Analytical Research Forum 2018 (ARF18)

Karen Faulds research is focussed on the development of Raman and surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) for novel analytical detection strategies and in particular multiplexed bioanalytical applications. Her research group has been presented with the Nexxus Young Life Scientist of the Year award (2009), the RSC Joseph Black Award (2013) and the Craver Award (2016) from the Coblentz Society. In 2011 she was elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy of Scotland and elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2012. She was also recently named as one of the Top 50 Women in Analytical Science (2016) and one of the Top 10 Spectroscopists (2017) by The Analytical Scientist. She is the Strathclyde Director of the EPSRC and MRC CDT in Optical Medical Imaging (OPTIMA), serves on the editorial board of RSC Advances and the editorial advisory board for Analyst, Chemical Society Reviews and Analytical Chemistry and serves on the RSC Chemical Biology Interface Division (CBID) Council. She is also the current Chair of the Infrared and Raman Discussion Group (IRDG).

I obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology in 1986, followed by a MSc in Psychology by research. In 1992 I became a full member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors, and subsequently became Chair for three years. From 1987 I worked full-time at the charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, leaving my final post of Director of Operations and Research in May 2007.

I have been involved in the training of dogs for tasks involving scent for over twenty years; I have trained working gundogs and participated in both competitive working trials and national gundog tests and trials. Since 2002 I have been professionally involved in training dogs in the detection of human disease through scent. In 2003, I was training director of the first programme in the world to train dogs to identify cancer by odour. The findings of this study were published in the British Medical Journal in September 2004.

I have worked as a consultant for a number of programmes across the world including Samsung Assistance Dog Services and Hearing Dogs Japan. I have been an invited speaker on this topic for a number of agencies, scientific meetings, police conferences and training seminars around the world.

I am Chief Executive and Director of Operations for the charity Medical Detection Dogs, an organisation that trains dogs to identify human disease by odour. We are currently working on a number of pioneering research projects involving canine olfaction, including the training of dogs to detect cancer, blood sugar changes, and Addison’s disease.

In 2011, I was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science in recognition of an outstanding contribution to development of new approaches for the detection of life threatening diseases.

In 2014 my dog Daisy, who is trained to sniff out cancer, was awarded the Blue Cross Medal for her pioneering work in the field of cancer detection, where she has sniffed over 6,500 samples and detected over 550 cases of cancer.

In 2015, I was awarded the British Citizen Award for life-saving work in the management of long-term illnesses and the research into early cancer detection.

In 2015 I was awarded a fellowship from the Royal Society of Medicine.

In 2016 I was delighted to win the CBI National First Women award for Science and Technology.

Kieran Kilcawley obtained his BSc Hons. in Biotechnology at the University of Westminster, in London, UK in 1994 and a PhD in Food and Nutritional Sciences (Studies on the Biochemistry and Technology of Enzyme-Modified Cheddar cheese) at University College Cork, Ireland in 2002. Kieran was previously employed as a research scientist at Imperial Biotechnology Ltd, London and joined Teagasc Food Research Centre, Cork Ireland in 1996. Kieran is a now a Principal Research Scientist and is responsible for research in flavour chemistry, cheese biochemistry and fermentation. Kieran has coordinated multiple projects has successfully organized and chaired international symposia and is an editorial board member for the Journal of Dairy Research. He has supervised and mentored 15 MSc or PhD students and has published 58 peer reviewed articles and 12 book chapters.

Steve leads the Analytical Sciences Group in the R&D department at Domino Printing Sciences, part of the Brother Group of companies. He has served on several RSC committees including the Atomic Spectrometry Group and has chaired the Molecular Spectroscopy Group and the North East Region Analytical Division.  In 2015 he was elected to serve a second term on Analytical Division Council, where he leads the International Strategy Team. He is a trustee on the Analytical Chemistry Trust Fund and is one of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s 175 Faces of Chemistry, which will commemorate 175 years of service to the Chemical Sciences in 2016. 

He is a founder of the charity, Foundation for Analytical Science and Technology in Africa. 
He works with Professor Anthony Gachanja (JKUAT, Nairobi) and Dr Mathias Schafer (University of Cologne), to develop and deliver the Royal Society of Chemistry/ Pan Africa Chemistry Network GC-MS Workshops across Africa.  

He did his PhD in analytical chemistry at The University of Hull. His current interests include polymer analysis, mass spectrometry and Process Analytical Chemistry. 

He is a husband, father and keen cyclist, enjoying cycling holidays and mountain biking. 

Prof Ray Bright Voegborlo has a PhD in Analytical Chemistry and currently an Associate Professor at the Chemistry Department, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana. His interest is in analytical instrumentation. He has enormous experience in the installation, operation, maintenance and validation of analytical equipment especially GC, GC-MS, HPLC, LCMS and AAS. He is also involved in training laboratory staff in analytical techniques for toxic residues in food, water and soil. He consults for Pharmaceutical Companies with regards to their analytical instruments. He is a local trainer for the GC-MS Training Workshops organized by PACN and supported by GlaxoSmithKline.

Matthew Wallace obtained his MCHEM (2013) and PhD (2017) degrees from the University of Liverpool. His PhD research focussed on the development of new NMR techniques to study peptide hydrogels. He won an 1851 Research Fellowship and moved to the University of East Anglia in October 2017 to work on the analysis of carbohydrate materials by NMR-imaging.