RSC IUPAC Global Women’s Breakfast 2023

Symiah Barnett is a Natural Environment Research Council funded PhD student at Loughborough University.  Environmental chemistry is Symiah's area of interest, and her research project investigates the presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in both marine and freshwater ecosystems. Recently elected to the Royal Society of Chemistry’s environmental chemistry committee, she is an advocate of involvement and outreach in this field.

Symiah is also dedicated to achieving educational equity. She was a member of the working group for decolonizing the curriculum and collaborated closely with the leadership group to advance diversity and inclusion at Aston University. She currently participates in the RSC's Inclusion and Diversity Committee as an observer. She also served as an RSC advisor and made contributions to the RSC study on the sense of belonging.

Liz is Director of the Johnson Matthey Technology Centres, the Corporate R&D function of JM. She received her PhD in 1993 from the University of Essex, in collaboration with the Nitrogen Fixation Unit at Sussex University, investigating charge interactions in Fe co-ordination complexes using Mössbauer spectroscopy.

Liz joined Johnson Matthey in 1993 as a Research Scientist, developing metal-based therapeutics for the treatment of sepsis. During her career with Johnson Matthey, Liz has worked on the development of catalysts for use in pharmaceuticals, food and personal safety, as well as programmes in biomass processing, gas purification and materials for energy production. She is responsible for a diverse team of talented scientists and engineers delivering cross-sector science to create a cleaner and healthier world.

Liz is a Member of the RSC Board of Trustees and Chair of the RSC audit and risk committee.

Dr. Asel Sartbaeva is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Chemistry at the University of Bath, an Enterprise Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and a Goodwill Ambassador for the “Girls in STEM” program for UNICEF KG. 
Asel’s first degree is from Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University from 1999. She came to the UK in 2001, after receiving a scholarship from ICI to do her PhD in Cambridge. She became the first Central Asian to receive a PhD from the University of Cambridge. She then worked as a Postdoc at Arizona State University for 3 years. In 2007, she received a Glasstone Fellowship to start her independent career at the University of Oxford. In 2010, she received a prestigious Royal Society University Research Fellowship, which she moved to the University of Bath in 2012. She held the URF until 2019.  
Her research focuses on design, prediction and synthesis of porous materials and thermal stabilisation of biopharmaceuticals for easier transport and storage. Dr. Sartbaeva is a co-inventor of ensilication technology that can stabilise the biologicals such as vaccines and other therapeutics without refrigeration. Dr. Sartbaeva is a CEO and a co-founder of Ensilicated Technologies Ltd, a spin-out from the University of Bath working on the commercialisation of ensilication technology that she is
Dr. Sartbaeva has published more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts in peer-reviewed International journals. She was nominated to be one of 175 Faces of Chemistry by the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2014, was awarded an IChemE in Biotechnology and WISE World awards in 2017; received a Hanson Medal in 2019; a distinction by the Kyrgyz Republic in 2020 and a Precedent award from the Civic Group Initiative in Kyrgyzstan.  
Dr. Sartbaeva is a winner of Emerging Technologies Competition by RSC in 2020 and is a Woman of the Year by FDM Everywoman in Tech in 2021.