Lead Investigators
Professor Pete Skabara is the Ramsay Chair of Chemistry and Director of Research at the University of Glasgow and leads Hetero-Print as Principal Investigator. He is a world leader in the synthesis of novel macromolecules and polymers as organic semiconductors, in particular, well-defined, multifunctional molecular systems, work recognised by a Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award (2014-2019). His research management experience includes 15 EPSRC grants and 4 EU grants, including, as PI, an extant Future Manufacturing Platform Grant (EP/P02744X/1) on structured light in. Pete is Deputy Editor-in-Chief and Chair of the Journal of Materials Chemistry C. He has served as theme lead and co-chair for several international conferences and will Chair the International Conference on the Science and Technology of Synthetic Metals (ICSM), to be held in Glasgow in 2020. His research interests are strongly aligned to device applications (e.g. OLEDs, lasers, sensors), and his labs are well-equipped for device manufacture and characterisation. In Hetero-Print, Pete leads on materials development for interface chemistry and stamps, applying expertise in materials and supramolecular chemistry across all work-packages.
Professor Steve Yeates is Chair of Polymer Chemistry and Vice Dean for Research for the Faculty of Engineering and Science at the University of Manchester and leads Work-Package 1. He has over 40 patents, 120 peer-reviewed papers, and 20 years of relevant industrial experience prior to joining academia. Steve is also co-director of the Manchester Centre for Digital Fabrication (EPSRC Strategic Equipment Award) and his track record in applied polymer science is highly relevant to digital printing and printable organic electronics, providing valuable context for the digital manufacturing objectives of this programme. Current relevant funded activities including EPSRC EP/K03099X/1, £5.6M, 2013–2018, Co-I, “Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large Area Electronics,” EP/N010345/1, £4M, 2015–2020, Co-I, “Engineering van der Waals heterostructures: from atomic level layer-by- layer assembly to printable innovative devices.”
Professor Martin Dawson is Director of Research at the Institute of Photonics (IoP) at the University of Strathclyde and Head of the UK’s only Fraunhofer Research Centre (since 2012) and leads Work-Package 2. He is internationally recognised for broad contributions to semiconductor optoelectronics, including heterogeneous integration and pioneering transfer printing at the nanoscale. In 2016 Martin received the IEEE Photonics Society Aron Kressel Award, and the Gabor Medal of the Institute of Physics. He has held 28 EPSRC grants in total, and successfully led several large and multi-disciplinary research programmes, including EPSRC Programme Grant EP/K00042X/1 (2012-2017), and Platform Grant EP/I029141/1 (2011-2015) as well as being the IoP’s senior investigator on two EPSRC Quantum Technology (QT) Hubs (EP/M013243/1 and M01326X/1).
Professor Rachel Oliver is Professor of Materials Science at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Cambridge Centre for Gallium Nitride and leads Work-Package 3. Her work on the growth and characterisation of nitride semiconductors has been recognised by a Royal Academy of Engineering/Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship (2015-2016). Her leadership experience as PI includes 3 EPSRC grants, an EU grant (>£1 million) and 2 industry grants. She also leads the nitride activity within the EPSRC National Epitaxy Facility. Her innovative growth studies are internationally renowned, particularly demonstration of the first InGaN-based single photon source.
Professor Jon Heffernan is the Director of the EPSRC National Epitaxy Facility and leads the research on Semiconductor Materials & Devices at the University of Sheffield and leads Work-Package 4. He is PI/CoI on £36m of EPSRC grants and contracts including as co-Director of the EPSRC National Hub in High Value Photonic Manufacturing and Co-I on the programme grant “Quantum Photonics” (EP/N031776/1). Jon also has 18 years of experience in industry as Director of Advanced Optoelectronics in Sharp Electronics. He has extensive experience of developing technologies from basic research through to technology transfer into mass manufacturing, especially in the area of lasers, LEDs and solar cells.