Trustees, Committees and Patrons

Tom is Emeritus Professor of Sustainable Chemistry at Imperial College London. He served as Head of the Department of Chemistry from 2007 to 2014 and as Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences from 2015 to 2019. He is a Fellow and previous President of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Tom’s research focuses on sustainable chemistry, with particular focus on ionic liquids and solvent effects on chemical reactions. He is the author of over 140 research papers.

The promotion of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion has always been critically important to Tom. Under his tenureship as Head of Department, Chemistry at Imperial won its first Athena SWAN Gold award. He co-founded the Irene Juliot-Curie conference, which is dedicated to addressing barriers to career progression and supporting diversity in the chemical sciences.

Tom is a L’Oréal-UNESCO Male Champion for Women in Science, and member of the EDI advisory boards of both UKRI and Elsevier.

Jo is an experienced interdisciplinary arts and humanities researcher currently based at the School of Digital Arts (SODA), Manchester Metropolitan University. She has more than thirty years’ teaching and research experience in art and design subject areas. Jo is a fine art graduate from Chelsea School of Art, who later studied computer science at Trinity College, Dublin. Several years later, while in her forties, she resigned from her academic post to undertake an AHRC Collaborative PhD, just as doctoral study became more available for creative arts subjects. Jo went on to gain invaluable post-doctoral experience in a large Human Computer Interaction lab, experience that was vital in enabling her to apply her unique combination of prior experience and research skills to novel interdisciplinary inquiry. Her research since then has been supported by AHRC, ESRC and EPSRC. Current concerns include new and emerging digital practices such as ‘extended reality’, researched through the lens of user experience.

With her multi-disciplinary educational background and ‘non-traditional’ route into research, Jo is a strong advocate for lifelong learning and alternative routes into research careers.

Sophie studied Physiology and Neurosciences at the University de Savoie in Chambery, and at the Universite de Lyon. Subsequent to completing a PhD in Neurosciences at the Centre Medical Universitaire, Geneva, she relocated to the UK to take up a research position at UCL. In 2004, she moved into clinical research and joined the Research Department at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, Putney, where she is now Associate Director of Research.

Sophie is the founder and co-facilitator of the Advanced Huntington’s Disease working group of the European Huntington‘s Disease Network. She is an elected Fellow of the Society of Biology, and has been an expert evaluator on a number of European grant schemes.

Samantha is a Deputy Director within Research Base at EPSRC. She has strategic oversight for Research Infrastructure and the Digital Futures portfolio as well as EPSRC’s Monitoring our Portfolio and Priorities strategy. She joined EPSRC in 2007 after completing a Master’s degree in Physics at the University of Bristol.

Samantha has held a number of positions at EPSRC including Cross-Disciplinary Interfaces Portfolio Manager, Head of Peer Review, Head of Balancing Capability and, prior to her current role, Head of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Theme.

In her spare time she is undertaking an accounting qualification and is the Treasurer of a local pre-school nursery.

Jane is the Executive Director of AIRTO – the Association of Innovation, Research and Technology Organisations – fulfilling this role at the National Physical Laboratory since 2011, and since 2021, at the Net Zero Technology Centre.

Jane is a life science graduate from the University of Reading, with a PhD in animal physiology. She began her working life at the Institute for Animal Health, and held a range of management and leadership roles at King’s College London, within the health schools and the university’s research commercialisation division, King’s Business Ltd., where she was Director of Business Development.

With three grown-up sons, Jane knows the joys and challenges of balancing a career in science and innovation with caring responsibilities. Her strengths lie in her ability to build partnerships with others, and in her logical and analytical approach to decision-making. She is passionate about Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the science and innovation arena. Coming from a working-class background, and being the first from her family to go to university, Jane values the potential of education and STEM career opportunities to tackle social inequalities.

Ruth is Assistant Director for UK Equality Charters at Advance HE. She is responsible for the strategic leadership of the Athena Swan Charter for gender equality and the Race Equality Charter which operate in the UK and internationally. These impactful equality frameworks help organisations to identify and address their equality issues, with progress recognised with highly-esteemed Bronze, Silver and Gold awards.

During her time working with the Equality Charters, she has been responsible for introducing the Athena Swan Charter to the Republic of Ireland (the first application of the Charter outside of the UK), the expansion of the Charter to all academic disciplines and professional areas, and for the recent reviews and development of both UK Charters.

Ruth’s academic background is in organic chemistry, and after completing her PhD at the University of Cambridge, she worked at Science Foundation Ireland, the largest funder of competitive research in Ireland in the Policy and Pre-Award Divisions. Drawing on her background in research and professional expertise, Ruth acts as an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion adviser nationally and internationally.

Alex is Principal Scientist in Biometrology at the National Physical Laboratory. His research interests focus on sensory biology, investigating how biomolecules respond to light and magnetic fields and using this to inform the development of new measurement methods, including time-resolved optical spectroscopy, non-linear imaging, optogenetics and quantum technologies.

Alex is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Trustee and Scientific Advisor to the Occupational and Environment Health Charity, The Colt Foundation. He was appointed to the Awards Assessment Panel (AAP) of the Daphne Jackson Trust in 2019 and now Chairs AAP sub-panel for Engineering and the Physical Sciences.

Kerstin is Innovation Manager at the Bristol BioDesign Institute, where she works with academics to identify opportunities for translation and partnering presented by their research in synthetic and engineering biology. She also oversees a wide programme of activities for early career researchers to develop their skills in translational research and innovation.

A biochemist by training, Kerstin moved into research management after several years in research in Germany and the UK. She has experience in researcher development, research funding and research programme management, working for organisations such as the Francis Crick Institute, the Royal Society and Blood Cancer UK.

Lu-Yun is an internationally renowned structural biologist and biochemist. Her research focuses on biophysical studies of proteins involved in mitochondrial function and neurological diseases. She was, until November 2021, Professor of Structural Biology and Director of the NMR Centre at the University of Liverpool. She is now Director of Invesimol, an independent scientific consultancy. She is currently an Honorary Professor at the Universities of Manchester, Liverpool and East Anglia.

Her main management contributions at the University of Liverpool centred on early career researchers, providing a leadership role in championing programmes focussed on career progression. She has also held senior positions at the Universities of Manchester and Leicester, after completing a fellowship at the University of Oxford.

Lu-Yun is a member of the Governing Council of the University of East Anglia. She currently chairs the Biological and Medical Sciences Panel of the International Science Partnership Fund programme of the British Council.

Her hobbies include boating exploration of inshore waters, orchid growing and cultural anthropology.

Kotryna is the Senior Research Communications Manager at the research and care charity Breast Cancer Now. Leading a team of science communicators, she specialises in translating complex scientific information to non-specialist audiences across PR, digital and fundraising communications. Over the years working in medical research charities, she has been involved in a broad range of projects, from public engagement with science and communication training for researchers, to attracting high-level donations to medical research.

Kotryna moved from Lithuania to the UK because of the excellent quality of its higher education and its global position in research. She studied biochemistry at the University of St Andrews and subsequently completed a PhD in molecular biology at the Francis Crick Institute, awarded by University College London.

Maria is a senior communications professional and chartered PR practitioner with substantive experience working in PR and communications across many sectors, including charities, universities, local government and healthcare.

Maria runs her own writing and communications consultancy. Previously, she was Head of PR and Digital at the medical research charity LifeArc, where she managed all external communications, including the website and digital, social media, press and media, and conferences. Before that, she was Head of Communications for the charity Kidney Research UK, where her team ran the press office, research communications, strategic and corporate communications and social media, and led award-winning health awareness campaigns. A research engagement and communications specialist, Maria is passionate about bringing research to life and telling the stories of the science and the people behind it.

A research scientist by training, Maria has also worked as a post doc in academia and industry following her PhD in Neuroscience.

Kostas is the Head of the Mitochondrial Biology Laboratory, Cathcart Chair and Director of Research in the School of Molecular Biosciences University of Glasgow. He is also the Lead of the Future theme Fundamentals of Life of the College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences. His research focuses on mitochondria biogenesis and function and how these underpin cell physiology and human disease. The contributions of his team include the discovery of several protein import, folding and assembly pathways in mitochondria. He graduated Cum Laude from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, was awarded his PhD from Delaware University and Pasteur Institute (Fulbright/Marie-Curie fellow), then moved to the Biozentrum, Basel (HFSP/EMBO/Roche fellow). He became a Professor in 2011 and held previous posts in the Universities of Manchester (Lister fellow), Crete and Glasgow. He was recruited to Glasgow as a Royal Society Wolfson research fellow and the Cathcart Chair of Biochemistry in 2013.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Royal Society of Biology, an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) and the Academia Europaea. He has also led several outreach and public and patient engagement activities with partners including the Glasgow School of Art, MyMItoMission, the Lily Foundation, The Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Biochemical Society.

Nazia is a finance and operations consultant, supporting a variety of businesses on a freelance and interim basis. She was previously the Chief Operations Officer at the Aerospace Technology Institute, which creates the technology strategy for the UK aerospace sector and funds a large research and development programme in sustainable civil aviation. She was responsible for the Institute’s business operations and governance activities.

Prior to the ATI, Nazia worked in the university sector and in financial services in a variety of finance and operations roles. She is a Geography graduate from the University of Oxford and has an accountancy qualification from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.