About Us

DGS has recruited an experienced team to manage the business.

The Team

Prof. Karl Coleman – Chief Technical Director and company founder

Karl Coleman is a Professor of Chemistry at Durham University (UK). Prior to this he has worked in the Chemistry Departments at the University of Oxford and the Université de Strasbourg, France. His work over the past few years has focused on nanoscience and nanotechnology particularly the chemistry of carbon nanotubes. His work has been funded by the EPSRC and the Royal Society and he has authored / co-authored over 70 publications, in peer reviewed journals. He is the secretary of the Chemical Nanosciences and Nanotechnology subject group of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Dr Bryan C Dobson – Chairman

Dr Bryan Dobson has 33 years experience in the chemical industry with ICI Plc and Croda International Plc. He had a broad range of senior business, technical and operational roles in the UK, US, Belgium and The Netherlands. He is also, currently, a non-executive director of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Dr Neil Loxley - Non-Executive Director

Neil is a seasoned technology entrepreneur and business leader with extensive general management, product development and marketing experience. Neil was previously CEO of Bede plc, an X-ray metrology company that he led from a university spin-out to a main list IPO on the London Stock Exchange. Since 2006, Neil has built a portfolio of board level positions, predominantly in the venture-backed early-   stage technology sector, and he is Chairman of the White Rose SeedCorn Venture Fund. He is a Physics Graduate of the Universities of York and Durham and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics.

Mr Michael Bath –Director

Since 1999, Michael Bath has been employed to transfer research from the laboratory into industry. His current employer is Durham University’s Technology Transfer Office. Prior to Durham, he worked for 5 years at an independent technology transfer company (RTC North). He has also worked for an additional 12 years in various manufacturing roles, mainly at Rolls-Royce.

Dr  Laura Bond -Non-Executive Director

Laura has extensive experience of executing and managing early stage investments in the Chemical and Physical Sciences, specialising in Chemistry. She was awarded the Salter’s Prize for Chemistry in 2000, and after working for a successful spin-out in the area of electrochemistry from the University of Vienna, she completed her PhD in Chemistry at Nottingham. She joined IP Group in 2005 and since then has invested in, managed and led a number of portfolio companies.

Bob Sievert – Process Engineering Manager

Bob is a Chartered Chemical Engineer and has worked for 35 years in many aspects of chemical plant design, process development, scale-up and project delivery. He has led engineering input to multidisciplinary projects in the chemical industry at all project stages. Activities have included; screening R&D proposals, guiding R&D towards optimum solutions, front end engineering, detail engineering design, hazard and relief studies, commissioning, operation and post start-up improvements.  Bob’s experience spans; batch and continuous processes; speciality and commodity chemicals; lab and world scale plants. He has a special interest in problems requiring multi-variable analysis and detailed mathematical modelling.

Brian Wailes – Development Scientist

Brian is a Charted Chemist. He has worked for 20 years in the Public Analysts sector with a focus around analytical techniques and processes to various legislative methods. He is customer orientated and driven. He brings with him a wealth of managerial and safety experience within a modern laboratory environment. He has also worked in waste management and chemical processing at SRM, and at Newcastle University in the School of Chemistry.

Dr Chris Herron – Applications Scientist

Chris brings a great deal of experience to the applications team. During his Masters and PhD years at Durham University, he has led various projects dealing with innovative ways to produce, purify, modify and apply both carbon nanotubes and graphene to several sectors.

Company History

Durham Graphene Science Ltd (DGS) was founded in August 2010 and is a spin-out company from Durham University, UK.