University of Central Lancashire
Claire is Business and Partnerships Consultant at Hosokawa Micron Limited, responsible for Innovation, development and data driven manufacture. Claire is partnership development manager at the University of Central Lancashire, responsible for innovation and enterprise with external and internal partners. Her career started in British Alcan and has spanned Fisons Pharmaceuticals, Ciba Geigy, Bush Boake Allen, Zeneca, Avecia, Fujifilm Imaging Colorants, Oxford Advanced Surfaces, University of Manchester/UMIP, Regenerate Lancashire and most recently University of Central Lancashire.
She has extensive experience in process design, commissioning, production, operations, supply, capital expenditure, new product, technology and business development, commercialisation, business strategy, planning and evaluation, and multi-functional general business management – all on an international basis. Claire has also founded and owns her own lifestyle business, Flashbang Science. Claire has a BSc (Hons) in chemical engineering from University College Cork and is a Member of the Institute of Chemical Engineers and a chartered engineer.
