Keynote Speakers Michael Forde
Dr. Forde’s academic career in the chemical sciences began with completion of the M Chem with Industrial Experience (University of Edinburgh) and PhD in Chemistry (Cardiff University) working on industrial projects, sponsored by Procter & Gamble and Dow Chemical Company respectively. His formal training is in sustainable heterogeneous catalysis and he is a Senior Lecturer at the University of the West Indies teahcing courses in Industrial Chemistry, Green Chemistry and Renewable Energy. He started the first UWI based research group focussed on sustainable catalysis and has supervised five postgraduate researchers’ completing their PhD degrees. His research focus is in sustainable approaches for biomass valorisation with his group pushing the boundaries of sustainability by employing visible light as a direct energy source for biomass transformations coupled to benign resources such as water acting as reagents. Additionally, he has an active research programme investigating the implementation of virtual reality technology in chemical education. Dr Forde is committed to the advancement STEM education in the Caribbean region and is involved in STEM outreach programs for young persons. He is a founding member of Commonwealth Chemistry and Trinidad and Tobago Chemical Society. Dr. Forde also has extensive experience with all aspects of the business of plant derived materials for use in the cosmetics and personal care industry and co-owns a personal care product manufacturing business and provides consultancy services covering the entire life cycle of product development to regional brands. Sally Gaw Sally Gaw is an environmental chemist at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. Her research is interdisciplinary encompassing environmental toxicology, chemistry and assessment of human exposure to chemical contaminants. Her passion for environmental chemistry was ignited as a child when she lived in developing countries. She has a particular interest in understanding how products we use in everyday life lead to environmental contamination and identifying how we can reduce the associated environmental burden.
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