Steve Rannard BSc (Hons), D.Phil, FRSC

Steve graduated from the University of Sussex having completed a first degree and latterly his D.Phil studies (sponsored by BP, Sunbury-on-Thames) with Prof. Norman Billingham on controlled amphiphilic block copolymers for dialysis membranes. After his D.Phil, Steve joined the Cookson Technology Centre in Oxford (Organic Materials Group). After 2 years he moved to the Courtaulds (Coventry) where he worked for 4.5 years in the Strategic Research and the Coatings & Sealants Groups before moving to the Unilever R&D laboratories at Port Sunlight. He had several roles during his 9 years at Unilever but was closely linked to the chemistry groups both in the UK and China (Shanghai) throughout that period. Initially he was Unit Leader but he progressed to Science Area Leader and finally Discovery Platform Director. Steve held a Royal Society Industry Fellowship ( 2005-2009) and an IOTA NanoSolutions Fellowship (2007-2010). He was the first recipient of the joint RSC/Macro Group UK Young Researcher of the Year Medal (1998) for his branched polymer and dendrimer research (Courtaulds).

Steve has also co-founded three spin-out companies, Hydra Polymers Limited (purchased by Parogle Technologies), IOTA NanoSolutions Limited and Tandem Nano Ltd. He had roles as CEO and Chief Scientific Officer within IOTA NanoSolutions and was Chief Scientific Advisor and non-Executive Director at Hydra. IOTA was the winner of the NorthWest Regional Science and Technology Business of the Year Award (2007), Merseyside Innovation Award (2007) and the NorthWest Biomedical Startup of the Year Award (2007). It was also highlighted as RSC SME of the Month in September 2007.