Science Board members - Professor Tony Ryan OBE

Professor Anthony J Ryan is the Pro-Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Science for the University of Sheffield. Prior to this he was ICI Professor of Physical Chemistry & Director of the Polymer Centre (2002-2008), Head of the Department of Chemistry (1999-2003) and has been The Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Sheffield since 1997. Between 1990 and 1997 he was Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and the Reader in Polymer Science and Technology at the Manchester Materials Science Centre, UMIST, Manchester. From 1995 to 2001 he was seconded part-time to the CCLRC Daresbury Laboratory.

Tony has more than 20 years of academic research experience. His research covers the synthesis, structure, processing and properties of polymers and makes extensive use of synchrotron x-rays and neutrons. Most recently he has used the knowledge of the thermodynamics and kinetics of phase behaviour in polymer blends and block copolymers to develop new processing methods based on self-assembly.

Tony has been awarded prizes in 1990 by the Plastics and Rubber Institute, in 1992, 1999 and 2003 from the Royal Society of Chemistry and in 1999 from the Polymer Processing Society. More recently his work on the broader applications of nanotechnology in a diverse number of applications have been subject of prizes from The Society of Dyers and Colourists and Institute of Structural Engineers in 2008 and was awarded the Ellison-Cliffe Lecture & Medal, of the Royal Medical Society in 2007. In 2010 he received the MacroGroup Prize from the RSC/SCI and be the RSC inaugural Materials Chemistry Lecturer.

Tony has been active in promulgating the public understanding of science. He was appointed as the Royal Institution Christmas Lecturer for 2002 where his theme was the science and technology of everyday things. Tony was appointed as the first EPSRC Senior Media Fellow in 2002 and made an Officer the British Empire for “Services to Science” in 2006.

Previous page |

Next page |