Bristol Colloid Centre news
Dispersion and Stabilisation of Nanoparticles in Liquids
Paul Reynolds, our New Business Manager, will be giving a talk on a training course in May, entitled; Dispersion and Stabilisation of Nanoparticles in Liquids. This one-day course, run by the BHR group and co-organised by the BCC, is focussed around the various processes involved in the dispersion of nanoparticles in liquids i.e. incorporation, break up and stabilisation. For more information click here
Added 23rd February 2010
Bristol Student Colloid Day
Martha Tomlinson, a second year PhD student at the Bristol Colloid Centre, was awarded a prize for her poster presentation at the 2008 Bristol Student Colloid Day, sponsored by Akzo Nobel (formerly ICI Paints). Martha's PhD work is sponsored by CIKTN and AGC Chemicals Europe Ltd. and her poster presentation was entitled "The Polymerisation of 2,3,4,5,6 - Pentafluorostyrene: Development of an Analogous System".
Jim Lee, a first year PhD student at the BCC sponsored by BP PLC, also presented his poster, entitled "Novel Self-Diverting Agents for Sand Consolidation".
If you are interested in discussing or obtaining a copy of either poster, please contact us.
Added 4th June 2008
Can men iron?
Here at the Bristol Colloid Centre we have been working in conjunction with Morphy Richards and have, at last, come up with a magic formula that defines the art of ironing. Consequently the answer to the debate, that has recently been discussed on Chris Evans' BBC2 Drivetime radio show, is that the gender of the ironer is irrelevant and men DO NOT lack the gene required for ironing!! Hear Dr. Paul Reynolds' interview with Chris here (5.4Mb MP3 file). The subject of "ironing a shirt perfectly" was also a hot topic for a nationwide newspaper campaign, and has recently featured in the Lincolnshire Echo (3.4Mb PDF file), the Hartlepool Mail (2.1Mb PDF file), the Manchester Evening News (2.5Mb PDF file) and the Yorkshire Evening Post (1.6Mb PDF file).
Note: some of the documents on this page are in PDF format. In order to view a PDF you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader 
Added 4th June 2008
Formulation 4 Chemists
At the end of September, the BCC ran a one-day workshop as part of the Formulation 4 Chemists training course. These training courses are run by the Royal Society of Chemistry in conjunction with Faraday learning and will run annually for the next five years. The workshop included a series of practical demonstrations and hands on experiments based around realistic case study scenarios. The areas covered were broad in appeal and included: colloidal stability, processing, storage stability and real-life application of the DLVO theory, amongst others. The course was a huge success and the delegates comments were extremely encouraging - “Everything was very interesting and well structured”.
Added 12th October 2007
Bristol Colloid Centre Personnel
Again, the past few months has seen big changes in the BCC personnel. Congratulations go to Dr Samantha Hutton, the BCC Courses Manager, and her husband on the birth of their baby boy. Samantha will be on maternity leave until January 2008. Next, after a short stay at the BCC we've said goodbye to our Administrative Assistant, Mrs Lyn Moreton. Good luck with your new job Lyn! Back in October 2006, Dr. Keith Bean left the BCC for a life in Brisbane, in May 2007 he was back! Welcome back Keith! In June we welcomed our new Administrative Assistant, Miss Belinda Arter and In August we welcomed two visiting students from Pakistan, Miss Saira Taj and Mr Muhammad Amin. Lastly, after thirteen years at the BCC, our Principal Administrator Mrs Marilyn Knights has left us to take up another position within the University. We'll all miss you Marilyn, but we wish you the best of luck!
Added 9th October 2007
RSC Industry and Technology Forum Launch Pad event
Paul Reynolds, our New Business Manager, recently gave a talk at the RSC Industry and Technology Forum Launch Pad event held in the @Bristol hands-on Science Museum during the evening of 5th December. The event was entitled ‘Starting up a Chemistry Using Business’ and there were six talks about the practicalities of such a venture, followed by an open forum for discussion. Two local case studies were presented, the first by Professor Terrence Cosgrove from Bristol University who is the Director of Revolymer, which exploits the properties of novel polymers to control adhesion. A timeline of the last four years of discovery, patent and funding applications was described. Eric Mayes, presently Senior Commercial Product Manager at Cambridge Display Technologies, described his time as CEO of Nanomagnetics which was based in the Physics Department at Bristol University and Emersons Green, Bristol. He described the race against time in developing their high density magnetic media for data storage, and then the formation of Apaclara Ltd. which diversified the technology into the water purification industry. Roger Pettman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Revolymer, described his business management activities including obtaining funding from various sources. Having worked both in the States and UK, he commented on how much less risk averse the American investors were. The next topic was building and maintaining an IP portfolio, which was covered in a talk by Stephen Chandler who is Vice President, Legal and Intellectual Property, Cambridge Display Technology Ltd. This company is the leading developer of technologies based on polymer light emitting diodes and has an extensive IP portfolio, and the costs, timescales and maintenance of IP were elucidated. Philip Tellwright, of the South West Angel and Investor Network (SWAIN), described how to obtain funding, from either business angels, who invest in the region of 25-500K and expect a return of ten times their money in five years, or from Venture Capitalists, who invest 1000+K and expect a return of five times in five years. The final talk by Paul Reynolds from the Bristol Colloid Centre (BCC) highlighted regional support. The BCC Research and Development facilities are regularly used for contracts from troubleshooting in a production process to jointly creating a new product with a company, with the IP remaining with the company. Based in the southwest, the BCC regularly carries out contracts for national and international companies as well as local southwest companies. The Bristol Enterprise Network and SET Squared Partnership, involving the universities of Bath, Bristol, Southampton and Surrey, are also available to local chemistry-using start-up companies. After the open forum old contacts were renewed and new contacts made during networking over food and drinks, which rounded off a successful evening. For more information on other RSC small business events please visit www.rsc.org/sme
Added 19th December 2006
Bristol Colloid Centre Personnel
Over the past few months the BCC has seen a number of changes, with new staff members, new students beginning their research with us and old faces jetting off to pastures new. Sadly, we've had to say goodbye to Dr Keith Bean. Keith had been with the BCC for nine years, but has had enough of the rain and taken a research position at the University of Queensland, Australia. We all wish him the best of luck. Secondly, one of the board of directors, Dr Jason Riley has recently taken up a position at Imperial College London, it's not all bad for the BCC though as Jason will continue to act on the board of directors. However, for his new position at Imperial we all wish him well. Now some good news, there are three new students: Miss Martha Tomlinson who has just started a PhD sponsored by AGFP, Miss Jessica Gwyther who is a final year Undergraduate student working on a project sponsored by AWE and Mr George Ndifor who is a final year PhD student sponsored by ORS and the University of Bristol. George was formerly part of Dr Jason Riley's Electrochemistry group, but has joined the BCC as a consequence of Jason's departure to Imperial. Last, but by no means least we would like to welcome Mrs Lyn Moreton as the new Administrative Assistant and Dr Safyan Khan as a BCC Scientist.
Added 21st November 2006
Bristol Colloid Centre at NanoEurope, 13th-15th September 2005
The BCC, as part of the research capability in nanoscience and technology within Bristol University, will be exhibiting at the UK Trade & Investment stand at NanoEurope 2005 in Switzerland. Of the ten companies invited to exhibit on the stand, Bristol University is the only academic institution. Dr. Paul Reynolds, New Business Manager of the BCC, and Dr. Ray Crispin, Business Support Manager of the Research & Enterprise Development unit, will be representing the BCC and Bristol University. NanoEurope 2005 is an international trade show for products and innovations in nano and micro technology, and in addition there are simultaneous conferences and seminars featuring leading speakers from science and industry. The Nano Conference is split into four areas: life sciences, alternative energy, materials and surfaces, and optics and electronics, and the latest findings and trend-setting developments will be presented and discussed. In addition there are conferences on Nano Materials, Nano Textiles, Nano Coating and Nano Regulation. NanoEurope is also a knowledge marketplace, featuring a conference on Nanotechnology for Investors and matching business angels and private investors with newly founded companies and spin-offs.For more information on the meeting, please visit the NanoEurope 2005 website.
Added 1st September 2005
New labs for the BCC
The BCC will be moving into its new laboratories on the 1st October which have been refurbished at a cost in excess of £300,000. In addition to laboratories, the new space has offices for research students and BCC staff with a seating area for visitors. The BCC will also retain its offices in the University Gate building with its large meeting room.The new labs contain dedicated equipment areas, including vibration-free benches for rheometry and light scattering equipment. There are state-of-the-art fume cupboards as well as benching with an extraction hood for experiments and equipment which require venting. The labs have computer networking throughout in addition to all the usual lab services. The investment in new labs demonstrates BCC's commitment to offering first class consultancy services to industry.
Added 31st August 2005
BCC's new website
The BCC's new website is now up and running and we hope you like it! If there is any other information that you would like to see here, please e-mail bcc@bristol.ac.uk
Added 31st August 2005