Broadening Horizons in the Chemical Sciences 14-16 June 2023, Taster event
14-16 June 2023, Taster Event
Broadening Horizons in the Chemical Sciences
Registered charity number: 207890
Day 1 - Wednesday 14 June 2023
12:00 – 13:00 Arrival of cohort and lunch
13:00 – 13:10 Welcome
13:10 – 14:00 Icebreaker activity for cohort
14:00 - 14:45 Careers session 1 – How to network
14:45 – 15:15 Tea and coffee break
15:15 – 16:30 Careers session 2 – Skills reflection
16:30 – 16:40 Comfort break
Careers session 3 – CV and cover letter writing
16:40 – 17:30
17:30 – 18:15
Break
18:15 – 20:00 Keynote talk and Dinner Reception
Day 2 - Thursday 15 June 2023
10:00 - 10:30 Tea/Coffee and networking
10:30 – 11:30 Experiences from the first cohort
11:30 – 11:40 Comfort break
11:40 – 12:30 Facilitated networking practice among the cohort 12:30 – 13:30 Lunch and networking with companies
13:30 – 13:35 Official welcome for companies
Flash presentations and Q&A with partner companies Tea/coffee break and networking 1:1 networking signups available Careers in the chemical sciences Q&A Panel Break 1:1 networking signups available Dinner reception 1:1 networking signups available
13:35 – 15:00
15:00 – 15:30
15:30 – 17:00
17:00 - 17:45
17:45 – 20:00
Day 3 - Friday 16 June 2023
09:30 – 10:00 Tea/coffee and networking
1:1 networking In parallel: informal networking and conversations with other special guests
10:00 – 12:00
12:00 – 12:20 Close and next steps
12:20 - 13:30 Farewell networking lunch
It is no secret that science has a diversity problem, and the chemical sciences are no exception. Our Missing Elements research shows that chemical scientists
Once again, the quality of applicants was exceptionally high, which testifies to the wealth of talent that our discipline stands to benefit from. Today’s Taster Event is a fantastic chance for participants to find out more about the many career pathways available with a chemical sciences degree and start thinking about how you would like to develop over the next year. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our Broadening Horizons partners for their generous financial and practical support. Systemic change requires systemic collaboration, and we are fortunate to work with companies who share our commitment to building a truly inclusive and diverse chemical sciences workforce. On behalf of the RSC and our partners, I wish the 2023-2024 cohort every success over the coming year. We are excited to get to see you grow, and to continue our own learning about how to nurture a thriving, diverse and inclusive chemical sciences community.
from minoritised racial and ethnic backgrounds face systemic barriers in their careers and are more likely to leave the profession following undergraduate studies. Our Broadening Horizons in the Chemical Sciences programme aims to change that. We launched this three-year pilot last year in collaboration with 10 leading companies. This year, we are pleased to see that number has grown. Our aim is to provide access to pathways for Black and minority ethnic chemical scientists into careers in industry. We are proud to say that the first year has far exceeded our ambitious expectations. Participants have benefited from mentoring, site visits and other opportunities to learn from industry experts. They tell us that taking part has opened their eyes to a much wider range of options and they now feel more confident – and better equipped – to pursue their future career in the chemical sciences. Some participants of our first cohort have already accepted jobs and placements with partner companies, made available thanks to Broadening Horizons. These early-career opportunities are hugely important as they provide real insights into life in industry. As we welcome you as our second cohort to the programme, we look forward to building on this success – together.
Dr Helen Pain CSci CChem FRSC CEO, Royal Society of Chemistry
Company Representatives
Dr Mike Kenny Business Development Manager
Dr Mike Kenny is the Business Development Manager at AM Technology, who manufacture the Coflore range of continuous flow reactors. Dr Kenny graduated with a PhD degree from the University of Bath in 2018, having worked on the synthesis of highly cytotoxic cyclopropabenzindoles, as part of a project funded by Prostate Cancer UK under the supervision of Prof. Michael D. Threadgill. Today, Dr Kenny works with the chemical industry to both bring new chemical processes, and convert existing batch processes, into continuous manufacture.
Martin Monedero MRSC Senior Flow Chemist
Martin Monedero is a senior flow chemist at AM Technology. He leads feasibility and process development studies, helping organisations transfer batch production to flow and develop novel chemical processes in flow.
AM Technology designs and manufactures a range of continuous flow reactors.
Dr Sophie Janbon Director, Early Chemical Development, Pharmaceutical Sciences, R&D
Dr Sophie Janbon is a French citizen, and has lived in UK since 2004. She came for a PhD in crystallisation science at the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Sciences (SCEAS) at the University of Manchester. She started as a Senior Crystallisation Scientist at AstraZeneca in 2007. Her main focus was to develop crystallisation processes for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients. From 2016 she has been working in the early phase of the portfolio, up to Phase IIb. She was promoted in 2017 to Associate Principal Scientist. She soon after became an Associate Director in 2018 by leading a team of specialists in the field of process engineering, crystallisation and particle science. Her passion is inclusion and diversity and she has been involved in several initiatives which includes the RSC Broadening Horizon. Recently she was promoted to Director.
Dr Samuel Owusu-Ware Associate Principal Scientist, Chemical Development On-Market Technical (CD-OMT) Dr Samuel Owusu-Ware obtained BSc in Pharmaceutical Science from the University of Greenwich (UoG) in 2009 and went on to complete his PhD in Materials Science (UoG). After completing his PhD, he has worked in several industries including the food and cosmetics industry as a Solid-States/Materials Scientist. He started his career at AstraZeneca as a Senior Scientist in 2017, working in On-Market Technical. His focus was providing the physical properties expertise to trouble shoot and optimise drug substance manufacturing processes, across the AZ commercial API portfolio. He was promoted to Associate Principal Scientist in 2020 where he leads characterisation strategies to ensure consistent delivery of desired API physical properties for drug product manufacture. He is an advocate in challenging the status quo and passionate in championing BAME in industry.
Bharti Patel MRSC Director, Chemical Development, Pharmaceutical Technology & Development, Operations
My name is Bharti Patel and I am a Director in Chemical Development at our Macclesfield site, leading a team of multiskilled scientists (including chemists, analysts, chemical engineers and crystallisation experts) to outsource various technical activities to support the development manufacture drug substance. For the majority of my career (20 years), I worked as a Senior Scientist in Process Chemistry, this involved doing laboratory work, to develop well understood processes that were suitable for scale-up and delivering multikilogram quantities of drug substance. I am passionate about creating an inclusive and diverse organisation at AZ and sit on multiple I&D teams across the business. I am leading the RSC Broadening Horizons program and feeling very positive about a diverse and inclusive future for AZ.
Outside of work, I enjoy the gym and cooking Indian food.
Dr Sunil Sarda ARCs MRSC Associate Principle Scientist, Compound Synthesis and Management, Discovery Sciences, R&D I first encountered Mass Spectrometry during my BSc and doctoral training at Imperial College London, and since then have been working with this analytical platform in academic and pharmaceutical research for 30 years. I have used the technique to elucidate structures of unknown metabolites, reveal metabolic and toxic pathways for medicines and more recently to provide quality oversight of compounds for screening portfolios. This expertise has enabled me to practise across multiple therapeutic areas, and realised opportunities across diverse pharmaceutical disciplines from drug discovery, translational and clinical sciences. During this time, I have provided scientific and technical leadership across groups and international boundaries, collaborating and connecting people and technologies. These activities have included supervision and mentoring of colleagues and has since developed into a deeper interest in understanding personal challenges and providing support by becoming a mental health first aider, listening ear, employee representative and also an RSC Broadening Horizons mentor.
Michael Tonge Director, Global Graduate, PHD and Placement Programmes, R&D
My name is Michael Tonge and I have been with AstraZeneca since 2003, joining straight after my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from the University of Manchester. I spent the first 15 years of my career with the company as a scientist working in the early stages of research and development supporting the target identification, validation and optimisation phases of drug discovery. My main focus was developing and delivering in-vitro biochemical assays to deliver potency data as well as mechanistic characterisation of protein targets for the development of new potential therapies. In 2019 I moved away from the lab to support some of our early talent programmes across R&D, in particular I focus on the delivery of our global graduate programmes, placements and PhD studentships. I had a very fulfilling career in the lab and am now passionate about supporting the development of the next generation of scientists through these early career programmes. Dr Prithvi Vangal Senior Scientist, Chemical Development, Pharmaceutical Technology and Development I am originally from India, have lived in the USA for 10 years and then moved to the UK in 2022. I am a senior scientist within Chemical Development at AstraZeneca since January, 2022. I completed my PhD in chemistry at Harvard University in the USA in 2020 and worked for a year at a small research organization in Boston, USA before moving to my current role at Macclesfield. As a member of Chemical Development, my focus is on developing and optimizing processes to enable the manufacture of drugs on scale. As part of my role, I also introduce new technologies to solve challenges in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Having lived in multiple countries and worked with a diverse group of scientists, I recognize the importance of diversity as well as the work that must be done to achieve a truly inclusive workplace.
Dr Ivette Garcia Castro Principal Scientist
I am a Kenyan research scientist who has recently been transferred. I studied chemistry in Havana University and started to work in 1995, as scientific assistance in the Faculty of Chemistry of Havana. I came to Germany in 1997 for my PhD on the field of organic chemistry at the University of Rostock, with a financial support from DAAD scholarship (German Academic Exchange service). Finishing my PhD in 2001, I started a post-doctoral work on hydroamination of alkenes in the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis in Rostock. I joined BASF in 2003 as Laboratory Leader in the Polymer Research Division. During the last 20 years I had the opportunity to synthetize several polymers in the laboratory scale, bringing some of them to the production. Several applications like cosmetics, home care, flow improving for fuels and for oils have been part of my daily work, which is also published in many patents. Exciting for me in BASF is the possibility to interact with people with different cultural and professional background with excellent competences in synthesis, analytics, patenting, engineering, and technical applications.
Dr Darren Budd Commercial Director
Darren Budd has worked for BASF since April 1996. Darren has worked across many of BASF’s business areas and spent 5 years in Germany working for the Corporate Venture Capital Unit. Darren’s current focus is on the development of BASF UK & Ireland’s strategies to deliver the company’s growth ambitions. His responsibilities include leadership of Sales & Marketing units in UK & Ireland and the development of Innovation and Sustainability across BASF’s Business Units and external collaborations with customers and Academic Institutions. Previously, Darren was Managing Director of BASF’s In-house Distribution business (BTC) for UK & Ireland, and Business Director for the Care Chemicals business for Northern Europe. Darren is currently Vice-President of the Chemical Business association and sits on the Board of the British Coatings Federation and several other Trade Associations.
Hannah Loughlin Business Manager
My name is Hannah Loughlin and I am a Business Manager at BTC Europe, a BASF group company and distributor of specialty chemicals. I completed an MSci in Chemistry at the University of Nottingham and in 2018 I joined BASF UK, on the Commercial Sales Graduate Scheme. There I rotated around different parts of the business; led sales and business development projects and conducted market analysis. After completing the 2-year scheme, I worked as an Account Manager (Sales) servicing customers in the UK & IE who work in the Personal Care and Pharmaceutical industry. In my current role as Business Manager, I manage sales on a European level, acting as an interface between BTC Europe and BASF for our portfolio of Resins which are used in the Automotive & Industrial, Printing & Packaging, and Furniture & Flooring industries. I am passionate about diversity and inclusion topics and sit on BASF’s D&I team where we support a variety of topics within and outside of BASF in the UK & IE.
Jonas Stief Advisor Talent Attraction & Employer Branding
My name is Jonas Stief and I am part of the Talent Attraction & Employer Branding Team at BASF in Berlin with the main focus on the target groups of engineering and natural sciences. I started at BASF as an apprentice in 2017 and was highly impressed about the different possibilities in HR departments. By the time I had the opportunity to get more contact points with different aspects of recruiting and was fascinated about how fulfilling it can be to approach young and motivated talents and attract them to the company. That is the reason why I switched to our Talent Acquisition department in 2021 to be closer to the projects and tasks of personnel marketing. Within the last years I met so many interesting people with different academic and cultural backgrounds and enjoyed every minute of it. That is what I really love about my job at BASF!
Dr Azzedine Dabo MRSC Investigator
MST – PDS – PDS – CMC Analytical – Analytical Platforms & Platform Modernisation – Method Innovation R&D Medicinal Science & Technology I am a passionate, motivated and enthusiastic Investigator at GSK. I completed my PhD (Solid State NMR to facilitate HPLC Method Development) at the University of Warwick and Pfizer and have since gained over four years industry experience at Mylan, Johnson Matthey and GSK. My research centres on analytical method development and optimisation for small molecules. I am currently part of GSK’s Method Innovation Team based in Stevenage, UK with area of interest in in-silico modelling, quality by design (QbD) method development and the transfer of analytical methods and results between chromatography instruments. I am passionate about diversity and inclusion and as a result take part in several D&I programs and events both internally and externally: 10,000 Black Interns - Diverse Reverse Mentoring – Destination STEMM - Events with Kingston University London - Future Scientists: Diversifying Pharma - Engage D&I Conference.
I have been awarded the GSK EMBRACE Rising 2022 Award and GSK Ahead Together/CEO Award 2022.
Dr Rehana Sidat CSci CChem FRSC VP Risk Management
Rehana Sidat is a fellow of the RSC with over 24 years of senior leadership experience in the Pharma industry, spanning across commercial supply and various groups in R&D. A focused, assertive, empathetic leader who holds high standards and has proven experience of transforming team performance (matrix and direct line), across diverse disciplines within and outside of her immediate domain. Known for her authenticity, delivery and for building transparent, trusting partnerships, Rehana has a strong strategic mindset with proven capability of bringing people along and credibly challenging in a calm, respectful manner. Rehana is an incredibly passionate, advocate, ally, sponsor, coach and mentor of DEI, both within GSK and outside of GSK. Rehana was the recipient of the 2021 Inspirational Role Model Award (GSK) and the 2021 Top 10 influential Muslim in Healthcare Award (EqualityX). Rehana is also a member of the RSC Inclusion & Diversity Committee and the GSK R&D DEI Council.
Everton Brown Talent Acquisition Partner
Everton is an experienced recruiter with 20 years industry experience placing senior hires and graduates into their desired job roles.
Moving in-house in April 2022, Everton worked for 6 months at a smaller chemical company before joining JM in November 2022 and now specialises in recruiting into the R&D sector of the business.
Simone Coultress Head of Diversity and Inclusion
Simone has a BA degree in Accounting and Management from the University of Essex and is an Associate member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers (AMCT). Simone joined Johnson Matthey in 2013 as a treasury manager, supporting the business in managing its financial risks. In December 2018, Simone launched a Black Employee Network at JM, with the aim of improving the recruitment, retention and development of black employees and promoting JM as a diverse employer through community work in schools and universities. Since December 2020, Simone has been working as the Head of Diversity and Inclusion, with the aim of refreshing JM’s diversity inclusion and belonging (DI&B) agenda and roadmap and ensuring that DI&B is embedded throughout the business.
Francesca Priddy Corporate Technology Graduate Partner
Francesca Priddy is the Corporate Technology Graduate Partner of the Johnson Matthey Technology Centres (JMTC) and manages Johnson Matthey’s overall involvement in the Broadening Horizons Programme. After graduating with a BSc Hons in Chemistry from Newcastle University, Francesca joined JM in 2020 on the JM Global Graduate Programme as a Science Graduate whereby she completed 3 rotations working across the company in different business units and locations. This included lab-based roles focused on catalysis and solid-state chemistry, as well as conducting market analysis and product mapping for commercial teams. Francesca now directly supports the JMTC Director, Liz Rowsell, and helps to manage a range of technical, commercial, digital, and HR-themed projects. Francesca particularly focuses on outreach programmes and promoting education and careers in STEM.
Dr Elizabeth Rowsell OBE CChem FRSC Corporate R&D Director
Liz Rowsell is Director of the Johnson Matthey Technology Centres, the Corporate R&D function of JM.
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 delivering cross sector science to support JM’s vision of catalysing the net zero transition. Key focus areas for the Corporate R&D are catalyst solutions for hydrogen production and use, conversion of renewable feedstocks to fuels and chemicals and in the abatement of harmful gaseous emissions.
Dr Alan Stephen Catalyst Scientist
Alan Stephen is a Catalyst Scientist working on Hydrogen technologies at Johnson Matthey. After completing his Biochemistry degree at the University of Oxford, he moved to the University of Birmingham to do a PhD. Here, he worked on synthesising nanoparticles from bacteria for use as catalysts in fuel cells. He then moved to Johnson Matthey as a catalyst scientist for both fuel cells and electrolysers. He manages the transfer of promising research catalysts for use in commercial products. With this role, he works with multiple functions including research, commercial, operations and others. Alongside his day job, he is also part of Pride in JM, an LGBT+ specific employee resource group that promotes LGBT+ inclusivity across the business. He works with the D&I team to organise global events, consult on policies, and deliver D&I training to interest groups.
nano merics Precision Medicines
Dr Ilona Kubajewska MRSC Senior Development Scientist
Ilona has ~15 years of experience in multidisciplinary and translational pharmaceutical and biomedical research and is an award-winning scientist (13 awards, grants and scholarships) with track record of >40 scientific research outputs, including publications in scientific journals, posters and oral presentations at international conferences, patents. Ilona majored in Biotechnology from University of Warsaw, Poland (BSc, MSc), then completed her PhD in Biomedical Sciences at University of Nottingham, UK. Following visiting research fellowships in Germany and USA, she continued her research at postdoctoral level at University College London (UCL School of Pharmacy, UCL Centre for Nanotechnology & Regenerative Medicine), working on nanotechnology applications in oncology, gene therapies, vaccines and immunotherapies, and brain delivery of therapeutic compounds for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. During that time, she also successfully delivered several R&D consultancy projects for Nanomerics and eventually joined full-time as a Senior Development Scientist in 2021, where she leads various research programmes focussed on preclinical development of nanomedicines.
nano merics Precision Medicines
Professor Ijeoma Uchegbu HonFRSC Senior Scientist & Project Leader
Ijeoma Uchegbu FMedSci is UCL’s Professor of Pharmaceutical Nanoscience, a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a governor on the Wellcome board (one of the world’s largest biomedical sciences research charities), a council member of both the Academy of Medical Sciences and the BBSRC and Chief Scientific Officer of Nanomerics Ltd. She has studied the mechanisms of drug transport across biological barriers and created transformational drug transport nanoparticles. She has served as Chair of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences and chaired EPSRC and Science Foundation Ireland grant prioritisation panels. Uchegbu is the immediate past UCL Provost’s Envoy for Race Equality, a role in which she led on race equality work at UCL. Uchegbu has also presented to the UK House of Commons on the educational racial disparities that lead to a lack of ethnic minority representation in scientific research.
Dr Mikie Kukwikila MRSC Senior Scientist – Protein Sequencing
Mikie Kukwikila is a Senior Scientist at Oxford Nanopore Technologies ONT. Mikie received her undergraduate degree in Medicinal Chemistry from UCL and remained at the same institution to earn a PhD in Chemical Biology. Following her PhD, Mikie worked as Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Southampton in Chemical Biology and Nucleotide Chemistry. Mikie started her career at Oxford Nanopore Technologies in 2017. She joined initially as a Research Scientist synthesising nucleotides before being promoted to Senior Scientist in 2020. In 2022, Mikie joined the Protein Sequencing team where she uses her chemical knowledge to help develop this novel technology
Joshua Mejia Scientist – Sequencing Chemistry Research
Joshua Mejia is a Scientist in Sequencing Chemistry Research working on developing novel sequencing chemistries and motor enzymes on the Nanopore platform. He received a BSc In Biochemistry from the University of Portsmouth and went straight into industry form there. Starting his career as temporary Chip Research Scientist at Oxford Nanopore in late 2019 working on the sensory chips. Since then, has moved across a few areas in the company, from chip research, protein-production and finally ending up in his current position in Sequencing Chemistry Research.
Dr Ruth Moysey FRSC Director – Biologics Manufacture Programmes
Ruth Moysey is Director of Biologics Manufacture Programmes at Oxford Nanopore where she is responsible for the strategic planning for manufacturing of biological and chemistry components. She received a degree in chemistry from the University of Bath and a PhD in protein chemistry from the University of Edinburgh. Ruth started her career in the biotech industry as a research scientist developing therapeutics for autoimmune disease. After joining Oxford Nanopore in 2007 Ruth has contributed technical innovations to advance Nanopore’s sequencing technology. Ruth has worked across many areas of the business including research, development, production, manufacturing and tech transfer. In 2020 Ruth was involved in Oxford Nanopore’s rapid response to COVID19 - delivering diagnostic testing kits and Nanopore sequencing enabled mobile testing laboratories.
Alice Newman MRSC Technical Capability Manager
Alice studied chemistry at the University of Surrey and completed a placement year with RSSL as part of the degree. During placement she spent a year working within one of the food science teams, learning about different aspects of analytical chemistry and how this was so important to the industry. Alice returned to university then after graduating returned on a 6-month contract to RSSL, which subsequently became a permanent position. Nearly 10 years later, Alice has spent time working within Functional Ingredients, performing a wide range of analyses on a whole host of food products and the and Pharmaceutical Development team in a project management role. Alice now has a passion for encouraging young people into science and oversees the Early Careers programs at RSSL, including Apprenticeships for school leavers, Internships for those on sandwich programmes at university and the Graduate Scientist roles.
Taryn Reid MRSC Metals Scientist I
Taryn studied at the University of Leicester and graduated with a First-Class Honours in Pharmaceutical Chemistry with a Year in Industry. Her placement at Brenntag UK Ltd was an opportunity to apply her knowledge to practical situations and an RSC Studentship at AkzoNobel enabled her to further enhance her skills. Taryn began her career at RSSL via the Graduate Scientist entry program. She started her journey as a senior technician in the Pharmaceutical Wet Chemistry department, where she learnt critical skills for working in a GMP environment. She now works as a Scientist I in the Metals department, where she does trace elemental analysis using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) and induced-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Taryn has a passion for the technical aspect of analytical chemistry and hopes to continue to pursue this passion during her career at RSSL.
Dr Majda Akrach Natural Products Chemistry
After finishing my PhD in Polymer Science at University of Warwick in 2018, I moved to West Yorkshire to work in home and personal care fragrance encapsulation at Ashland. I was designated as a technical leader to design the first generation of new biodegradable and renewable microcapsules. In 2020, I joined Syngenta at Jealott’s Hill, specifically the Innovative Vector Control Consortium project sponsored by Bill Gates to tackle malaria. I had to develop a polymeric microcapsule to encapsulate an insecticide designed at Syngenta. In 2022, I joined the Natural Product Chemistry team at Syngenta in which I enjoy extracting specific metabolites from plants, fungi, or soil which display some activities against towards crop diseases. In addition, I develop new analytical methods to fully characterise the extracted compounds. Outside the chemistry world, I adore travelling in a new country to learn about new cultures and traditions.
Dr Graham McDougald CChem FRSC Process Technology Capability Development Lead
After completing his studies in 1999, Graham joined Coalite Chemicals as a Development Chemist, subsequently moving to Syngenta 3 years later, at their Huddersfield Manufacturing Centre. His subsequent 20 years there have covered manufacturing support of many active ingredients, development of synthesis routes for new products, introduction of products to first full-scale manufacture and technology transfer with external partners. In 2013 Graham took up the role of Process Technology Group Leader, and with a particular focus on Chemistry Competence, led the development of Chartership and Degree Apprenticeship training schemes for early-career chemists. In 2022 Graham moved into the role of Process Technology Capability Development Lead where he is responsible for global competency management and training schemes. Graham juggles his work alongside taking his 2 daughters to their various sporting and musical endeavours, and following the travails of Huddersfield Town football club.
Farzana Patel Tolling Production Manager
After completing her studies in 2015 (Chemical and Pharmaceutics with industrial placement year BSc), Farzana worked in Pharmaceutical industry and Medical devices initially as an R&D Chemist and then moving into a compliance role supporting audits and aligning procedures with quality requirements. Following this, Farzana moved into the Chemical industry working for William Blythe where she was working as a Production Chemist. This role involved production support, scale up of product manufacture, troubleshooting product quality and technical issues and working closely with supply chain and other functions to meet customer needs. This end-to-end production experience helped to gain experience which supports her current role in Syngenta as a Tolling Production Manager where she is responsible for managing processes and relationships with multiple third-party production sites which produce Syngenta products.
Outside of work, Farzana is a female boxing coach and creates and sells Arabic Calligraphy art pieces alongside hosting workshops & art events.
Dr Steve Smith CChem FRSC Science Liaison Lead
After PhD and postdoc, I started as a Team Leader in Herbicide Chemistry at Jealott’s Hill Research Centre in 1992. I spent 2 years on secondment in Process Technology at Huddersfield and was then appointed Combinatorial Chemistry Group Leader at Jealott’s Hill in 1999. This grew into a more senior role as Head of Chemical Technologies, managing a group of 50 scientists, including Physical & Computational Chemistry, Structural Chemistry & Crystallography and Compound Logistics. I am currently Science Liaison Lead at Jealott’s Hill, involved in site science development and a member of the site leadership team. Travel highlights include setting up our Goa India R&D centre, the RSC Pan Africa Chemistry Network, and more recently leading our Chemistry collaborations team in China. I have led our Jealott’s Hill D&I team and sit on our RSC professional recognition panel as well as the RSC Inclusion & Diversity Committee. I have 2 daughters and enjoy arts and crafts.
Stuart Steer MRSC Process Chemist
I graduated from Heriot-Watt University with a master’s in chemistry and have been working as a Process Chemist at Syngenta for over three years. During my time at Syngenta, I’ve worked both in the laboratory and on the manufacturing site, helping with the multi-tonne production of an active ingredient. I’ve also been able to embark on my journey toward my Royal Society of Chemistry chartership through Syngenta’s mentorship program. I’m aiming to become chartered by the end of the year.
Megan Campbell Year in industry student
Megan is a year in industry student at Unilever, based at the MIF in Liverpool. She works in Science & Technology as part of the hair fibre science team. Her research involves using IR and Raman Spectroscopy as well as computational algorithms such as MATlab.
Dr Axel Ekani Nkodo Beauty and Wellbeing R&D Strategy and Operations Director Dr. Axel Ekani Nkodo is currently Unilever Beauty and Wellbeing R&D Strategy and Operations Director. In this role, he supports the B&W Leadership in defining and executing the group strategy as well as driving and improving the team operational efficiency. Since joining Unilever R&D, he has held a variety of positions, as Technology Platform Leader in Science & Technology, where he led the development of new technologies for Hair Care, Skin Care and Deodorants as well as Innovation Technical Project Leader, where he led the launch of new products for brands such as Dove, Sunsilk or Tigi. In addition to these roles, he has also led teams of scientists and R&D managers in UK and in China, where he spent 4 years on assignment. Prior to joining Unilever R&D, Axel obtained a PhD in Physics from the Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France and was a Post Doctoral Fellow at University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.
Dr Jason Harcup FRSC Global VP Skin Care R&D
Jason is Global Vice President for Skin Care Research & Development, leading end-to-end R&D delivery from innovation to market in 89 countries, across several billion Euros of turnover. He is also Global Vice President for the billion Euro Prestige Division. He also leads Unilever’s North America R&D Campus. He leads several hundred PhDs globally across a dozen worldwide laboratories, delivering more than a billion euros of marketed innovations. He is a Cambridge University Natural Scientist, being elected a Fellow of The Royal Society of Biology in 2016, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2015. He more broadly serves the industry as Judge for the RSC Emerging Technologies Initiative, co-convenor of the Asian Dermatological Forum, having grown and headed up a $60m R&D facility in Shanghai, as Faculty for Health and Beauty America, Beauty Disruptor with the CEW network, and frequently contributes presentations and articles.
Tabitha Sowande Year in industry student
Tabitha Sowande is a third year student completed an integrated Masters of Chemistry with an industrial placement year. Her one-year industrial placement in Unilever as a Research and Development Scientist began in July 2022 and she has been working within material engineering, in the Science & Technology Department. Her work focuses on using multiple analytical techniques to understand the behaviour of oils on hair fibres to provide hair health, look and feel benefit.
Dr Nadia Ahmad FRSC Associate Director, Early Discovery
Nadia obtained her MSci in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry at Imperial College London, before moving to the University of Nottingham to undertake her PhD in Natural Product Synthesis with Professor Nigel Simpkins. This was proceeded by a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, working under the tutelage of Professor Keith Jones. She then joined Takeda at its Cambridge site in the UK, during which time she undertook a six-month secondment at the Takeda San Diego site, working on CNS disorders and inflammation. She then moved to Eli Lilly and was fortunate enough to be able to continue fulfilling her passion for neuroscience, working primarily on GPCRs. Nadia joined CRL from Vertex Pharmaceuticals where she worked on ion channel and enzyme targets in the areas of neuropathic pain and neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer. She is an Associate Director in the Small Molecule Drug Discovery Division at CRL, with responsibility for leading multi-disciplinary teams all the way from hit ID to preclinical candidate. Nadia is an author of numerous peer-reviewed scientific publications and a named inventor on antibacterial, CNS, and oncology patents. .
Dr Prashant Kapadnis Senior Scientist II, Early Discovery
My name is Prashant Kapadnis, I did my M.Sc. in Organic Chemistry from University of Pune, India. I worked as a chemist in India in a pharma company, Cadila Healthcare Ltd (Zydus Research Centre) before moving to UK In 2010, I received my PhD degree in organic chemistry from the University of Cambridge, where I worked on developing 5-HT1b antagonists and bacterial quorum sensing modulators. I did my postdoctoral research at Medical Research Council, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, and Imperial College London, where I worked on designing non-natural amino acids and generating orthogonal tRNA synthetase and tRNA pair through directed evolution methods, and on preparing fluorophore labelled molecular receptors. In 2014 I joint Antikor Biopharma Ltd where I worked on antibody drug conjugates (ADCs). In 2017, I joined Charles River Laboratories (CRL), where I am working as a Senior Scientist-II in small molecule drug discovery area.
Other speakers
Professor Robert Mokaya OBE FRS FRSC University of Nottingham
Robert Mokaya received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Nairobi in 1988 and was awarded his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1992. Following a Research Fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was awarded an EPSRC Advanced Fellowship in 1996. Mokaya joined the School of Chemistry at The University of Nottingham as a lecturer in Materials Chemistry in 2000 where he is now Professor of Materials Chemistry and Pro-Vice-Chancellor Global Engagement. He is a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award holder (2017- 2022). He was awarded OBE in 2022 for services to the Chemical Sciences, and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2023. His research interests are on the design, synthesis and characterisation of new forms of sustainable porous materials and the study of their structure-property relations. The research involves exploring fundamentally new synthesis methods that are simpler, cheaper, and more efficient and offer valorisation routes to materials with optimised properties for targeted sustainable energy applications.
Professor Gill Reid CChem FRSE FRSC University of Southampton
Gill is Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Southampton and served as Head of School between 2016 and 2020.
Born and raised in Central Scotland, Gill obtained both her BSc and PhD at the University of Edinburgh, before being appointed to a lectureship in Chemistry at Southampton in 1991. She became professor in 2006. Her group’s research focuses on synthetic coordination and organometallic chemistry and is motivated by both fundamental studies of new ligand types that explore the influence of metal-ligand combinations on properties and reactivity, as well as more application driven targets. Particular areas of interest are developing reagents for use in chemical vapour deposition and electrodeposition for the controlled growth of functional semiconducting thin film and nanostructured materials. Metal chalcogenides, in particular, have important technological applications, such as solid-state memory, thermoelectric energy harvesting and battery materials. She also works on the development of metal-chelate scaffolds for binding the fluorine-18 radioisotope towards new positron emission tomography (PET) imaging agents and has published over 350 research papers. She is currently President of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2022 - 2024). She previously served as an elected Trustee of the Society (2011-15) and chaired the Outreach Working Group until 2018.
Dr Helen Pain CSci CChem FRSC Royal Society of Chemistry
Helen joined the Royal Society of Chemistry after completing a degree and PhD in Chemistry. She is a Chartered Chemist and a Chartered Scientist. At the RSC, she has led many of its strategic functions and was appointed Deputy CEO in 2015. Helen is a champion for the profession and has commissioned bold campaigns such as Breaking the Barriers and our work to support Technicians. From 2018 - 2021 Helen was Chair of the Science Council, a UK organisation for the advancement of the science profession. She took up the role of Acting CEO of the Royal Society of Chemistry in January 2020 and was appointed Chief Executive in June 2021.
Dr Robert Bowles MRSC RCDP Royal Society of Chemistry
After completing a PhD in marine biotechnology, and a Knowledge Transfer Partnership post doc, 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 fifteen years ago and has managed a programme of their successful education and careers projects. As a qualified careers adviser, he now works in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Career Management team; offering careers and professional development advice to their membership and the wider chemistry community.
Laura Woodward Royal Society of Chemistry
With a background in recruitment and Human Resources, Laura has worked at the RSC for almost 17 years. Laura provides careers and professional development support to members at any stage of their career. She also manages our award winning mentoring scheme.
Dr Joanna Jasiewicz Royal Society of Chemistry
Dr Joanna Jasiewicz leads the Race and Ethnicity Unit at the Royal Society of Chemistry, building strong relationships across the sectors to design and implement initiatives to collectively address systemic racism. Joanna is a social scientist by background, having completed her PhD at the University of Barcelona. Before joining the RSC in 2022, she has led the work on racism and race at the University of Cambridge, driving the University’s successful submission for the Advance HE’s Race Equality Charter Bronze Award, and leading on the design and implementation of the institutional anti-racism action plan. Prior to that, Joanna has worked at the Centre for Global Equality (Cambridge), European Centre for Minority Issues (Germany) and at multiple Higher Education institutions in Europe. Joanna is an expert facilitator and trainer, supporting organisations with compassion and empathy to increase race fluency, understanding of inequalities, and capacities to change mindsets and behaviours.
Dr Laura Reyes MRSC Royal Society of Chemistry
Laura Reyes is Programme Manager, Race and Ethnicity Unit, which is part of the Global Inclusion team at the Royal Society of Chemistry, where she strives to make the chemical sciences community more inclusive for everyone. Through this role, she has played a key role in various activities and programmes, most recently in the development of the 2022 report Missing Elements: Racial and ethnic inequalities in the chemical sciences, and delivery of the Broadening Horizons in the Chemical Sciences pilot programme. Originally from Colombia and having moved as a child to Toronto, Canada, Laura has now relocated to the UK in late 2019. Trained as a chemist, Laura received her BSc in chemistry at York University (Canada), followed by completing her PhD at the University of Toronto where she researched the surface chemistry of heterogenous catalysts for CO2 utilisation. After her PhD, she worked at GreenCentre Canada and the Chemical Institute of Canada, before relocating to the UK and joining the RSC in 2020.
Dr Alison Eldridge MRSC Royal Society of Chemistry
Alison currently holds the role of Strategic Partnerships Manager. During her time at the Royal Society of Chemistry, Alison has led a number of high profile teams including our Industry and Educations teams. Her current role involves building partnerships at senior levels within the private, public and charitable sectors to secure external funding and leverage external expertise, to further the goals and impact of the Royal Society of Chemistry. This ranges from initiatives in the areas of innovation and inclusion & diversity to education programmes to ensure a new generation of scientific leaders emerges to take on the challenges ahead. Alison has also led teams in India and Africa. Alison is both a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Institute of Fundraising. She holds a honours degree in Chemistry and a PhD in physical inorganic chemistry, both from Keele University.
Ian Knibbs MCIM MSCD Royal Society of Chemistry
Ian Knibbs, BA (Hons) MDip MCIM MSCD, Corporate Partnership Lead at the Royal Society of Chemistry. Ian leads on all corporate activity including sponsorships, corporate charity partnerships and working with corporate foundations to secure support and funding help deliver the Royal Society of Chemistry’s goals. Ian a member of the Institute of Fundraising and is a chartered marketeer and chartered designer. He holds an honours degree in design from Teesside University and a postgraduate diploma in Marketing from Cambridge Marketing College.
Daniel Similaki Afro Caribbean Commercial Science Network
Daniel Similaki is a German-born Afro-European. He has a background in chemistry with a BSc honours degree in Chemistry. He has a wealth of experience in the commercial science industry both in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry since completing his university education. He is also currently a DE&I lead in current employment. Daniel’s extensive two-year, seven-month volunteer experience in Africa’s medical outreach program, visiting multiple countries, has provided him with valuable personal and industry expertise. Daniel Similaki founded ACCSN out of frustration with the lack of diversity initiatives in the commercial science sector, aiming to promote equity and inclusion.
Camille Linsley Afro Caribbean Commercial Science Network
Camille is a UK-born individual of mixed heritage, with Jamaican and Swedish-Malaysian roots. She has a passion for music and plays multiple instruments, particularly excelling in cello and double bass. Scuba diving has been a significant part of her life since the age of 15. Camille pursued her undergraduate education in Marine Biology and Zoology at Bangor University, where she discovered her profound interest in animal behaviour. This interest led her to pursue a master’s degree in animal Behaviour at Anglia Ruskin University. Camille’s diverse background and academic achievements make her a knowledgeable and well-rounded individual in the field of marine biology and animal behaviour.
Carla Aldington 2022-2023 Broadening Horizons Cohort
Originally from Cornwall, Carla graduated from King’s College London with an MSci in Chemistry in 2021. During her time at King’s, she conducted two main projects, a final year research project within the Cobb group and a King’s undergraduate research fellowship working with Dr Harvey. In 2021, Carla joined the Barnard and Bull groups at Imperial College London to complete a [1+3] PhD as part of the React CDT using a combination of high-throughput synthesis, solid-phase synthesis and target screening to optimise methodology for the discovery of protein-protein interaction inhibitors. In 2022, Carla obtained an MRes in advanced molecular synthesis from Imperial as part of her PhD programme. Carla was part of the Broadening Horizons cohort one, and is due to start a one year placement with Unilever in September 2023 after applying through the programme.
Zakariyya Dar 2022-2023 Broadening Horizons Cohort
Zakariyya Dar is a third-year undergraduate student at Keele University, where he is pursuing his BSc Honours in Chemistry. His final-year research project focused on laboratory safety. This project aimed to develop Safety Operating Procedures for the Undergraduate Chemistry courses and laboratories at Keele. Zak is proud to have participated in the first cohort of the Broadening Horizons in the Chemical Sciences programme, through which he took part in various networking events throughout the year, as well as numerous site visits from various industry partners of the program. Zak has demonstrated enthusiasm towards the Broadening Horizons program and has made efforts to express the importance of inclusivity and diversity amongst his University as a lead voice representative for the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences.
Johanna Fish 2022-2023 Broadening Horizons Cohort
Johanna completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Southampton, with a 6-month placement at the University of Auckland, New Zealand in her 4th year. She joined the SoCoBio DTP programme for her PhD, where she is in her 2nd year at Southampton, where she aims to improve the ADME(T) properties of E3 ligase-targeting warheads for application in PROTACs. She is part of her university’s central ED&I committee, as well as the School of Biological Sciences, and is a welfare officer for postgraduate students in the same department. She studies part-time because of her caring duties and her late autism diagnosis makes it challenging for her to study in ‘normal’ time. She spends a lot of time campaigning for better opportunities and adjustments for marginalised backgrounds and is so thrilled to be here today!
Cryille Kiaku 2022-2023 Broadening Horizons Cohort
Cyrille graduated from the University of Rouen-Normandie in France with a master degree in Organic Chemistry of Molecules for Living Organisms. He spent his 2nd year master’s degree internship as a Laboratory and Process Development Scientist at Sanofi (94400 Vitry-sur-Seine – France) This internship consisted in performing late-stage functionalisation of aromatic compounds using various types of chemistry (Microwave, High Pressure, Electrochemistry and Flow chemistry). Cyrille is now a second year PhD student in the Lam Research Group in the University of Greenwich. His research focuses on the generation of active compounds using electrochemistry.
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