For the last eight years, David has been with the Loughborough Materials Characterisation Centre, specialising in thermal analysis and atomic force microscopy. After gaining a PhD in the development AFM-probe based thermal analysis of polymers, he ran his own materials testing consultancy. Prior to that, he worked as a materials and processes engineer in the railway vehicle manufacturing industry and as a corrosion engineer for an electronics and instrumentation company supplying corrosion monitoring systems to the process industries.

Gary is the Professor of Surface & Interface Science at Loughborough University. He has spent over thirty years developing high performance coatings to address industrial challenges, particularly in the automotive, aerospace, military and space sectors. He has a strong track record of collaborating with both other research providers and industrialists to provide innovative coating solutions in applications such as: hexavalent chromium-free corrosion protection schemes for aerospace and space applications; pretreatments for structural bonding of airframes and armour; ultrahydrophobic coatings for aerofoil surfaces; stealth coatings for windfarms, and; oil-water separation technologies. Gary would be delighted to be a conduit to help transfer some of the technologies developed in these other sectors into the fashion industry. Gary has:

•  A good understanding of coating processes from the atomic-scale upwards and the role of chemistry and structure in determining properties across widespread applications;
• Extensive experience of progressing material coating solutions from the laboratory (TRL1) to application in the real world, in high performance applications (TRL 9), and;
• Ability to put together teams of researchers and industrial partners; such collaborative partnerships are now often required to address the grand societal challenges.