The RESILIENCE Partnership

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)

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Gary is Co-Director of RESILIENCE alongside Ivan Wall. He is Director of the UCL East Manufacturing Futures Lab (MFL)and Director of the industry-collaborative EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Bioprocess Engineering Leadership. He leads the UCL input into the EPSRC/BBSRC Future Biomanufacturing Research Hub (FBRH) and the EPSRC Cellular Agriculture Manufacturing Research Hub(CARMA). He was awarded the IChemE Donald Medal for outstanding services to Biochemical Engineering in 2021.

The MFL is the largest academic entity at UCL East and provides outstanding facilities for medicines manufacturing research and delivery of RESILIENCE training activities. In his previous role as Head of the UCL Department of Biochemical Engineering, he was the academic lead of the department’s MBI industrial training programme. He has extensive experience teaching on MBI modules related to fermentation, cell culture, downstream processing and design of experiments.

Developing a career in medicines manufacturing is possible for anyone who has the right training and educational support. (Professor Gary Lye, UCL)

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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)

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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)

To get in touch with the RESILIENCE hub at Heriot-Watt University please contact Resilience.Skills@hw.ac.uk.

Neil manages the FlexBIO scale-up facility hosted at Heriot-Watt University, which is part of the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC). FlexBIO is a real asset to the RESILIENCE hub at Heriot-Watt University, having an on-site scale-up bioprocessing facility experienced with hands-on biomanufacturing process training (upstream and downstream). This is supported with the wide-reaching network that IBioIC has with industry within Scotland and across the UK.

Previously, Neil worked as a lab manager within R&D in a Scottish-based GMP immunodiagnostics, taking innovative blood transfusion testing from lab bench to full scale manufacturing. Prior to this, he completed a PhD at Nottingham University in food allergy immunodiagnostics. Neil is originally from Kent, where he studied for his BSc in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Kent, but, crucially, he did an industrial placement at Pfizer (formally Sandwich site) in bioprocess development. Neil is a very passionate advocate of work-place learning, from short CPD skills training and work experience to long-term placements to help support the scientists of the future to be work-place ready.

To get in touch with the RESILIENCE hub at Heriot-Watt University please contact Resilience.Skills@hw.ac.uk.

Laura has recently completed her PhD in Cancer Bioengineering at Heriot-Watt University, where she pioneered innovative 3D bioprinting techniques to develop novel pancreatic cancer models. With over a decade of experience in academia and cancer research, Laura possesses a deep understanding of the higher education landscape and the challenges of academic research. She is a passionate science communicator, actively participating in public engagement initiatives, such as the Edinburgh Science Festival and Soapbox Science.

In her current role at RESILIENCE, as the Digital Learning Associate & Outreach Coordinator at Heriot-Watt University, Laura leads efforts to promote careers in medicine manufacturing to students across schools, colleges and higher education institutions throughout Scotland. As the hub’s virtual and mixed reality (VR/MR) specialist, she is dedicated to inspiring and training the next generation of professionals in medicine manufacturing, aiming to transform healthcare worldwide. 

To get in touch with the RESILIENCE hub at Heriot-Watt University please contact Resilience.Skills@hw.ac.uk.

Before joining RESILIENCE, Nicole worked at Ingenza, a dynamic CDMO in Scotland for almost 2 decades. Prior to that, she completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in Protein Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh, following her PhD in Technical Chemistry at the University of Rostock in Germany. With over 19 years of experience in industrial biotechnology, Nicole possesses a deep understanding of the challenges of this industry and of the emerging needs of the health care sector. 

As the Digital Technology Fellow & Outreach Communications Manager at the Heriot-Watt hub, Nicole is responsible for inspiring young people about careers in medicines manufacturing, engaging with educators and industry, and developing and delivering training programmes, which support and nurture the current medicines manufacturing workforce and emerging talents. Nicole is passionate about Science & Technology and has for many years participated in public engagement and STEM events, as well as in teaching and mentoring of young scientists. 

To get in touch with the RESILIENCE hub at Heriot-Watt University please contact Resilience.Skills@hw.ac.uk.

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)

Emma has worked at Britest for almost 10 years, and in her role as Operations Director, ensures the efficient day to day running of the team and smooth cooperation with our extensive network of partners. Prior to joining Britest Emma worked for 17 years in the world of hospitality as a 5 star hotel front desk manager, looking after A-List VIPs from pop super stars to the Dalai Lama and everybody in between.

In RESILIENCE Emma is the Chair of our ED&I Committee, and plays a key role in organising RESILIENCE outreach and event planning.

More on Emma Maun at the Britest website and on LinkedIn.

John’s job combines service provision as a Technical Facilitator and Trainer with looking after all aspects of Britest's communications. With a First Class honours Degree in Applied Chemistry from the University of Strathclyde and a PhD in polymer science, John’s background is in industrial R&D in polymers for speciality personal products, combined with extensive experience of collaborative projects, training, consultancy and knowledge transfer activities.

John is responsible for co-designing and delivering RESILIENCE’s website as a route both for educators to access high quality, readily scalable core materials for training and outreach, and for employers to accelerate skills development and access new talent, and is supporting the RESILIENCE team in capturing the impact and reach of their activities through course feedback and ED&I metrics.

More on John Henderson at the Britest website and on LinkedIn.