Analytical
Alex Ciupa - Technical Support Supervisor
Alex Ciupa graduated from the University of Bath in 2013 with a PhD exploring Chalcone Derivatives in Cancer Research and Tissue Engineering. Alex then joined the Department of Chemical Engineering technical team primarily responsible for the teaching and analytical research facilities until early 2017 when he joined the Materials Innovation Factory. Alex specialises in chromatography, spectroscopy and particle sizing techniques.
Krzysztof Pawlak - Technical Support Officer
Krzysztof Pawlak graduated from the Poznan University of Technology in 2012 with a PhD on β-carotene excited-state deactivation in ionic liquids. He then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Biological Research Centre of Hungarian Academy of Science where he continues to work on spectral properties of photosynthetic complexes. In a similar position, Krzysztof continues his research at the Max-Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion. Over this time, he gained substantial knowledge of different advance molecular spectroscopy techniques.
Krzysztof joined the Materials Innovation Factory team in January 2020 as a specialist in spectroscopy methods. He is the technical lead for UV-VIS, FTIR, FLS, IR and Raman microscopy.
Steven Robinson - Technical Support Supervisor
Steven Robinson graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2007 with an MChem and again 2011 with a PhD on the Lithiation-Substitution of Benzylamines and Piperazines. Following a stint in industry, both at Cambridge Display Technology and AM Technology, where he worked in P-OLED technology and flow chemistry respectively, Steven joined the Materials Innovation Factory team in October 2014.
Initially focussing on equipment specification and the move in, Steven is now the lead on the UPLC-QToF, UPLC-SQD, UPLC-TQD, UPC2-QDa, MALDI MS Imaging and MALDI-TOF. Research work that he has been involved with has covered a large variety of subjects from ancient bones, early stage medicine research, anti-malarial doping of mosquito nets and fast moving consumer goods These research themes are a range of long term partnerships and short term projects with which Steven can engage stakeholders at all levels to determine their training and analysis requirements, as well as recommending techniques outside of areas of his expertise if needed.
Megan Carr- Technical Support Officer
Megan Carr graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2023 with a PhD on the synthesis of polymers in continuous flow, concentrating on comparing how various polymerisation reactions progressed in batch versus in flow and optimising the flow processes. Megan joined the Materials Innovation Factory in July 2022 as a technical support officer focussing on chromatography and mass spectrometry. Within the MIF she is the technical lead for the SEC/GPC systems and assists with the UPLC-MS systems.
Amanda Taylor - Technical Support Officer
Amanda joined the Materials innovation factory in May 2019, with a first class honours degree in Applied biomedical sciences from John Moores University.She has years of experience within the core and analytical biochemistry department principally at the Royal Liverpool Broadgreen University Hospital Trust, and is studying towards her Masters in Biomedical sciences. Amanda currently supports the MIF automation team.
Leo Gould - Technical Support Officer
Leo graduated with a BEng in Chemical Engineering from Swansea University in 2015 and has since completed work for an advanced materials manufacturer in 2015/16, analysing and improving their process utility usage. He was then a project engineer for a chemical analyser systems manufacturer in 2016/17 and worked as a technician at the University of Chester in 2017/18. He is an associate member of the Institute of Chemical Engineers and a certified Lean Six Sigma practitioner.
Automation
Jack Nicholls - Technical Support Officer
Jack studied Mechanical Engineering here at the University of Liverpool followed by a Masters of Engineering Science at the University of Queensland, Australia. Since graduating, he worked in the materials research sector for 5 years, helping to design and develop new techniques for characterising materials at the nano scale with automated processes. Jack joined the Materials Innovation Factory in 2021 to work with the automated formulation platforms here in the Open Access Labs.
David Whetnall - Technical Support Officer
David Whetnall graduated with a BSc in Chemistry from Durham University in 2007 and has more than 10 years’ experience in Formulation Science. His background is in product development with an emphasis on using automation for high-throughput formulation and characterisation. He has expertise in a variety of characterisation techniques, including rheology, colloidal stability and particle size distribution analysis. Since joining the Materials Innovation Factory in 2017, David has specialized in automated rheology and formulation, and has been the lead technical contact for the MIF rheology equipment suite, working with partners from both industry and academia.
Technical Support Officer
Athina graduated from the University of Huddersfield with a degree in Biological Sciences. Following her undergraduate studies, she pursued a Master's degree in Cosmetic Science at Liverpool John Moores University. Currently, she supports the automation team at the Materials Innovation Factory (MIF), where she has accumulated over three years of specialised experience in automated formulations. In this role, she focuses on optimising and developing automated processes to increase platform throughput while providing support to current users.
Kyran Breeze- Technical Support Officer
Kyran graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2021 with an MSc in Advanced Chemical Sciences. After graduating, he spent a year working in Automated Personal Care Formulation for Eurofins at the MIF, where he played a role in optimising commercial personal care products. In August 2022, Kyran joined the MIF as part of the Automation Team, where supports both Automated Formulation and Characterisation workflows.
Oliver Prowse- Technical Support Officer
Oliver graduated with an MChem in Chemistry from the University of Liverpool in 2021, where he completed research projects on NMR characterisation of heterogenous catalysts, and fluorescence assessments of host-guest dynamics of polymeric nanoparticles for drug delivery. He has completed a graduate scheme in pharmaceutical manufacturing at CSL Seqirus in Speke, before joining the MIF in July 2023 as a technical support officer. He is experienced with automated systems through working with manufacturing lines, and high throughput formulation platforms. He also has experience in a wide array of chemical analysis techniques, particle sizing, and surface tensiometers.
Data Management
Paul Sweeney - IT Systems Manager
Paul Sweeney is a Microsoft Certified Professional and Member of the British Computer Society, with over 20 years experience of IT in both the public and private sector. He is PRINCE2 and ITIL qualified and has a proven track record of planning and delivering successful IT projects as well as managing service delivery.
Prior to this, he graduated with a BSc. in Pharmacology from the University of Liverpool in 1992 and spent 10 years as a development chemist in the continuous inkjet printing industry. Paul joined the Materials Innovation Factory team as IT Systems Manager in December 2018.
Microscopy
Keith Arnold - Technical Support Supervisor
Keith Arnold has many years’ experience in analytical scanning electron microscopy and technical management in an industrial laboratory. His first degree is in Chemistry and for his PhD he studied the high temperature oxidation behaviour of a range of nickel-base superalloys consolidated by additive and conventional manufacture. He was responsible for setting-up the microscopy suite in the MIF in 2018; since then, he has developed numerous protocols relating to SEM, FIB, EDS, WDS and cryo SEM. He is currently investigating how to automate SEM imaging and analytical SEM work (EDS and WDS) to improve specimen throughput.
Owen Gallagher - Technical Support Supervisor
Owen has many years’ experience in the field of materials science, initially within the measurement science unit at Unilever, and later as a senior scientist at Intertek. During this time, he completed a BSc (Hons) Computer Science focusing on VR & Haptics.
His expertise includes a variety of characterisation techniques, specialising in EM methods. Owen joined the Materials Innovation Factory in January 2020
Business Support Team
Ben Slater - Head of Business Development
Ben received his Ph.D. in supramolecular chemistry at Nottingham in 2012 followed by PDRA positions working with porous materials, MRI contrast agents, brewing science and chemistry automation. He managed UoL’s £1.07 M EPSRC IAA from 2017, supporting 42 collaborative projects with a total £1.2 M industry match, and developed a wide industry network before moving to the MIF in 2019 as Business Development Manager. He manages Royce interactions with the MIF Open Access Lab, covering corporates, SMEs and start-ups, and is Strategic Lead for Liverpool’s ongoing EPSRC IAA activity. He has specific interests in entrepreneurship and commercialisation of digital, automation, and advanced materials projects, and been awarded numerous grants and awards for developing open source projects.
Doug Parker - Business Development Manager
Doug gained his PhD in materials chemistry from the University of Liverpool, before taking up several post-doctoral research positions at both the University of Liverpool and University of Manchester. During this period, he also took a 2-year secondment to help commercialise and spin-out a university start-up. He joined the Materials Innovation Factory team in 2022 as the Business Development Manager and Research & Business Engagement Lead for the Chemical Materials Design research theme at the Henry Royce Institute.
Becky Evans - Office Manager & Management PA
Becky Evans has many years’ experience in office management and senior administration in the public sector, most recently working within the Family Court system. Becky studied for a BSc in Social Policy and Criminology with the Open University, gaining a First Class Honours degree in 2011. Becky went on to undertake post graduate studies in Management and Development at Birmingham University. Becky joined the MIF in June 2017 to take up the post of Office Manager and PA to the Managing Director.
Nicola Terry - Finance Manager
Nicola Terry graduated from Liverpool John Moores University in 2011 with a degree in Accounting and Finance. In September 2014 she completed her exams to become a Chartered Management Accountant (CIMA). Nicola joined the Materials Innovation Factory in February 2017 in the role of Finance Manager.