I was born in Paisley, Scotland some 46 years ago and spent my formative years in the West of Scotland in the village of Cardross, famous as the Parish of Robert the Bruce. After my schooling, I was lucky enough to be able gain a place at Trinity College in Cambridge where I studied Metallurgy. For some reason (it wasn’t the weather – maybe I enjoyed a good pint of Abbot Ale too much) I must have liked it because I stayed on to do research in solid-state electrochemistry, graduating with a PhD in 1983. Since metallurgy plus electro-chemistry equals corrosion, later that year I found myself in Manchester at the UMIST Corrosion and Protection Centre (CPC) where I remain.

Within the CPC, I am involved in teaching basic metallurgy and chemistry, as well as failure analysis, the last of which, together with consultancy activities, is perhaps my best claim to be a practical engineer! My research interests are more fundamentally based and recently have focussed on organic coatings for protection against atmospheric corrosion. I was recently awarded a DSc degree for this research, which has been reported in over 100 scientific papers and publications.

I have a long and wide involvement in professional and learned societies and intend to maintain good relations with as many of our peers as possible. As well as my involvement with ICorr over the last 20 years, mainly within the Corrosion Science Division, I have recently completed a term of office as Chair of the Corrosion Committee of the Institute of Materials. I believe corrosion is a subject area that is woefully neglected at all levels from schools to the boardroom and my mission, and that of the Institute is to extend corrosion awareness at all these levels.