Tom Baxter, FIChemE, Chemical Engineering Consultant, PDB

Tom Baxter graduated from Strathclyde University in 1975 with a BSc in chemical engineering (first class honours). He is a Fellow of the IChemE. He started his career with ICI Petrochemicals, moved to fine chemicals with the Swiss company Ciba-Geigy before taking a position as a process engineer in 1980 with BNOC (British National Oil Corporation). Through privatisation and acquisitions BNOC became Britoil then BP. Here he worked as an operations engineer, development engineer and research manager. In 1991, he left BP and joined Altra Consultants as technical manager. He accepted a position as technical director with Genesis in 1998, and became the Aberdeen Business Unit director in 2005. He returned to his role as technical director on 2010 together with a position as senior fellow in the Chemical Engineering Department at Aberdeen University, which he helped establish. Since 2003, he has been visiting professor of chemical engineering at Strathclyde University. He is currently a chemical engineering consultant providing greenhouse gas reduction expertise.

Gareth Hinds, FICorr FIMMM FNACE FREng

Professor Gareth Hinds is NPL Fellow and Science Area Leader in the Electrochemistry Group at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in Teddington, United Kingdom. His primary expertise is in the development of novel in situ diagnostic techniques and standard test methods for assessment of corrosion and material degradation in energy applications.

Gareth obtained his primary degree in Experimental Physics and a PhD in Electrochemistry from the University of Dublin, Trinity College. He joined NPL in 2002 and has added world-leading metrology capabilities in electrochemical energy conversion and storage technologies to NPL’s well-established research activities in corrosion. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Department of Chemical & Process Engineering since 2016, collaborating with academics in the department and co-supervising PhD students.

Gareth is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and holds other visiting academic positions at the University College London and Harbin Institute of Technology, China. He is the author of over 200 publications and a Past President of the Institute of Corrosion. Gareth is also active on many international standards committees covering hydrogen technologies, batteries and corrosion.

Derek James McNab, CEng, CEnv, FIChemE

Visiting Professor, Derek James McNab, is a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Environmentalist who has dedicated his career to protecting people and the planet through delivering safety and environmental engineering solutions.  He has led Mabbett & Associates Ltd since 2000 and grown it with his colleagues to become one of the UK’s leading safety and environmental focused consultancies.

Derek is a Fellow of the IChemE, former Chairperson of the IChemE Scottish Members Group, IChemE’s representative on the Engineering Policy Group Scotland (acting as a two-way link between engineering and Government) and Vice President of the Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce.

Having studied at Strathclyde as both an under-graduate and post-graduate, he is proud to return to the Department to share his experience and knowledge.  Derek lectures on a range of environmental engineering related topics to include: emerging technologies; ethics, sustainability and environmental engineering; industrial effluent management; and environmental engineering for solving industrial challenges.

Scott Allen, CEng FIChemE, Managing Director, Allen Associates (HPE) Ltd

Professor Scott Allen joined Stirling based Allen Associates (HPE) Ltd in 2001, taking on the role of Managing Director in 2006.  

Over the past 20 years Scott and his team have worked with many of the world’s biggest spirits brands with the business now established as the largest Scottish based chemical and process engineering design consultancy serving the Scotch whisky and related industries. The company has completed over 1000 projects in the UK and overseas, with clients ranging from small craft distillers to multi-national corporations.

Although Scotland’s distillery sector remains at the core of the business, Allen Associates’ international footprint has expanded rapidly in recent years with the team delivering design solutions to a portfolio of clients in 17 countries, including projects in the United States, Scandinavia, Australia and China.

Throughout his career Scott has championed the cause for sustainable distilling and has been at the forefront of the drive to achieve net zero targets within the industry.  With an intimate knowledge of the distilled spirit production process, Scott and the team help distillers deliver projects which have a significant impact on Lean, Clean & Green energy measures.  

Scott is a Chemical and Process Engineering graduate of the University of Strathclyde.  In 2015 he was awarded a Fellowship of the Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) and in 2017 he was appointed Visiting Professor at the University of Strathclyde’s Department of Chemical & Process Engineering.

Jon Clipsham

Jon Clipsham joins the Department as a Visiting Professor, bringing with him many years of knowledge and experience from the rapidly developing hydrogen and renewable energy sector.

During his career he has worked in the precious metals industry, with a strong focus on homogeneous catalysis for hydrogenation reactions, working with Johnson Matthey, Umicore, and then co-founding a business to help catalyst users improve the utilisation of their precious metal inventories. He then moved to join the European Marine Energy centre in Orkney (where he lives) building the Islands’ hydrogen eco-system. Jon is currently Chief Commercial Officer with Protium Green Solutions, a pioneering green hydrogen development company, working with a large number of industrial and mobility clients to deploy green hydrogen projects.

He studied Metallurgy and Materials Science at Imperial College, with an MSc in Managing Catalytic Technology from Liverpool University.

He is a Director of the Scottish Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association; a Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry; and has previously advised the Dutch Government.