Colloids Committee Chair

Dr Cécile Ayako Dreiss (King's College London)

• Hydrogels
• Polymer and surfactant micelles, wormlike micelles
• Cyclodextrins and their inclusion complexes
• Biopolymers
• Food colloids

Cécile Dreiss is currently a Reader in Soft Matter at King's College London. She did her PhD at Imperial College (Chemical Engineering, 2003), followed by a post-doctoral position in Bristol (Chemistry, 2003-2005). 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 (in particular rheology) and their organisation of systems on the nanoscale, using small-angle neutron-scattering (SANS).

Colloids Committee Vice-Chair

Dr Jeroen Van Duijneveldt (University of Bristol)

• Colloids (spheres, rods, platelets), polymers, surfactants, liquid crystals
• Scattering techniques and microscopy
• Phase transitions and gelation

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 Ph.D. 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 70 peer-reviewed publications. He is a member of the Royal Dutch Chemical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry (CChem MRSC), the Society of Chemical Industry and the Institute of Physics (CPhys MInstP). He is a former Treasurer of the RSC Colloid and Interface Science Group and past member and chairman of the Bristol & District Section Committee of the Royal Society of Chemistry. 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.

Colloids Committee Secretary

Dr Nicholas J. Darton MRSC (Arecor Ltd.)

• Synthesis and targeting of superparamagnetic nanoparticle linked therapeutics
• Novel microfluidic based chromatography of antibodies 
• Biopharmaceutical formulation development

Dr. Darton gained his B.Sc. in Biochemistry at Leeds University in 1998 where he developed a new method for synthesizing amyloid in vitro. He took his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Cambridge University in 2003 working on improving a phage-display based HIV vaccine by protein engineering. After working in industry for Healthcare Market Research Worldwide and Abcam he began his first postdoctoral research associate position in 2006 building up the Biomagnetics research group in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge. Following establishment of this group he began a second BBSRC-industry sponsored post doctorate in 2009 developing a novel chromatographic substrate in collaboration with Medimmune, Lonza and Recipharm Cobra. He currently Technical Lead-Formulation at Arecor Ltd., responsible for estabilishing and leading internal and external collaborative biopharmaceutical formulation development programs.

Colloids Committee Vice-Secretary

Dr Christopher Blanford (University of Manchester)

• Engineering the interface between enzymes and conductive surfaces, including nanomaterials
• Developing combined analyses to optimise the use of immobilised enzymes
• Industrial biotechnology applications of oxidoreductases, especially multicopper oxidases
• Enzyme-based biosensors and theranostics
• Protein film electrochemistry

Dr Blanford studies and engineers the interface between conductors and biomacromolecules. He received a bachelor of science in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 1995. Five years later he was awarded a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities under the joint supervision of Profs Andreas Stein and C. Barry Carter. His thesis work in the synthesis and electron microscopy of ordered porous materials led him to post-doctoral appointments at the University of Oxford’s Department of Chemistry. He researched the formation of three-dimensional photonic crystals by laser holography under the supervision of Prof. R.G. Denning, then protein electrochemistry with Prof. F.A. Armstrong. In 2008, he was awarded a Career Acceleration Fellowship from the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to develop enzyme-based fuel cell cathodes. He joined the University of Manchester’s School of Materials in 2011. Since 2009, he has served as an editor of the Journal of Materials Science. He is also on the editorial board of the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

Colloids Committee RSC Treasurer

Dr Alex Routh (Reader in Chemical Engineering, University of Cambridge)

• Film Formation
• Assembly through dispersion drying
• Encapsulation
• Aggregation and colloidal stability

Joint appointment between Department of Chemical Engineering and BP Institute for multiphase flow. Alex graduated in Chemical Engineering from Cambridge University and then did a PhD in Chemical Engineering at Princeton University in America. There he started working in colloids and continued this with a post-doc position in Bristol. He was appointed at Cambridge in 2006 where he is a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College.

Colloids Committee SCI Treasurer

Dr. Christian D. Lorenz (King’s College London)

• Self-assembly of soft matter (e.g. surfactants/polymers/lipids)
• Drug permeation through self-assembled aggregates of lipids/surfactants/polymers
• Peptide-materials interactions
• Confined liquids (including nanotribology and nanofluidics)

Chris Lorenz graduated with his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2001. Then he moved to Sandia National Laboratories to do a postdoc where he worked with Gary Grest, Mark Stevens and Mike Chandross carrying out molecular dynamics simulation studies of the fracture of polymeric networks and the tribological properties of self-assembled monolayers.  In 2005, Chris moved to Iowa State University to work as a postdoc with Prof. Alex Travesset and worked on coarse-grain simulations of self-assembly of block copolymers and nanofluidics. Then in 2007, Chris joined King's College London and is currently a Reader in the Biophysics & Soft Matter Group within the Department of Physics, an Associate Director for the Centre of Non-Equilibrium Science at King’s, and an Associate Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Cross-disciplinary Approaches to Non-Equilibrium Systems (CANES). His group is interested generally in using atomistic and coarse-grain classical molecular dynamics simulations to understand how the molecular interactions govern the interfacial properties of various colloidal, polymeric, and biological systems.

Dr Olivier Cayre (University of Leeds)

Olivier obtained his PhD from the colloid and surfactant group at the University of Hull and after two research positions at North Carolina State University and the University of Leeds, he was appointed a lecturer in Leeds in 2012 in the School of Process, Environmental and Materials Engineering. His research focuses on the design of functional/complex particulate systems and the study of interfacial adsorption phenomena of colloidal and polymer systems. He works regularly with industrial partners in this area to solve formulation challenges for particulate products, including electrophoretic displays, drilling fluids, cosmetics and personal home care products.

Dr Richard Greenwood FRSC C.Chem (University of Birmingham)

Richard is currently the Deputy Director of Engineering Doctorate in Formulation Engineering at the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham. As of  1 st July 2015 he will be seconded to the Centre for Process Innovation to help establish  the National Formulation Centre. He graduated from Bristol University in 1991 with a BSc in Chemistry and obtained a PhD  from Chemical Engineering Department at Imperial College in 1995.  He has previously chaired the IChemE Particle Technology Special Interest Group and sat on the RSC Formulation Science and Technology Subject Group, where he organised numerous national and international conferences.

Dr Fiona Hatton (University of Sheffield)

• Polymerisation-induced self-assembly of block copolymers
• Design of functional polymer colloids

Fiona obtained her Masters degree (MChem) in medicinal chemistry and pharmacology from the University of Liverpool in 2010. She stayed at the University of Liverpool for her PhD (2010-2014) which focused on the preparation of novel polymeric materials; hyperbranched polydendrons, under the supervision of Prof. Steve Rannard. Following her PhD she moved to Stockholm, Sweden to join the Division of Coating Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology as a postdoctoral researcher. During this time she worked primarily on cellulose modification with bio-and synthetic polymers with Assoc. Prof. Anna Carlmark and Prof. Eva Malmström. In 2016, Fiona returned to the UK to begin a postdoctoral research associate position with Prof. Steven Armes at the University of Sheffield. Now, her research involves the preparation and characterisation of functional nanoparticles by RAFT-mediated polymerisation-induced self-assembly. She joined the committee as a PDRA representative in 2017.

Dr Nick Ainger (Unilever Research & Development)

• Surfactant self assembly
• Polymer and surfactant interactions
• Formulation of colloidal systems

Nick Ainger has worked with personal care products for over 18 years. He completed his PhD in physical organic chemistry at the University of Liverpool (Chemistry, 1999), writing up after taking a position at Unilever R&D at Port Sunlight. He has worked primarily in the area of hair care but has taken an active interest in external collaborations with various institutions whilst applying colloid science expertise to develop new technologies and products.

Dr Andrew M Howe CChem FRSC (Aqdot Ltd, also Visiting Researcher at BPI, University of Cambridge)

• Rheology of soft matter
• Formulation – designing for manufacturability and product performance
• Combining polymers, surfactants and particles

Andrew has applied soft matter science in a range of industries.  He currently works in the SME Aqdot, a specialty chemical company, exploiting non-covalent binding between polymers using cucurbiturils.  His industrial career started in Kodak, working first on design of multilayer coatings for photographic products and then on inkjet coatings and inkjet inks.  Then he worked at Schlumberger on drilling fluids, and chemical (polymer or surfactant) enhanced oil recovery.  Andrew served previously on the UK Colloids Committee where he was Chair from 2003-7 and on the Board of the European Colloid and Interface Society (2007-13), and is, to date, the only UK or industrial scientist to have served ECIS as President.  He is currently a member of the RSC Formulation Science and Technology Group.  Andrew gives the occasional undergraduate lecture at Cambridge University and enjoys participating in neutron scattering experiments with Prof Stuart Clarke.

Dr Peter Shaw (Synthomer Ltd)

• The formulation, manufacture and use of synthetic latexes and dispersions
• The formulation, manufacture and use of polyvinyl acetates, and polyvinyl alcohols
• Film formation of polymer colloids

Pete graduated with a BSc Joint honours in Chemistry and Polymer Science & Technology from Loughborough University of Technology, he remained at Loughborough and obtained his PhD in ‘Some Aspects of the Structure-Property relations for substituted Biphenyl acrylic polymers and Copolymers’. Pete joined The Harlow Chemical Company (Harco) as a Chemist in 1983; working on water-based emulsion polymerisation, and then specialising in the development and manufacture of the market leading Alcotex® range of polyvinyl alcohols for use as a protective colloid in the manufacture of suspension PVC. This also included extensive contact with the R&D groups of the leading European and worldwide PVC manufacturers, as well as global Technical Service travel in support of the Alcotex® business. In 2002 Harco was assimilated into Synthomer Ltd, and Pete was appointed to the position of Technical Manager, Auxiliary Polymers in 2003, and to Head of Research and Analytical in 2007, and In 2010 he was appointed as Chief Scientist Synthomer Europe. This role provide research leadership in emerging & innovative technologies and the most complex projects as well as initiating & monitoring Synthomer’s academic programme and manage the IP process.

Awards Coordinator 

Professor Joe Keddie (University of Surrey)

• Non-equilibrium processes in colloids, especially drying
• Film formation of polymer colloids
• Applications of colloids in coatings, adhesives, and nanomaterials
• Thermal, mechanical, and surface properties of polymers

Joseph (Joe) Keddie obtained a PhD in Materials Science from Cornell University (USA) in 1992 and then was a research fellow in the Polymer and Colloids Group at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge. In 1995 he moved to the University of Surrey, where he was later promoted to Professor of Soft Matter Physics. He was awarded the Paterson Medal and Prize by the Institute of Physics and named a Fellow in 2001, and his research group has won several awards. With Alex Routh, he co-wrote a book entitled Fundamentals of Latex Film Formation: Processes and Properties, published in 2010. In September 2011, he was elected the Chair of the Polymer Physics Group of the Institute of Physics. He delivered the 2017 Thomas Graham Award Lecture presented by the SCI/RSC Joint Colloids Group.

Dr Kirsty Stark (University of Leeds)

• Nanoparticle synthesis and characterisation
• Emulsions
• Microencapsulation

Kirsty obtained her MChem in Chemistry from the University of Sheffield followed by a PhD in the Colloid and Polymer Engineering Group in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Leeds. Her thesis was focussed on preventing the loss of encapsulated actives by utilising an impermeable metallic film deposited onto an emulsion droplet template. Research interests include synthesis, characterisation and interfacial properties of colloidal systems such as metal nanoparticles and emulsions, polymer engineering, surface science and nanotechnology.

Professor Wim Thielemans (KU Leuven in Belgium)

• Developing (nano)materials from renewable sources

Wim Thielemans obtained his Master in Chemical Engineering degree (Magna Cum Laude) from the KU Leuven (Leuven, Belgium) in 1999. He worked for a couple of months as a plant engineer in the glass fibre production facility of Bayer in Antwerp, Belgium, before starting his PhD at the University of Delaware (Newark, DE, USA) under the supervision of Professor Richard P. Wool. He obtained his PhD in Chemical Engineering in 2004, working on the development of polymers and composites from renewable materials such as cellulose, lignin and plant oil triglycerides. He then moved to the Ecole Française de Papeterie et des Industries Graphiques at the National Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble (Grenoble, France) for postdoctoral research on the surface modification of cellulose and starch nanoparticles.Wim obtained a Marie Curie Intra-European Research Fellowship for his postdoctoral research. He then moved to the University of Nottingham to start his independent career as a Lecturer in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in 2006 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2013. Coming full circle, Wim moved back to the KU Leuven in Belgium as a Professor in September 2013 with an Odysseus award from the Flemish government to continue his research.

Dr Gemma-Louise Davies (University College London)

• Inorganic and hybrid nanomaterials
• Medical imaging using nanocolloids
• Nanotherapeutics for targeted drug delivery
• Environmental impact of nanomaterials

Gemma-Louise graduated from Trinity College Dublin (Ireland) with a Degree in Natural Sciences (Mod. Chemistry) and remained there to undertake a PhD in Inorganic and Materials Chemistry, which she was awarded in 2011. Following a brief industry-supported Postdoctoral position in Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), Gemma-Louise moved to the University of Oxford as a Postdoctoral Research Associate, staying there for 2 years before she was awarded a Global Research Fellowship from the Institute of Advanced Study at the University of Warwick, where she began her independent career in 2013. She joined the Department of Chemistry at University College London as a Lecturer in Materials in July 2017. Gemma-Louise’s research focusses on the design and development of nanostructured materials for three main applications: i) to understand and solve current healthcare challenges, with a focus on MRI contrast agents; ii) to overcome obstacles in important industrial processes, through the exploration of novel functional nanostructures; and iii) to assess the fate of commercial nanomaterials in the environment. Her work is highly interdisciplinary, collaborating with academics in Engineering, Physics, Life Sciences and Medicine as well as clinicians; she also engages with industrial partners to explore commercialisation of aspects of her work.

Dr Dionísia M. de Jesus AMRSC (Imperial College London)

• Surfactant Self-Assemblies: Micelles and Microemulsions
• Nanoparticle synthesis
• Characterisation techniques, particularly High - Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM)
• Heterogeneous Catalysis

Dr Dionísia Jesus obtained her PhD in Colloid and Interface Science from Imperial College London under the supervision of Professor Michael Spiro. Her thesis entitled “Microparticle Catalysis in Microemulsions” focused on the study of the extent and mechanism of catalysis of redox reactions by colloidal metals (nanoparticles) in microemulsions. The research project involved the synthesis, characterisation and application of nanoparticles (colloidal metal particles). The nanoparticles were characterized using a wide range of techniques with particular focus on high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Redox reactions relevant to the photographic process had an important role in this project. After her PhD, she has been developing other projects in the area of Colloid and Surface Science as a Research Scientist. Currently, she is also a Physical Chemistry Tutor at University level (undergraduate and postgraduate courses) and an Educational Consultant.

Dr Shirin Alexander (Swansea University)

• Polymeric and surfactant micelles
• Green low surface energy materials
• Material chemistry and nanoparticles
• Small angle neutron scattering
• Drug delivery

Shirin Alexander received her PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Bristol in 2012. Her principal research interest is in colloids, surface chemistry, materials, and polymers. Shirin took a postdoctoral research position after her PhD in the Surfactant Research group at the University of Bristol, developing a range of Low Surface Energy Surfactants. Her current research (as a Sêr Cymru II Fellow) in Swansea University is mainly focused on material chemistry, where she combines the Low Surface Energy Materials (LSEMs) with metal oxide nanoparticles to obtain novel green (fluorine-free) superhydrophobic (waterproof) surfaces. The applications of LSEMs vary from protective and anti-fouling coatings to environmental and biomedical applications. 

Dr Sarah Rogers (ISIS-STFC)

• Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS)
• Self-assembly (surfactants, polymers, ionic liquids)
• Nanoparticle synthesis
• Green solvents

Sarah Rogers has been the ISIS-STFC SANS Team Leader since September 2015 and the Instrument Responsible for Sans2d beamline since May 2010.  She has been a facilities scientist on small-angle beamlines since August 2006, firstly as a junior beamline scientist on I22 at Diamond Light Source (DLS) Ltd and later joining ISIS as a member of the SANS team in February 2008.  Before arriving at Diamond she was at the University of Bristol in the School of Chemistry, where she was undertaking an EPSRC funded PDRA position in the lab of Professor Julian Eastoe, studying the formation of gold nanoparticles in supercritical carbon dioxide.  Prior to this she completed her PhD in the same lab in 2005.  Sarah also obtained her MSci in Chemistry from the University of Bristol in 2002.  In addition to her duties as an instrument scientist, Sarah has an active research program in the areas of surfactant chemistry, nanoparticle synthesis, ionic-liquids and supercritical carbon dioxide. 

Dr Lee A. Fielding MRSC (University of Manchester)

• Colloidal nanocomposite synthesis/characterisation
• Polymerisation-induced self-assembly
• Pickering emulsions and colloidosomes
• Waterborne coatings

Dr Fielding obtained an MChem in Chemistry from The University of Sheffield in 2008, which was followed by a PhD in 2012 from the same institution under the supervision of Professor Steven P. Armes FRS. He worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the same group until 2015, when he was appointed as a lecturer in the School of Materials at The University of Manchester. His research has primarily focussed on the synthesis, characterisation and applications of colloidal nanocomposite particles as well as the preparation of bespoke colloidal particles via RAFT dispersion polymerisation. His current research themes include the development of novel materials for use in the fields of waterborne paints and biomedical diagnostics.