A True Partnership
RESILIENCE is inherently about partnership. The project brings together a set of core partners drawing upon many years at the forefront of skills and training for medicines manufacturing, but it is also about working in partnership with those who use and benefit from the training products, services, resources and support we can provide, so that we can learn from you how best to support your needs in a rapidly changing world.
The Core Partners
The core RESILIENCE partners represent an end to end network connecting UK schools, colleges, and industry. Find out more about our Centre leadership team below.
The University of Birmingham is a global top-100 university who lead the Midlands-Wales Advanced Therapies Treatment Centre and National Training Centre for Advanced Therapies Manufacturing coordinated through the Advanced Therapies Skills and Training Network (ATSTN), where they deliver innovative training to diverse cohorts through in-person, online, app-based and virtual reality programmes.
Meet Centre Lead Professor Ivan Wall
Ivan Wall is a multi-disciplinary scientist and entrepreneur, who works at the interface of life science and engineering. Following a PhD in cell and molecular biology at Cardiff University and postdoctoral work at UCL in regenerative medicine and developmental neurobiology he was an academic at UCL’s Department of Biochemical Engineering from 2009-2017 focused on stem cell bioprocessing, cell line engineering and tissue engineering. During this time, his growing interest in skills and training innovation led him, to design and lead a three module programme in regenerative medicines manufacturing.
In 2018 Ivan moved to Aston University as Professor of Cell and Gene Therapy Manufacturing where he set up a Level 7 MRes Research Scientist apprenticeship, and completed his own MBA (level 7 senior leaders apprenticeship). During this time he co-founded his first start-up, FourPlus Immersive, who create software including VR/AR for training and technology transfer. He also established one of three National Training Centres under the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult-coordinated Advanced Therapies Skills and Training Network (ATSTN) programme.
In 2021 Ivan co-founded his second start-up, Quest Meat, and in 2022, moved to the University of Birmingham as Professor of Regenerative Medicine, in a part-time role that has enabled him to spend time building FourPlus and Quest Meat. RESILIENCE is the major focus in his current academic role. As Co-Director of RESILIENCE, he brings together leading experts in industry skills training and led the adoption of creative new approaches to meet rapidly evolving sector skills needs.
To build a resilient medicines manufacturing workforce we need to be creative and innovative about how we upskill current industry employees and how we train the emerging talent pipeline. This needs new thinking and new tools within a quality framework led by experts. We launched RESILIENCE to do just this, so that the UK remains at the forefront of translaton and is agile enough to adapt rapidly to new technologies and future pandemics. (Professor Ivan Wall, University of Birmingham)
University College London is a global top-10 university (QS World University Rankings, 2010-23) and was ranked 2nd in the UK for Research Power by the Research Excellence Framework 2021. The Biochemical Engineering Department is a world-leader in bioprocess research, teaching and training, with award-winning educational programmes for diverse cohorts from undergraduate to senior leaders.
Meet Centre Lead Professor Gary Lye
As well as heading up UCL’s involvement in RESILIENCE, Gary Lye is Director of the UCL East Manufacturing Futures Lab (MFL), Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Bioprocess Engineering Leadership and Co-Director of the EPSRC Cellular Agriculture Manufacturing Research Hub (CARMA). He was awarded the IChemE’s Donald Medal for outstanding services in Biochemical Engineering in 2021 whilst Head of UCL Biochemical Engineering.
Gary moved into his new role at UCL East Campus in September 2023. MFL is one of the largest academic entities at UCL East, comprising approximately 2000 square meters of laboratory and workshop space. It hosts novel manufacturing research with a distinctly multidisciplinary flavour, addressing issues of sustainability across the medicines, chemical and materials sectors.
Developing a career in medicines manufacturing is possible for anyone who has the right training and educational support. (Professor Gary Lye, UCL)
Teesside University is a dynamic, energetic and innovative university delivering education enriched by research, innovation and deep ties within Industry. It is home to the National Horizons Centre (NHC), a centre of excellence for training an innovation for the biosciences and healthcare sector, delivering in-person and online training to industry audiences through the ATSTN as a National Training Centre.
Meet Centre Lead Professor Safwan Akram
Muhammad Safwan Akram is based at the National Horizons Centre and Teesside University’s School of Health and Life Sciences (SHLS) as a Professor of Biomanufacturing, Engineering Biology and Innovation in Biosciences.
Appointed a full professor in January 2024, he has previously worked as an Associate Professor of Biological & Process Engineering within SHLS, and prior to that been an Assistant Professor at University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. Safwan obtained his PhD in Analytical Biotechnology from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge where he also did his post-doc developing low cost diagnostics. He had earlier completed his M.Phil in Bioscience Enterprise under the auspices of Cambridge/MIT Partnership.
Safwan has been awarded the Medimmune Award and CambridgeSens Innovative Idea award for research excellence. He provides consultancy to venture capital funds, biotech and pharma companies, and has been involved in two tech / start-up companies. During his academic career, he has taught courses on Protein design and engineering, Recombinant DNA Technology and Stem Cells, Biosensors, Technology Enterprise and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology. Safwan is proud to have been voted by Teesside students to win the university-wide Star Award for most outstanding teaching.
Nothing is more exciting than breaking the barriers to learning and teaching and ensuring that our VR enabled training programmes ensure that our workforce is ready to manufacture and deliver medicines for tomorrow. (Professor Safwan Akram, Teesside University)
Heriot-Watt University is a global top-250 university, ranked 1st in the UK for General Engineering in the Research Excellent Framework. It is home to the Medical Device Manufacturing Centre, the Global Research Institute in Health and Care Technologies, and hosts FlexBIO, Flexible Scale-up Facility for the Industrial Biotechnoloy Innovation Centre (IBioIC), an innovation organisation that supports scale up and skills development for industrial biotechnology, including medicines and biomanufacturing.
Meet Centre Lead Professor Nik Willoughby
Nik Willoughby has undertaken research in downstream processing, protein recovery and cellular therapies since completing a PhD at University College London in 1999. He spent several years working in commercial protein purification development for Metris Therapeutics, before returning to UCL to continue downstream bioprocessing research at the industry-academic border, helping to establish the EPSRC-funded Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre for Bioprocessing (IMRC).
Nik established a bioprocessing research group at Heriot Watt University in 2006 and the group currently researches novel separation methods, process development, scale-up and sustainable bioprocessing. Nik’s group has developed novel separation processes for cell therapies as well as processes for the recovery of proteins and amino acids from such diverse raw materials as malt whisky by-products and langoustine shells. Nik acts as CTO for HWU spinout Horizon Proteins, a company that seeks to add value to distillery by-products through recovery of high-quality protein for feed applications, and is currently chair of the Scottish Bioeconomy Council, responsible for the development of the National Plan for Industrial Biotechnology in Scotland.
HWU’s contribution to RESILIENCE is bolstered by the involvement of the HWU-hosted FlexBIO scale-up facility, managed by the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC). FlexBIO provides start-ups, SMEs and academics access to scale-up bioprocessing facilities and an on-site, hands-on biomanufacturing process training.
RESILIENCE will contribute significantly to the education of the upcoming generation with essential skills for the development and manufacture of future medicines. Our emerging Global Research Institute in Health and Care Technologies exemplifies our commitment to advancing healthcare through innovative research-led teaching and entrepreneurial collaboration. (Professor Nik Willoughby, Heriot-Watt University)
Britest Ltd is a UK-based SME that develops innovative tools and methodologies to support sustainable process design. The company works with manufacturers in the pharmaceuticals sectors, providing training and consultancy services to support these organisations to develop more sustainable manufacturing through better process understanding.
Meet CEO Dr Kirk Malone
Kirk Malone joined Britest in May 2023, initially as Commercial Director, assuming the post of Chief Executive Officer in April 2024. Prior to joining Britest, Kirk held a number of positions at the University of Manchester at the interface of academia and industry, most recently as Director of Commercialisation at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology. Kirk has a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Edinburgh, and extensive experience in interdisciplinary science, project and R&D management, and business development across multiple sectors.
Britest is an agile, not-for-profit SME business which champions effective whole process understanding in the (bio)chemical, pharmaceutical and related process industries. Britest helps clients embed and exploit new approaches to put their process understanding to work, foster collaboration, and deliver focused business improvements. Kirk works with Britest’s member organisations, and engages more broadly with companies and academia, to apply Britest’s innovation to develop safer, more productive, and sustainable processes.
RESILIENCE represents a step forward in our own journey as we seek to digitalise the Britest approach to accelerate and scale up the impact of what we do. We share our partners’ passion for research-led STEM teaching and outreach. Britest will be looking especially to leverage our industrial contacts and partnerships across the UK and beyond to maximise the impact of the programme. (Kirk Malone, CEO Britest Limited)
A Growing Partnership…
RESILIENCE aims to provide teaching and outreach materials to 150 schools, colleges and universities for free, enabling them to become affiliate members of the RESILIENCE network, as well as nurturing the talent pipeline for the medicines manufacturing sector through education, mentoring and outreach.
Why not join our growing partnership?