What motivated you to specialise in analytical chemistry and environmental monitoring?
One of the other people who inspired me was a chemistry teacher. He was really enthusiastic and we used to have a chemistry club. My project was to analyse metals in the docks in Sunderland, which meant that most of my time was spent boiling down vast amounts of water to try to concentrate the metal ions to analyse them. For some reason, I didn’t get put off by that! Another person who inspired me was Gordon Kirkbright, my PhD supervisor. He set up the department where I studied for my PhD in Manchester, the Department of Instrumentation and Analytical Science. It was a new idea, sponsored by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, to put different scientific disciplines together. That’s where my approach to research was developed. What projects are you working on? “My main project is trying to take measurements out of the laboratory and into the environment or to crime scenes”My main project is trying to take measurements out of the laboratory and into the environment
