John has 35+ years’ experience of mass spectrometry (MS) and chromatography and has led and managed the MS Facility since 1988, during which time over 1000 users have been trained in the use of modern MS. He has 117 peer-reviewed publications, H-index is 35, and has delivered innovative approaches to MS and chromatography-MS, e.g. the first academic open access MS instrumentation in 1995, open access LC-MS, GC-MS and then SFC-MS in 2014 John has supervised 22 students who graduated with PhDs, and is currently supervisor to four PhD students, and second supervisor to a further five PhD students. All of his PhD studentships have been jointly funded by industry, spanning the pharmaceutical, agrochemical, petrochemical and polymer chemistry sectors.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), Chartered Chemist, Chartered Scientist, Member of RSC Analytical Division Council (2014-20), Chair of the RSC Separation Science Group (2009-) and President of the International Mass Spectrometry Foundation (2018-22). He is the only person to have been Chair of the BMSS and the RSC Separation Science Group.
John is also a diligent PhD examiner who is frequently called upon (19 Universities – both UK and abroad) and presently is external examiner at Robert Gordon University (Analytical MSc).
In 2016-17 he was awarded the BMSS lectureship, a role he took very seriously, giving 18 lectures across the UK targeted at PhD students, covering over 4500 miles (mainly by train!) and in 2021 John was presented with the British Mass Spectrometry Society medal.
John’s research ability is to apply his skills in analytical science to a broad range of challenging problems and systems. He is enthusiastic about collaborative working and applying new technologies, and applying his research approaches to a range of applications new environmental projects, whilst others aligns to the petrochemical industry, agrochemicals and pharmaceutical (including therapeutic oligonucleotides).
He is director of the SW Regional GCxGC-HRMS facility, and in the process of enabling the equivalent SW Regional LCxLC-IMS-HRMS facility that should be commissioned early 2025.
Alan graduated from the University of Exeter with a degree in chemistry and went straight into the lab as an analytical chemist for the National Laboratory Service, mastering the fundamentals of environmental water analysis, focussing mainly on Atomic Spectroscopy, but also covering HPLC, GC-MS, wet chemistry and microbiological methodologies. Alans’ next career move was moving into the exciting world of Food and Pharmaceutical analysis, joining the growing team at RSSL, a contract analysis lab, joining the metals team building further expertise in atomic spectroscopy as well as elemental combustion analysis. The experience gained in the role meant Alan became a subject matter expert in the field of elemental impurities regulations in pharmaceutical products, this has led to several publications and conference talks on the subject.
Outside of the day job, Alan also is the secretary for the RSC Food Group and is a writer/reviewer for the Atomic Spectroscopy Update review group, published in the Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry.
Diane Turner is the Founder, Director and Senior Consultant of Anthias Consulting Ltd. A Warwick University Graduate, Diane completed her Masters in analytical chemistry and started her career in environmental chemistry, later gaining significant experience as an Applications Chemist. Diane has developed methods for, given support and high-quality training for companies in most industries around the world for more than 20 years. Diane is a visiting Academic & Consultant at The Open University where she continues her disease diagnosis research from her PhD along with food, drug and space applications. Diane is President of the Royal Society of Chemistry Analytical Sciences Community and Chair of the Analytical Chemistry Trust Fund. She is a Trustee of the Recycling Organisation for Research Opportunities (RORO). Diane is on the Building Effective Analytical Measurement (BEAM) panel and the Industry Advisory Board of the Community for Analytical Measurement Science (CAMS). She is a member of the Government Chemist Programme Expert Group (GCPEG). Diane is co-author of 'Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry: How Do I Get the Best Results?' published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Dr Kathy Ridgway has over 29 year’s laboratory experience as an analytical chemist – mainly working with GC-MS. She started her career doing pesticide residue analysis, before moving on to work on a wide range of food contaminants at Unilever Research. During this time, she completed a PhD at the University of Loughborough focussed on alternative extraction techniques. Following over 10 years at Unilever, she worked as a technical specialist in Taints and off-flavours at Reading Scientific services limited (RSSL). She now works as a Senior Applications Chemist at Element (formally Anatune Ltd) on automation of sample preparation protocols and alternative extraction techniques. Her main focus is on food, flavour and fragrance applications. She is an active member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, being involved with both the Food Group (past secretary and chair) and the separation science interest group (SSG - current secretary). She is also on the organising committee of the BMSS Environmental and Food Analysis special interest Group (EFASIG). She has published several papers, contributed to several book chapters, written magazine articles and presented her work at international conferences.
Dr. Leon Barron is a Reader in Analytical & Environmental Sciences at Imperial College London. He received both a BSc in Analytical Science (2001) and a PhD in Analytical Chemistry (2005) from Dublin City University, Ireland. Since 2009, he has led the Emerging Chemical Contaminants group focusing on chemicals and their transformation products in our environment, especially regarding development of targeted/non-targeted analytical methods for compound identification, monitoring, toxicity and risk assessment. In addition, he runs large-scale monitoring programmes using wastewater-based epidemiology to assess community and population level consumption and exposure to chemicals. His expertise lies in analytical chemistry, particularly in separation science, mass spectrometry and machine learning for applications in environmental, forensic and biological systems analysis. He has published >80 peer-reviewed journal articles to date and secured ~£7.5 M in research grants and contracts as Principal/Co-Investigator. He sits on the editorial board of Science & Justice, Journal of the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences and from 2011-2014 was its Editor in Chief. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences and the Higher Education Academy. He also sits on the committees of the RSC Separation Science Interest Group and the London Biological Mass Spectrometry Discussion Group.
Lewis is currently the Facility & Research Director at Analytical Services International, based at St Georges, University of London. His current role involves overseeing the development, implementation, and routine analysis of biological samples for TDM, forensic and clinical toxicology, and for the support of clinical trials. Lewis completed his BSc degree at Loughborough University, his MSc and Clinical Scientist Training courses at Queen Mary University of London and King’s College Hospital, and his PhD at the University of Leicester. Additionally, Lewis is a committee member of the Royal Society of Chemistry Separation Science Group and London Biological Mass Spectrometry Discussion Group, a member of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists and The International Association of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Clinical Toxicology, and the Chair of the London Toxicology Group.
Graham Mills has been Professor of Environmental Analytical Chemistry at the University of Portsmouth, since 2008 and has over thirty-five years experience in the field. His main research interests are in monitoring water quality and measurement of organic pollutants particularly by the use of passive sampling techniques. Other areas of interest include development of novel sample preparation methods in analytical chemistry, use of high-field NMR in environmental toxicology and fate of pharmaceutical residues in the aquatic environment. He sits on two Royal Society of Chemistry Committees (Separation Science Group and Water Science Forum) that are related to these research activities.
Dr Sam Whitmarsh has 20 years’ experience across the synthetic and analytical chemistry spaces specialising in separation science, with a focus on multi-dimensional chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry of complex mixtures. Sam completed his PhD at the university of Bristol before moving to AstraZeneca as an Analytical Scientist in Process Research and Development. Sam moved to BP and spent 10 years in a range of technical and leadership roles leaving as Global Analytical Expert and leading the BP Analytical Science Network. In 2020, Sam moved back to the pharmaceutical industry and joined CatSci Ltd as the Head of Process Research and Development, leading the growth of the scientific team from 20 to nearly 60 before moving to lead the CatSci digital offer in his current role as Director of Digital Transformation. Sam is a founding member of the LabLinks community – an free online community helping scientists from across the disciplines to Link. Learn and Succeed. Sam is also a member and past secretary of the Royal Society of Chemistry Separation Science interest group.
Jackie began research into fundamental aspects of mass spectrometry during a PhD at the University
of Warwick, UK, before continuing at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Employment followed as an Application Scientist, later becoming the Senior Scientist for Bruker Daltonics Ltd, supporting all civilian MS-based product lines. Returning to University, at Durham University, she established a research group in mass spectrometry and managed the University MS service. She took up the post of Reader at Teesside University in the Waters Centre for Innovation before relocating to the University of York and the Centre of Excellence in Mass Spectrometry.
Current research projects span a wide range of applications (primarily pharmaceutical, agrochemical, lipids, metal-ligands and air- and solvent-sensitive samples), but at the core, research focuses on developing mass spectrometry, from the high performance of FT ICR MS through to the transportable quadrupole MS, and employing chromatographic separation and ion mobility separation for complex samples.
She is the Immediate Past Chair of the British Mass Spectrometry Society with much experience at organising conferences and training courses.
Ruth is an Innovation and Engagement Associate Professor at Swansea University with 20 years’ experience in analytical science. She is a Chartered Chemist and Chartered Scientist committed to designing measurement advances for industry and government, focusing on sample separation, mass spectrometry and spectroscopy approaches for pharmaceutical and environmental analysis. She is a member of the SW Regional GCxGC-HRMS and LCxLC-IMS-HRMS facilities, and is PI for the first UK GC-VUV spectroscopy installation. She has publications that span the life science and environmental sectors, and has co-developed with industry and government new analytical methods leading to an increase in commercial and/or regulatory service provision. In addition to reviewing for UKRI, she is also a registered European Commission expert evaluator in analytical science.
Ruth has over 10 years’ experience delivering training in analytical science, which includes over 30 postgraduate research (PGR) projects (9 PhDs), and the creation of training packages for industry, government and academia. She has helped shape graduate training globally as an RSC qualifications assessor, a member of the RSC Committee for Accreditation and Validation, and as secretary of the RSC Instrumental Analysis Expert Working Group. More recently, she has become a member of the RSC Separations Sciences Group and is excited to help support the coordination of activities across these roles.
