Promotions celebrated across Imperial

Charlotte Williams, new Professor of Chemistry

A total of 83 academics across Imperial College London are celebrating promotions this month, including 25 new professors.

The title of Professor acknowledges researchers with an international standing in their work and leadership.

Four of these new professors from around the College share their inspiration and experience. A full list of all academic promotions can be found via the College Secretariat website.

Charlotte Williams

Charlotte Williams (pictured above) has been promoted to the position of Professor of Chemistry. Her research into high-tech polymers is helping to design sustainable and degradable plastics, from natural materials, which will replace plastics currently made with fossil fuels. Another strand of her work looks for ways to use waste carbon dioxide (CO₂) gas and transform it into polymer materials that could be used, for example, as a building insulation foam. Her research group is also developing new materials that conduct electricity and can be used to form the basis of solar panels and other energy generating technologies.

Asked about her inspiration, she said: "I am continually inspired by the scientists I worked directly with during my training, by my competitors and friends in the scientific community. If I were to pick one who was a great inspiration to me it would the late Charles Rees FRS, who was an outstanding scientist. A Professor of Organic Chemistry, he also served as our Head of Department and President of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

"Professor Rees inspired me by the depth and  breadth of his subject  knowledge and by his ability, even after retirement, to suggest new experimental methods and protocols – he never lost touch with the central importance of careful laboratory experimentation. As a student I always enjoyed his questions at departmental seminars, which combined razor sharp scientific insights with good humour and the very best of English good manners. He particularly inspired me by writing me a letter after the publication of my first paper to suggest interesting other avenues for this research and by an on-going interest and enthusiasm in my research.  He was the perfect role model for any academic."

Mary Ryan

Mary Ryan, new Professor of Material Science and Nanotechnology

Mary Ryan, from the Department of Materials, has been appointed Professor of Material Science and Nanotechnology. Her research focuses on understanding the specific properties of nanoscopic sized materials, which can be used for a range of energy-related applications such solar cells.  She also works on understanding the performance, potential toxicity and environmental safety of materials when they corrode and degrade.

Professor Ryan and her team have worked on a range of projects including developing a new approach for understanding the failure of metal-on-metal hips in patients, which generate nanoparticles when they wear and cause painful inflammation and loss of mobility. She also lends her corrosion expertise to conservation projects and is currently working with the Royal Air Force Museum to save the last remaining intact Dornier Do-17 World War II German light bomber from disintegration.

She says: “Now that I am a professor I seem to be getting the added bonus of people responding rapidly to my emails, which is good news. Jokes aside, working in materials is great because it draws on so many disciplines - from physics to chemistry to engineering and medicine. On any given day I can be investigating the magnetic properties of a new type of material that could revolutionise the way we refrigerate our food or be analysing implantable materials to improve the way they perform in the body. I see my new role as helping to enthuse and nurture the next generation of engineers about how cool our profession is.”

Sue Smith

Sue Smith is Deputy Head (Teaching) at the National Heart and Lung Institute and now Professor of Medical Education. She also holds two senior Faculty of Medicine appointments as Head of Examinations and Assessments and Deputy Director of Education. As well as providing direction and support to key elements of educational activity within the Faculty, these roles allow her to undertake educational research. She has a particular interest in widening participation and exploring the factors that contribute to the choices made by young people just starting out on their careers in the UK and abroad. She also researches the ways in which undergraduate students and postgraduate trainees learn and how to help them more effectively.

“I am so pleased about this promotion, because I think it sends a very positive message about teaching, which has to be a good thing,” she said.

“The professor who inspired me would have to be Abe Guz, Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School.  Abe made huge demands on all his staff and always expected us to give 110 per cent, because that’s what he gave himself. He was a true polymath, with a vast mental repository of knowledge and a fantastic ability to make connections between apparently unconnected facts, which I admired enormously and which seemed to me then and still does now, to be one of the hallmarks of the true academic.  As a PhD student, I was in awe of his intellect and very grateful to have my amazing supervisor, Dr (now Professor) Terry Tetley to act as the interpreter for me, when I couldn’t keep up with his train of thought!  He could be mercurial, but never boring and he was very good at making sure his junior staff were included in scientific meetings and conferences and given opportunities to meet people and grow academically.” 

Robert Kosowski

Robert Kosowski, new Associate Professor of Finance

Robert Kosowski has been promoted to the position of Associate Professor of Finance. His research looks at distinguishing the role luck and skill plays in driving investment performance. He has devised innovative methodologies that investors can use to better forecast investment performance and regulators can use to better monitor risk in investment funds. Robert has received the European Finance Association best paper award, the INQUIRE best paper award and a British Academy mid-career fellowship for his research.

Commenting on how he celebrated his promotion, Robert said: “I celebrated with my colleague Enrico Biffis who also got promoted and colleagues who were around that evening.  We went to the Queen’s Arms."