The executive committee of the Formulation Science and Technology Group (RSC-FST) is made of elected representatives of the membership. The offices of the committee are the Chair (de facto trustee of the subject group), the Secretary and the Treasurer. The primary responsibility of the committee is to oversee the smooth running of the activities of the Formulation Science and Technology Group, in particular its many conferences.
RSC-FST committee members:
- Chair: Helen Ryder. Projects and grants manager for multidiciplinary characterisation facilty, Henry Royce Institute. Helen joined the School of Materials, University of Manchester in January 2016 as Project Manager for the Multidisciplinary Characterisation Facility (MCF). Helen has a Masters in Chemical Engineering (UMIST) and her PhD was on the imaging and characterisation of colloidal systems (The University of Manchester). Helen is the Chair for the Formulation Science and Technology Group, an interest group of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) (2011-present), and a member of the RSC’s Member Network Committee (2017-present).
- Secretary: Philip Gill. Principal Propellant Chemist – Roxel UK. Phil is an R&D scientist with 20+ years’ experience in the life assessment and formulation of propellants and explosives. Research focus is on: (i) life assessment of propellants; (ii) understanding the mechanistic relationships of raw ingredient specification and formulation processes; and (iii) development and validation of materials and physical/chemical processing and ageing models. Phil joined Roxel UK in 2021, having previously worked in academia.
- Treasurer: Vivian Christogianni. R&D Manager - Arda Biomaterials Ltd. Chartered chemist and post-graduate chemical engineer with a PhD in polymers and materials science. Expertise in biomaterials, silicones, adhesives and sustainable formulation + process development. Committed to creating eco-friendly solutions benefiting people and the environment. 10+ years of experience in unlocking polymer, composite, and textile potentials in London-based start-ups. Currently leading sustainable biomaterial formulation development, transforming brewery waste into cruelty- and plastic-free leather.
- Emanuel Ajayi. Spirit Energy
- Nikolaos Daskalakis
- Sam Peel, IFF
- Bernadeta Pochopien, BP
- Shashi Ravi Suman Rudrangi, Kent-Athlone Pharma Group, UK and Ireland
- Denise Li. Dr Denise Li is an Impact Acceleration Associate at the Edinburgh Complex Fluids Partnership (ECFP). She completed her PhD under the Soft Matter and Functional Interfaces Centre for Doctoral Training (SOFI CDT) in 2018, studying the Structure and Stability of Phospholipids in Dermatological Formulations. Denise then went on to join the Physical Sciences team at Mondelēz International. Her role involved utilising and maximising the capabilities of the analytical facilities to support product development and problem solve manufacturing issues.
She has experience working on various collaborative projects between academia and industry; sectors including chemical, food and personal care. Her research interest focusses on understanding the structure and phase behaviour of soft matter materials. This information enables us to determine the product’s functionality, stability and shelf life, for instance.
- Bin Yang. A PhD in Physical Chemistry and Charted Chemist of UK Royal Society of Chemistry, currently Senior Scientist at AstraZeneca. She has more than 15 years of research experience at academic institutes and industrial environment on the topics of pharmaceutical science, colloidal and interfacial science, drug delivery, biophysical characterisation. The current research area focus on the formulations/drug delivery system development for a range of drug modalities, including small molecules, peptides biologics and nucleotide-based therapeutics, understand how the formulation impacts on the biology, pharmacokinetics and in vivo drug performance. She also greatly contributing to the formulation strategy and platform capability, CMC attributes for projects.
- Maria Inam
- Bindhu Gururajan. Bindhu Gururajan work as Formulation Project Leader in Novartis Pharma, Basel, Switzerland. He has done his Master’s in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and PhD in Formulation Engineering from The University of Birmingham, U.K. Later did his Post-Doctoral research in Pharmaceutical Sciences with University of Greenwich, U.K. based in Pfizer Research Center, Sandwich site on granulation process scale up and modelling. He has two decades of hands on practical experience in drug development and delivery by working for four major pharmaceutical company namely Merck, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Novartis. In 2020, he was appointed as Honorary Visiting Professor at School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh (https://www.eng.ed.ac.uk/about/people/prof-bindhumadhavan-gururajan) . He is certified as Chartered Engineer and Chartered Scientist and also got elected as Fellow in prestigious institutions namely Royal Society of Chemistry, Institute of Chemical Engineers, Institute of Materials, Mining and Minerals and Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences. In 2020 he got his Master Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma from Benchmark six sigma organization.
He is currently work on late phase drug product development project in particular formulation and process development by applying Chemical Engineering first principles approach.
Non-voting members
- Ian Howell, Unilever
- Jon Jones, BMS
- Kevan Hatchman, Synthomer
- Cuross Bakhtair, Harley Street Cosmetics Ltd
The committee welcomes nominations for members at any time. Please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to supply nominations and details.
RSC Formulation Science and Technology Group won the 2021 Inspirational Committee Award for the successful transition of their conference programme to run online during the Covid-19 pandemic!
We couldn't be prouder :)
