Steve Rannard

Steve is the group leader and holds a personal Chair at the University of Liverpool. Before joining the University (2007), Steve worked in UK industry for over 16 years including Cookson (Oxford), Courtaulds (Coventry) and Unilever (Port Sunlight Laboratories). At Unilever, Steve was the Unit Leader for the Molecular Science chemistry group, Science Area Leader for Functional Ingredients and the Discovery Platform Director for Molecular and Nano Technologies. He is the cofounder and non-executive Director of two Unilever Ventures funded spin-out companies: IOTA NanoSolutions Limited, where he previously was CEO and CSO before his current position of Chief Scientific Advisor, and Hydra Polymers Limited, where he is Chief Scientific Advisor. He also held a a Royal Society Industry Fellowship from 2005-2009 and an IOTA NanoSolutions Senior Research Fellowship  from 2007-2010.

He was a founding committee member of the Recent Appointees in Polymer Science Group (RAPS), committee member of the High Polymer Research Group (2001-2006), member of the Organic Materials Innovation Centre management Team (2002-2006), RSC Industrial Lecturer Strathclyde University (2001) and the University of Sussex (2002), visiting Lecturer at University of Sussex (1999 2001), visiting Professor at the University of Liverpool (2003 2007), member of the Applied Polymer Science Committee (Institute of Materials) (1997 2000) and committee member of the Macro Group UK (1998 2002)

Steve graduated from the University of Sussex having completed a first degree and latterly his D.Phil studies with Prof. Norman Billingham on controlled amphiphilic block copolymers for dialysis membranes.  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 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is married to Amanda and has two children, Megan and Robert.

IOTA NanoSolutions Limited 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

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