The Corporate Advisory Board comprises representatives from a range - both in size and interest - of companies, meeting three times a year. The Chair of the Committee is invited to attend meetings of Council and provides invaluable input which is used to shape the Society's approach to its events and associated exhibitions.
Francis Morrissey
Francis has worked for Philips, FEI and now Thermo Fisher Scientific for 19 years in Applications, Product Management, Marketing and Sales.
FEI was purchased in September 2016 by Thermo Fisher Scientific. Former FEI manufacture Scanning and Transmission Electron Microscopes (SEM & TEMs), Focused Ion Beam Systems and when these are integrated with an SEM, DualBeam systems. They also have our own x-ray MicroCT system. Different models and configurations of all of these systems are made for three main markets, Semiconductor (& Data Storage), Materials Science and Life Science. They also have a software division which besides supporting their high level software platforms, produces the well-known Amira and Avizo 3D visualisation packages.
The wider Thermo Fisher Scientific company manufacture a very wide range equipment: XPS, EDS, Mass Spectrometers, Chromatography and DNA sequencing systems, and an extensive range of lab and consumable equipment.
Chris Mulcahy
Chris is the Head of Sales for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at Abberior Instruments GmbH, a company known for pioneering superresolution STED and MINFLUX microscopy technology.
He has over 20 years of experience in the microscopy and semiconductor industries, combining a solid scientific background with commercial expertise. Chris completed his PhD in surface chemistry at Imperial College, London, publishing numerous articles involving a variety of microscopy techniques. His career includes senior sales roles at Oxford Instruments, JPK Instruments, and Eurofins, where he led teams to deliver advanced microscopy solutions and fostered collaborations with academic and industry partners.
Kavita Aswani
Kavita is the Senior Applications Scientist for Life Science at Excelitas Technologies, the first Canadian member of Royal Microscopical Society (RMS). Kavita completed her PhD at the University of Iowa in the United States characterizing surfactant proteins, and subsequently worked as a post-doctorate at the MRC-LMB in Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) studying clathrin adaptor proteins. Dr. Aswani’s corporate career began with Bio-Rad Confocal Division in the UK in 2001, and has since been involved in the world of fluorescence microscopy and flow Cytometry. Along with having publications in peer-reviewed journals, she also serves on the review committee of SPIE.
Boumedienne Boudjelida
Boume is the UK, Benelux and Scandinavia Sales Manager for Bruker Nano Surfaces, dealing with Atomic Force Microscopy, Stylus and Optical Metrology and Tribology and Mechanical Testing businesses. Boume completed his PhD at Sheffield Hallam University working on metal/GaN interfaces characterisation using XPS and AFM/STM for LED/High power applications (2006). He subsequently joined The Microelectronics and Nanostructures Group at the University of Manchester (School of EEE) as a post-doctorate working on InGaAs/InAlAs HEMT and LNA structures for super-low noise amplifier applications, as part of the Square Kilometre Array Telescope project (SKA). He then joined Veeco Metrology initially developing the AFM probes business in EMEA in 2009, and took over the Sales for Scandinavia, then UK before managing the UK, Benelux and Scandinavia business for Bruker Nano. Veeco Metrology was acquired by Bruker in 2010.
Jennifer Buick
Jennifer has been with Thermo Fisher Scientific since 2009, working in a variety of European Regional Marketing roles for the Life Science Group. Jennifer moved into the Materials and Structural Analysis Division as a Senior Global Events Manager role supporting the electron microscopy product lines at in-person events.
Michael Dixon
Mike is EM Section Manager at Hitachi High-Tech Europe. After studying Physics at university he started his career in microscopy at Philips Research before joining Hitachi in 1997. Mike has worked in sales, service and applications development roles in the US and Europe, covering Hitachi's preparation systems, benchtop SEM, field emission SEM, automated SEM and TEM/STEM. He is currently responsible for Hitachi's EM sales activity in the UK, but continues to work in applications development and training. He is a member of the RMS Engineering & Physical Sciences Committee and the Institute of Physics EMAG committee.
John McElwee
John was introduced to the EM world whilst working for AEI Scientific Instruments before joining ISS Group Services Ltd in 1980 where he was appointed Technical Director. After the sad passing of David Cunningham in July 2019, John became Managing Director.
John is still hands-on and gets actively involved with the technical issues associated with Electron Microscopes.
ISS Group Services Ltd provide services to the industry for the routine maintenance and repair of both Transmission Electron Microscopes and Scanning Electron Microscopes. ISS Group Services Ltd are also assist clients with relocations and offer sales of pre-owned microscopes and associated accessories.
John Gilbert
John started his involvement in the industry in 1986 when he joined JEOL. After ending his time at JEOL as sales Director he took on a role with Camscan as Sales Director before joining Bruker where he currently holds the role of Regional Sales Manager for Europe Middle East and India for microanalysis for SEM and TEM. John has been a member of the corporate advisory board since his time with Camscan.
Sarah Harper
My name is Sarah Harper, previously Sarah Karimi, and I am the General Manager – Sales at JEOL UK. I started my PhD studies in Materials Science at The University of Sheffield in 2007 and since then Electron Microscopy (EM) has formed a major part of my career. Over the last decade I have worked very closely with the EM community across academia and industry, where I have had the opportunity to be involved in many fantastic projects, exploring new research directions, consulting on available instrumentation, offering collaboration opportunities on instrumentation and/or applications developments as well as providing appropriate support from JEOL for new funding applications.
Currently I am also a member of the EMAG committee of the IoP and the Infrastructure and Community Working Groups of Volume EM.
Louise Hughes
Louise is the Business Manager for EBSD, FIB and Life Sciences at Oxford Instruments NanoAnalysis. Prior to this she was the facility manager of the Oxford Brookes University Bioimaging unit. Louise specialises in 3D electron microscopy and has been a biological electron microscopist since 2000. Her research focus has been on optimising biological sample preparation, methodology and imaging techniques across a wide range of sample types. She has extensive experience in SBFSEM, array tomography, electron tomography and 3D data reconstruction. Her current work involves applying EDS to biological samples and working with correlative data analysis.
Amy Lander
Amy Lander started working at JEOL (UK) Ltd in 2002. JEOL supply instrumentation for both academia and industry with a unique portfolio encompassing Electron Microscopes, Mass Spectrometry and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. Amy’s original position saw her supporting the sales team by implementing new structures for tendering and digital asset management In 2009, she moved in to a new position as marketing manager for JEOL UK. Since that time, she has taken on a wider role, managing events across Europe, as well as developing the JEOL Europe social media programme.
Joshua Lay
Josh currently works for Gatan and EDAX as a Sales Specialist, having joined in 2019. Having studied Materials Science at Swansea University, Josh went on to study for a PhD in Functional Nanomaterials at the University of Bristol before joining Mantis Deposition Ltd, where he worked for 6 years. Additional to Electron Microscopy techniques such as EBSD, imaging, EDS and EELS, Josh also has experience in UHV analysis including SPM and XPS, as well as UHV deposition techniques such as magnetron sputtering and E-beam evaporation.
Sarah Piper
Sarah is a Global Marketing Manager for the Widefield Microscopy division at Leica Microsystems, where she has worked since June 2021. With over 15 years of experience in the life science industry, she has developed expertise in marketing microscopy and high-content imaging solutions across various companies. Her commercial knowledge is underpinned by a scientific background, including a PhD in Molecular Biochemistry from the University of Birmingham, UK. Sarah is committed to collaborating with scientists and microscopy users and is an advocate for diversity and inclusion within the microscopy community.
Andy Prior
Deben UK Ltd, a Judge’s Scientific company.
Andy is Managing Director at Deben, a manufacturer of in-situ tensile and compression stages for SEM and CT systems and applications, as well as heating / cooling stages and detector accessories for the microscopy community. Andy joined the Deben team in 2021 having spent the previous 30 years in a variety of roles in the manufacturing of medium to large scale material testing machines for science, academia & research and industry, worldwide.
Paul Roberts
At Evident, we are guided by the scientific spirit—innovation and exploration are at the heart of what we do. Committed to making people’s lives healthier, safer and more fulfilling, we support our customers with solutions that solve their challenges and advance their work; whether it’s researching medical breakthroughs, inspecting infrastructure, or exposing hidden toxins in consumer products.
Evident Life Science empowers scientists and researchers through collaboration and cutting-edge life science solutions. Dedicated to meeting the challenges and supporting the evolving needs of its customers, Evident Life Science advances a comprehensive range of microscopes for pathology, hematology, IVF and other clinical applications as well as for research and education.
Huw Thomas
After studying for a degree in Human Biology Huw worked in Clinical cancer diagnosis at the Royal Marsden and did research into the association of HPV with cervical cancer before branching out into the commercial world where he could use his knowledge gained in the lab to help users with their microscope applications. Huw has worked for companies such as Olympus where he gained a CIM Diploma in marketing, Leica microsystems and Sony Biotechnology in sales, product management and senior management positions before recently joining Telight as their UK & Ireland Sales Director promoting their range of super resolution and QPI microscopes.
Chris Wood
Chris is the National Sales Manager at Nikon UK, Branch of Nikon Europe BV for Light Microscopy. Chris joined Nikon in 2014 after working first at Improvision and then Photometrics. His roles at Nikon have been field based working with customers across the country selling and supporting microscopy equipment in a variety of clinical, academic and private company settings. His role now focuses on managing and supporting the Nikon sales team across the UK
Heath Young
Heath has been involved in electron microscopy sales for over ten years. He joined Bruker UK in 2016 where he took responsibility for the UK & Ireland territories. In 2018 Israel was added to his territory coverage. In 2021 he also took responsibility for the Middle East territory.
Ben Hayllar
Ben is an experienced professional in the field of Electron Microscopy, with over a decade of experience spanning manufacturing, product management, and sales. He began his career at Agar Scientific in 2013, where he contributed to the production of key components like TEM grids, tungsten filaments, and calibration specimens. Leveraging his deep technical knowledge of these products, he transitioned into a sales role, where he successfully bridged the gap between technical production and customer needs.
Following Agar Scientific's acquisition by Calibre Scientific in 2022, Ben was promoted to the role of Electron Microscopy Product Manager. In this position, he oversees product ranges from both Agar Scientific and Labtech International, which became part of the group in January 2024. Ben’s unique combination of hands-on manufacturing experience and strategic product management has enabled him to drive growth and innovation within the company.