Speaker Biographies
Dr James Claypole
James graduated from Cardiff University with a degree in Civil Engineering. He has recently finished his PhD at Swansea University in advanced rheology of printable materials. He worked as an intern at the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating during his undergraduate study and is now working as a post-doctoral research assistant at Swansea University working on advanced rheology and its impact on the ability to print electronics funded as part of the EPSRC Centre of Innovative of Large Area Electronics based in WCPC.
Professor Tim Claypole
Tim Claypole is a founder and director of the WCPC (Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating, Swansea University). He is a faculty member of the College of Engineering, Swansea University. His areas of research include colour control, manufacturing systems, quality, maintenance, reliability experimental design, fluid mechanics and process thermodynamics. He is a British Expert on ISO TC130 on standards for the graphic arts. As well as graphics and packaging, he has internationally leading research on the use of volume printing processes for advanced manufacture of a diverse range of products including electronics, sensors and point of care health.
Tim led the ERDF funded DIPLE project won the 2009 Regiostars award for “Research, Technology Development and Innovation”, reflecting the successful transfer of the research into industry. He was awarded an MBE for his services to graphic arts and industry in the 2010 Queens New Year’s Honours.
His contribution to the printing industry has been recognised by the industry with the TAGA Michael Bruno award in 2008 and in 2009 an EFTA special award for outstanding contribution to flexographic printing. The EPSRC, Government and Industry have funded his research that has led to over 170 publications on printing and related topics. He recently finished a prestigious EPSRC Portfolio Grant in “Complex Fluids for Complex flows”, these are only awarded to World leading research groups. He is a co-investigator on the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacture of Large Area Electronics. This major UK award for research is held by the WCPC jointly with the other 3 UK Centres of excellence in Printable Electronics – Cambridge University, Imperial College London and Manchester University.
Dr Ben Clifford
Dr Ben Clifford is a Research Assistant in the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating (WCPC) within the College of Engineering at Swansea University. Ben is currently working on two funded research projects – Avenues for Commercialisation for Nano and Micro-technologies (ACNM), an ERDF funded operation managed through WEFO aimed to help commercial and industrial organisations access academic research to adopt new processes, increase efficiency and reduce environmental impact. The second part of his research is based around applications of synthetic biology for defence applications through a DSTL funded project.
Ben’s research interests lie in the field of digital and direct write manufacturing techniques for applications in printed electronics, semiconductor and biological applications. Prior to becoming a researcher, Ben completed his PhD in the WCPC looking at the Optimisation of Aerosol Jet Deposition for the Development of Printed Electronics. This research looked at the formulation of inks specifically for use in aerosol jet deposition as well as an investigation into the effects of process parameters on print quality and electrical performance.
Ben also holds a Masters of Engineering (MEng), first class with honours in Electronics and Computer Science from Swansea University. During his undergraduate studies he completed research that looked at the development and implementation of an intelligent monitoring system for point-of-care monitoring for patients suffering from diabetic neuropathy. His Masters level research project looked at the development of a power logging device for photovoltaic systems to maximise power output.
In addition to Ben’s academic studies he has worked in a number of roles in industry including Bluetooth and Electronic Consultant for NextGen Technology and Service Operations Engineer for Vodafone UK.
Dr Davide Deganello
Dr Davide Deganello is associate professor in the college of Engineering, SU. He is based within WCPC and his research is focussed on advanced manufacturing by functional printing and additive processing for energy storage, electronic and biomedical applications; as well as the study of underlining complex fluids rheology. Davide is currently PI for an EPSRC award (£450.000) for advanced large-scale energy storage (EP/N013727/1). Further recent projects include an EPSRC first grant on surface instabilities in roll-to-roll printing (EP/M008827/1, 2016 ), EPSRC CimLAE funded Pathfinder project on laser induced forward transfer (SIMLIFT, 2017). Davide has recently participated as investigator to the HaRFest project (2016), an Innovate UK co-funded collaborative project, in collaboration with PragmatIC, CPI, Cambridge University, CimLAE, aimed to investigate scale production of energy harvesting modules. As investigator, Davide has also been named in more than 10 projects, including NIHR funded project for printed diagnostic devices for human cytomegalovirus in newborn babies. Davide’s research has led to patents and a number of publications in leading international journals.
Dr Alex Holder
Dr Holder read Chemical Engineering at Swansea University and joined the Welsh Centre of Printing and Coating after completing his PhD in Nanotechnology. As a PhD student, he worked on validating advanced rheometric techniques such as Optimal Fourier Rheometry (OFR) and controlled stress parallel superposition (CSPS) while working closely with industrial partners on how these techniques might provide better data for their flow models. During his time at the WCPC, Alex was involved in the development of printed pressure sensors as well as developing advanced rheometric techniques to investigate fluid properties specifically of interest to printing. After a collaborative research project with centre for complex fluids within Swansea University Alex has returned to the WCPC and seeks to utilise advanced rheometric techniques to further understanding in the field of printed electronics as well as other complex biological and industrial rheological systems.
Dr Tatyana Korochkina
Tatyana Korochkina is a senior researcher at the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating in the College of Engineering, Swansea University. Her research is primarily focused on functional inks and deposition methods for printed electronics, sensors and energy harvesting. She currently works on the EU funded INTERREG Ireland Wales STREAM project developing printed sensors for remote environmental aquatic monitoring.
Dr Ian Mabbett
Ian is a senior lecturer in the new chemistry department at Swansea.
Prior to that he was the manager of the Materials and Manufacturing Academy, which incorporates the EPSRC COADTED2 functional coatings centre of doctorate training, of which WCPC is a partner.
Ian has also worked in the SPECIFIC innovation and knowledge centre, with research activities in drying, curing and sintering processes for functional coatings in photovoltaic energy generation and electrochemical energy storage.
Ian has also published papers on rapid sintering of conductive inks for printed electronics with WCPC colleagues.
His background is in the rapid radiative drying and curing of coatings and inks and the study of these processes necessitates expertise in instrumental techniques, particularly spectroscopic techniques, thermal analysis and evolved gas analysis.
Ian holds CChem and CSci status with RSC and CEng status with IOM3, holds FHEA for teaching activities and is a very active STEM ambassador.
Dr Chris Phillips
Chris has recently been appointed as a lecturer in engineering in Swansea University and is continuing his research with WCPC with a focus on functional ink development, with emphasis on carbon materials, and energy storage applications.
Sarah-Jane Potts
Sarah-Jane is currently in the final year of her EngD in Materials Engineering at the Welsh Centre of Printing and Coating (WCPC) at Swansea University. She has a Master’s Degree (MEng) in Product Design Engineering from Swansea University which she completed in 2015. During her EngD, Sarah-Jane has partaken several materials engineering and chemistry-based modules as well as conducted research for her project on screen printing for icmPrint Consortium. Currently, Sarah-Jane’s work focuses on visualising the effect of ink viscosity and parameter settings on how inks and pastes are deposited during screen printing, using high-speed imaging and a custom-made printer. She has also assessed the effect of parameter settings and post processing techniques on print quality and performance.