Academic Staff
Professor Pete Williams - Director, Centre for Water Soluble Polymers
Professor Williams is the Academic Leader for Material & Analytical Science and is Director of the Centre for Water Soluble Polymers. He is a graduate of the North East Wales Institute and was awarded a PhD from the University of Salford in 1982 and a DSc in 2009. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has over 30 years of experience in the synthesis, physicochemical characterisation, solution and interfacial properties of of polysaccharides and other water soluble polymers. He has attracted major funding through EPSRC, BBSRC, TSB, EU and DEFRA. He has published over 180 research papers and edited over 30 books. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the international journal "Food Hydrocolloids", which is concerned with the characterisation, properties and applications of macromolecules used in foods and an editorial board member of "Carbohydrate Polymers".
Dr Jixin Yang - Senior Lecturer in Chemistry/Analytical Chemistry, Programme leader for Forensic Science
Dr Yang received his BSc in Nanjing University (China) in 1996 and MSc in Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing) in 1999. Since then he studied his PhD at University of Nottingham on transient species in conventional and supercritical fluid solutions by time-resolved infrared spectroscopy. After graduating in 2003, he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at Nottingham, focusing on the area of materials chemistry. Dr Yang took the academic position at Glyndwr University in 2009. Now he is actively involved in undergraduate/postgraduate teaching and research in material chemistry. His principal research interests and expertises lie in the field of metal nanoparticles, semiconductor materials, polymer nanocomposites, vibrational spectroscopy, supercritical fluids and green chemistry. He has published 25 research papers so far in peer-reviewed journals. Dr Yang is Charted Chemist (CCHEM), member of Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC) and fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
Research Staff
Saki Kokubun - Technical Assistant
Saki has a MRes Polymer Science and Technology from Glyndwr University. Her research project was looking at effects of surfactants on the rheological properties of hydrophobically modified hydroxyethyl cellulose. She joined Centre for Water Soluble Polymers in February 2010 as a technical assistant. Her role is to provide technical support on the Welsh Assembly Government funded knowledge transfer centre based at Glyndwr, with the aim to facilitate technology transfer between Academia and Industry in the area of industrial biopolymers.
Saumil Vadodaria - KTP Associate
Saumil completed his BSc (Chemistry) and MSc (Industrial Polymer Chemistry) from Sardar Patel University, India and joined CWSP, Glyndwr University in September 2008 to study an MPhil. He will is currently studying for a degree of PhD under Dr Rob English regarding synthesis, shear/extensional rheometry and light scattering properties of hydrophobically modified hydroxyethyl cellulose in aqueous media.
He is currently the appointed associate in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership between Glyndwr University and Morgan Electroceramics, Ruabon. The KTP project focuses on spray drying of water based ceramic dispersions.
Ian Ratcliffe - Lecturer
After working in various roles within the chemical industry for ten years Ian joined the Centre for Water Soluble Polymers (CWSP) in 1999 as a Post Graduate Research Assistant prior to studying for his PhD on the Rheological Properties of Borate Cross-Linked Glucomannans. Since then Ian has worked as a Post Doctoral Research Assistant largely within the CWSP but also at Ocean Sciences at Bangor University. His research interests are within the "Green Chemistry" field, particularly in the areas of biopolymers and their modification and characterisation.
Helen Richardson - Post Doctoral Research Assistant
Since completing her PhD in Colloid Science at Glyndwr University, Helen has spent most of her working career in the chemical industry. She carried out research and new product development in ICI, investigating a range of different polymer types. She has also worked in manufacturing support and customer technical service roles and so has worked with many technologies including spray applied and roller coatings, extrusion, moulding, and dispersion formulation. To add to her industrial experience, she also worked in the Polymer Physics Group at Surrey University studying polymer relaxation in thin polymer films. She is currently working within the CWSP on a project for GlaxoSmithKline. In her spare time she plays rock guitar and is a registered guitar tutor.
Musarrat Mohammed - Post Doctoral Research Associate
Musarrat has BSc Honours in Chemistry from University of Glasgow, there she obtained a PhD entitled "Investigations of the Thermal Stability and Degradation Mechanisms of Several Polymer-Additive and Copolymer-Additive Systems." She has worked on a number of industrial projects with BP Chemicals, Hutchinson Polyurethanes, Materials Engineering Research Laboratory Ltd and Shell Global, she has also worked on projects sponsored by EPSRC and the Technology Strategy Board. She has been involved with the Chitosan project and the NIMES project at Glyndwr University. She also has Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Academic Studies from University of Strathclyde. She is a Fellow and member of The Higher Education Academy. She was involved in teaching undergraduate chemists at the universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow, both with workshops and lab supervision, she has also supervised a range of undergraduate and postgraduate research projects. She currently teaches on drugs and toxicology for our BSc (Hons) Forensic Science course.
Dr Amiya Chaudry - Senior Lecturer
Dr Amiya Chaudhry received her BSc(Hons) (1998) in Environmental Science and a PhD (2004) in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Sussex. Her PhD funded by the Atomic Weapons Establishment UK was based on the characterisation and degradation of a typical room temperature vulcanized (RTV) filled foamed poly(dimethyl)siloxane rubber. In 2004 she was appointed as an Associate Lecturer at the Open University on a number of technology and science courses. In 2005 she joined the Materials Science Research Centre at Glyndwr University as a Knowledge Transfer Associate on a two year research project funded by the Department of Trade and Industry and Almetron Ltd. In 2007 took a permanent academic position teaching on the BSc Environmental Science and Forensic Science degree programmes.
Anna Davenport - Lecturer in Forensic Science
Following the completion of her undergraduate degree at the University of Exeter, Anna went on to complete an MSc in Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology at Cranfield University. Anna maintains her links with the University of Exeter by teaching a module in Forensic Archaeology and she continues to offer popular forensic and archaeological based courses at the Oxford University Summer School. Anna started her forensic casework experience as consulting forensic illustrator and is now part of a team of professional forensic archaeologists and anthropologists in the search and recovery of clandestine depositions. Anna is currently studying towards her PhD in forensic archaeology and contemporary burial and maintains her research interests in both forensic archaeology and traditional archaeology. She joined Glyndŵr University in 2010 and took a permanent academic position in 2011 teaching on the BSc Forensic Science programme.
