Helen Cooper, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
Helen J. Cooper is Professor of Mass Spectrometry and EPSRC Fellow in the School of Biosciences at the University of Birmingham. She obtained her BSc and PhD in Chemistry from the University of Warwick, before undertaking postdoctoral research at Florida State University. On returning to the UK, she established her independent career at the University of Birmingham. Her research focuses on developing mass spectrometry methods for in situ analysis of proteins. The aim is to combine ambient mass spectrometry, ion mobility spectrometry and native mass spectrometry to obtain spatial and structural information about proteins and their complexes directly from their physiological environment. She is a Director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute, Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry and serves on the Editorial Board of Analysis & Sensing. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. She was the winner of the 2022 RSC Theophilus Redwood Award.
Talk title: Native ambient mass spectrometry: In situ analysis of proteins in tissue
Camilla Liscio , Element Materials Technology, United Kingdom
Camilla Liscio is the Principal Scientist at Element Laboratory Solutions-Cambridge, passionate about helping scientists implement automation, and its synergy with data analytics, within their laboratories. After a master’s degree in Chemistry at the University of Genoa, Italy, she continued her academic education path with a PhD in Analytical Sciences, followed by a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowship which brought her to the UK. Once her postdoctoral experience was complete, she moved to industry spending three years as a Researcher in the Organic Analysis team at the National Measurement Laboratory (NML), LGC, Teddington. In 2016 she started her journey with automation when she joined Element (formerly Anatune) as an Application Chemist. In 2021 she accepted the Principal Scientist role and now looks after the operational and R&D side of the Applications team. When she is not in the lab developing new automated applications, she can be found in the kitchen cooking, walking her Japanese Spitz Scintilla or crafting.
Talk title: Stories of innovation: how to find the right tool in the "wrong" toolbox
Bhavik Patel, University of Brighton, United Kingdom
Bhavik Patel is a Professor of Clinical and Bioanalytical Chemistry at the University of Brighton. He completed his PhD in 2005 in Bioengineering at Imperial College London and shortly after secured an EPSRC Life Sciences Fellowship. He was appointed lecturer at the University of Brighton in 2010 and progressed to the ranks of Professor in 2019. He was awarded the GlaxoSmithKline Emerging Scientist Award in 2013, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Science Award in 2015 and the RSC Excellence in Higher Education Award in 2021. His research is focused on the development of electroanalytical sensors to understand the role of biological signalling molecules in the bowel and bladder with age and disease.
Talk title: Ex Vivo Intestinal Electrochemical Sensing Devices
Phil Potts, Open University, United Kingdom
Phil Potts’ research career embraced the development of analytical techniques for the characterization of rocks and minerals in support of geochemical research programs at The Open University. His particular interests include the energy dispersive and portable XRF, neutron activation analysis and electron probe microanalysis. Since retiring from the OU in 2011 (latterly as Dean of Science), he has focused on the characterisation of geological reference materials and the GeoPT proficiency testing programme, especially in support of the International Association of Geoanalysts. During his career, he has supported the RSC’s Atomic Spectroscopy Group, the Instrumental Criteria Sub-committee (now the Instrumental Analysis Expert Group) and Atomic Spectrometry Updates. He has published well over 130 research papers and well as the seminal ‘Handbook of Silicate Rock Analysis’ which is currently being revised for publication in Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research.
Talk title: The trials and tribulations of certifying geological reference materials using the GeoPT proficiency testing programme.
May Copsey, RSC Publishing, United Kingdom
May Copsey is currently the Executive Editor for Royal Society of Chemistry’s flagship journal, Chemical Science. She joined the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2006 as an Assistant Editor and has worked on a variety of different journals during this time, including Dalton Transactions, CrystEngComm and Journal of Materials Chemistry. She was Executive Editor for the Analytical portfolio of journals for four years, before moving to take over the General Chemistry portfolio, including Chemical Science, ChemComm and Chemical Society Reviews in 2015. She has had the pleasure of leading an editorial team dedicated to Chemical Science since June of 2018.
May is a main group chemist by training, as before joining the RSC she worked for three years as Post-doctoral Research Associate at the University of Calgary, after completing a PhD in main group chemistry at the University of Bristol.
Mark Parkin, Eurofins Forensic Services, United Kingdom
Mark Parkin heads up the Toxicology Laboratory at Eurofins Forensic Services and is a Visiting Senior Lecturer at King’s College London. He is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the UK’s largest forensic toxicology laboratory that covers around 95% of the forensic toxicology casework in England and Wales. He has oversight of a team of 35 forensic chemists undertaking the analysis of around 2,000 casework samples per month. He is the former chair of the London Toxicology Group and the London Biological Mass Spectrometry Discussion Group and has spent the past twenty years working in the field of evidential analysis using mass spectrometry as the principal analytical tool. His current interests are introducing full end-to-end automation to the forensic bioanalytical process and the use of machine learning for the processing of forensic data.
Ruth Hearn, RHearn Ltd, United Kingdom
Ruth Hearn has been the Administrator for ACTF since 2018 and is the key contact for all applicants of ACTF grants. Ruth obtained her PhD Analytical Chemistry in 1999 and has worked in a number of analytical laboratories including two National Metrology Institutes. Ruth currently runs her own company providing training, consultancy and technical auditing to a range of customers including working as a technical assessor for the UK Accreditation Service, assessing compliance with ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO17034 standards.
Vicky Hilborne, University College London, United Kingdom
Dr Victoria Hilborne is a Lecturer (Teaching) at University College London (UCL), Department of Chemistry, her career spans both academia and industry. Her particular interests are embedding sustainability in chemistry education, developing analytical chemistry and data evaluation skills. Her research interests are analytical method, sensor development, data modelling and analytics in industrial processes and the environment. Vicky was awarded a BSc in Environmental Chemistry from Edinburgh University and did her PhD at London South Bank University with the Fire and Explosion research group on measuring and modelling contaminant dispersion in ventilated indoor air. She won a Pexa Award for her publication on this topic. She also gained a PGCHE qualification from London South Bank University. After leaving school, Vicky worked in paint manufacture quality control, then shampoo product development, while studying part time for a BTec HNC Chemistry. After graduating from Edinburgh University, she was a research assistant for the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology studying rural ozone then became a Health and Safety Scientist for Brewing Research International. She then worked at London South Bank University, running the analytical facilities, part time lecturer and studying part time for her PhD. Vicky was awarded a UCL Provost Teaching Award for excellence in teaching and learning in 2021.
Dr. Robert Bowles, MRSC, Royal Society of Chemistry, United Kingdom
After an early research career in marine biotechnology, Robert moved out of the lab, gaining five years’ experience in sales and marketing of educational software to schools. He joined the Royal Society of Chemistry sixteen years ago, and has managed a program of their successful education and careers projects.
He recently provided careers input into the new RSC Pathfinder CPD planning and recording tool for members launching in Jan 2023. https://pathfinder.rsc.org
As a qualified careers adviser, he currently works in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Career Management team; offering careers advice to our membership and the wider chemistry community.
www.rsc.org/careers
