Industrial advisory board
The Department of Chemistry Industrial Advisory Board serves as a consultative body to help to shape and guide departmental activities that allows it to deliver on key elements of its strategic plan.
Our Board membership includes representatives from a broad range of organisations and industrial sectors to provide local, regional and national perspectives on teaching, research and innovation.
Members of Industrial advisory board
Rob Short (HoD)
Tim Craggs (DDRI)
Nick Williams (dHoD)
Natalia Martsinovich (DoEDI)
Joe Harrity (DoAdmissions)
Jane Johnson (Dept Manager)
Tom Anderson (DoEd)
Nick Challenor (Croda - Chair)
David Growney (Lubrizol)
Mark Dauncey (Marks and Clerk)
David Justice (Johnson Matthey)
Katie Cooper (AstraZeneca)
Peter Philips (RB)
Dr Katie Cooper, Associate Principal Scientist, AstraZeneca
Katie did her undergraduate degree at the University of York in Chemistry with a Year in Industry. She spent a placement year as a medicinal chemist at AstraZeneca in 2009 before graduating and moving to Bristol in 2010 to carry out her PhD for Professor Kevin Booker-Milburn studying organic photochemistry in both batch and flow. Katie completed her PhD in 2014 and joined AstraZeneca as a Senior Scientist in process chemistry. Katie has worked on a range of drug projects from Phase 1 to launch, including activities such as route design, process development and optimisation, regulatory interaction etc. In 2021 Katie was promoted to Associate Principal Scientist, and she now leads a number of mid-phase drug projects across the portfolio. Aside from project deliveries, Katie has supervised CASE students, sandwich students and has led the recruitment of graduate chemists into Chemical Development at AstraZeneca since 2017.
Dr David Growney, Strategic Research Chemist, Lubrizol Corporation
Dave began his career in Industry at Lubrizol Ltd. in 2015. Beginning as a Chemist, he was promoted to Research Chemist in 2016 and works on Strategic Research projects for the company. He practices in the area of colloid science and the focus of his current work is in and around engine lubricant degradation, including particle dispersion, surfactant self-assembly, emulsion fundamentals and fluid aeration. Prior to this he completed a Ph.D in Chemistry under Prof. Steve Armes FRS at the University of Sheffield, which was also where he carried out his Masters in Chemistry. The focus of his BP sponsored Ph.D was the investigation of diesel soot dispersion in engine lubricant.
Dr Mark Dauncey, Partner, Marks & Clerk LLP
Mark is a Partner at Marks & Clerk LLP and is a Chartered UK and European Patent Attorney. He advises inventors how to protect and enforce their IP across a wide range of technical fields, specialising in chemical engineering, cleantech, nanotechnology and materials science. He has been involved in attorney recruitment and the new partner selection process for many years. Mark graduated from the University of Sheffield with a first class degree in Chemistry and a PhD in Computational Biochemistry.
Dr Nick Challoner, Group Chief Scientific Officer, Croda
Nick commenced employment with Croda in 1993 as an R&D Chemist. With a career now spanning more than 25 years Nick has held numerous roles throughout the group across R&D, sales and marketing, business management, Leadership and governance capacities, with roles in the UK and in international locations within the Asia Pacific and the Americas. In April 2012 Nick was appointed to Croda’s Executive Committee and in 2021 Nick was appointed as Group Chief Scientific Officer with responsibility for the groups medium and long-term innovation goals, technology platform development and investment planning, in addition, Nick is also a member of the Board of Trustees at the Society of the Chemical Industry.
Dr David Justice, Generic Pipeline Chemical Development Leader, Johnson Matthey
David Justice studied for a degree in chemistry then a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Leicester. After post-doctoral studies in peptidomimetic chemistry at UCL, David has spent his career in chemical development and scale-up in the pharmaceutical industry. After working as Development Manager for Albany Molecular Research, David moved to Cambridge to work in the Health Sector of Johnson Matthey where his current role is Generic Pipeline Chemical Development Leader.
Peter Philips, R&D Senior Manager, Reckitt
Peter graduated from Sheffield in 2014 with a MChem with Year in Industry. Since then he has held a number of R&D roles at Reckitt and now leads a development team for one of Reckitt’s powerbrands. Peter has a strong interest in how multidisciplinary business & technology advancements can accelerate us towards a Net Zero world.