Emerging Technologies Competition: Judges

John Conti-Ramsden, Knowledge Centre for Materials Chemistry

John is a senior manager in the Strategy Team at the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), now working part time on delivery of materials innovation. Until recently John was director of the Knowledge Centre Materials Chemistry (KCMC) at the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) and prior to that had 25 years’ experience in industrial R&D, technology and business management.

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.

Jo Slota-Newson, IQ Capital

Jo Slota-Newson is a venture capital investor at IQ Capital, investing in early stage and growth ventures across deep technology sectors.
Jo has worked in technology commercialisation for 15 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

Jeremy Compton, Givaudan

Jeremy Compton is the Global Head of Science and Technology - Fragrances at Givaudan. With over 30 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.

Kevin Matthews, Scott Bader

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.

Ellen Norman, RSSL

Ellen is a Principal Scientist at Reading Scientific Services Ltd (RSSL) where she leads the technology and science innovation strategy. 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.

Edwin Raj, Johnson Matthey

Edwin Raj is a Principal Scientist at Johnson Matthey Technology Centre at Sonning Common. He 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 in the areas of thin films and solid oxide fuel cells prior to joining Johnson Matthey in 2009.

At JM, Edwin is currently leading the Flame Spray Pyrolysis team to serve JM Business Units and in materials discovery programmes in the areas of nanomaterials, batteries, electrolysis, and healthcare in collaboration with other industries and universities.

He is also supporting new product development activities for Johnson Matthey’s Advanced Glass Technologies business in Netherlands including toll manufacturing and served as R&D Manager there in 2019. Edwin is a member of Royal Society of Chemistry and Charted Chemist.

Aldo Guiducci, bp

Aldo is the Principal Materials Scientist in bp’s Applied Sciences. Responsible for developing the materials science strategy for the company, Aldo currently sits on the Programme Management Board of the bp International Centre for Advanced Materials (bp-ICAM) and manages the EPSRC ICASE allocation process within bp. He has a strong track record of developing new technologies within the company, 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 vice-chair of the RSC Admissions Committee and former treasurer of the Formulation Science and Technology Interest Group.

Mark Selby, Ceres Power

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 actually changing the world. He is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Geetha Srinivasan, PETRONAS

Dr. Geetha Srinivasan as an applied chemist with 20 years of research experience is passionate about sustainable chemistry, currently with PETRONAS as a Technical Lead in R&D Chemistry. Richly experienced in leading and directing research and development at the interface between academia and industry with strong innovation record of technologies.

Recipient of several awards including 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. Mentored and supervised numerous doctorates at different stages of career.

Professional recognition includes Elected Member Appointment in Royal Society of Chemistry Industry and Technology Division in 2020, International Editorial Member for ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 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 Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). Besides chemistry, Geetha is a diversity and inclusivity champion.

Rory Back, NSG

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

Rory 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. He 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.

Julie Dimakou, PA Consulting Group

Julie is a Management Consultant Chemist at PA Consulting’s Global Innovation Centre in Cambridge. 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 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 end-to-end analytical chemistry solutions enabling businesses to run intelligent data-driven high yield processes before moving to a start-up as CTO. During her career she has worked with dairy, bakery products, oils, wine, juice, beer, coffee and functional ingredients.

Imran Afzal, PepsiCo

Imran Afzal leads academic partnerships engagements in life sciences for PepsiCo, and is based in the UK. He works alongside world class external partners: start-ups, universities, research groups and other companies to source and successfully deliver on strategic opportunities in the food and beverage spaces. He also leads PepsiCo’s engagement in the European KIC – EIT Food, an endeavour to transform the food sector, in collaboration with a wide cross-section of partners.

Imran has held product category roles at Tesco and at Sainsbury’s, where he helped managed a diverse range of SKUs 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. Prior to joining PepsiCo Imran 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. He remains passionate and engaged with the start-up scene.

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, HydRegen 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. 

Susan Brench, Akemi Associates

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.

Tony Gough, Innospec

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 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 Vice President of the IFSCC, becoming President of the IFSCC in September 2022 at the IFSCC Congress in London in September, 2022; is a past-President of the UK’s Society of Cosmetic Scientists and is also currently President and Chair of the executive committee of CESIO. Tony is also a Chartered Chemist (CChem) and has been a Fellow (FRSC) of the Royal Society of Chemistry since 2011.

Matilda Bingham, Concept Life Sciences

Matilda Bingham is VP of Science at Concept Life Sciences and is a medicinal chemist with over 19 years’ experience of working in the pharmaceutical R&D sector in ‘large pharma’ (Organon, Schering-Plough, Merck), Biotech (Redx Pharma) and currently with a CRO (Concept Life Sciences). Her early career was spent working in CNS therapeutic areas where her research focussed on design strategies for getting small molecule therapeutics across the blood brain barrier.

More recently as Head of Research and Operations at Redx Pharma she was involved in the discovery and development of oncology and fibrosis clinical and pre-clinical candidates including the porcupine inhibitor RXC004 and BTK inhibitor LOXO-305.

Matilda is currently VP Science overseeing multiple programs covering the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and petrochemicals sectors. Matilda is a member of the SCI fine chemicals group and has authored over 40 papers, patents and publications including the RSC book “Drug Discovery for Psychiatric Disorders”.

William Goundry, AstraZeneca

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.

Tim Luker, Eli Lilly

Tim Luker is currently VP External Innovation at Eli Lilly. He leads Lilly's external advancing innovation process within Global Corporate Business Development, primarily targeting transformational early stage research across 5 therapy areas. This role also supports Lilly’s multiple external VC fund investments and runs due diligence and search and evaluation initiatives.

Tim is an experienced drug hunter with more than 20 years’ experience (more than 60 patents and publications). Prior to Lilly he worked at Shire, Polleo Pharma (founder, company acquired) and AstraZeneca.

Tim has a PhD in chemistry from the University of Southampton, carried out post-doctoral research at Universiteit Van Amsterdam and is a Prince2 qualified project manager.

Ged O’Shea, Walgreens Boots Alliance 

Ged O'Shea is currently the Global Research and Innovation Director at Walgreens Boots Alliance supporting its global brands business. His career as a business leader and scientific expert has included leadership roles across Research & Development, Innovation, Packaging, Consumer Testing and Regulatory Affairs in Beauty, Personal Care and Healthcare sectors for CPG and Retail businesses.

In addition, Ged was Chair of CTPA the UK Cosmetics industry trade association for 4 years and has held a number of strategic advisory positions with universities and regional government agencies in the UK. Ged has a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Imperial College and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.