Elizabeth Rowsell OBE is Director of Johnson Matthey’s Technology Centres. Liz leads a diverse team of chemists, engineers, biologists, physicists, and data scientists developing materials and technologies that are catalysing the net zero transition. She is a keen advocate for Stem (science, technology, engineering, and maths) careers and was recently awarded an OBE, in part for her work on promoting diversity in these fields. Liz is a member on the Board of Trustees at the Royal Society of Chemistry and a council member of the Advanced Materials Leadership Council at Innovate UK. She has over 25 years of industrial R&D experience at Johnson Matthey, where she started as a research scientist developing metal-based therapeutics. Throughout her career, Liz has built technical expertise across a variety of innovation areas, including catalysts for pharmaceuticals, food and personal safety; biomass processing; gas purification; and materials for energy production.
CUSTOMER STORY VIDEO
Building organisational consensus around
the tools of digital chemistry
Learn how change agents at Johnson Matthey developed a coalition of support for data-driven science
(Originally presented live by the Royal Society of Chemistry)
Data analytics is increasingly playing an imperative role in the move toward digitalisation in chemistry. Statistical approaches dramatically reduce research timelines and enable chemists to achieve higher quality outcomes with fewer resources. Despite overwhelming consensus around the promise of digitalisation, however, organisations that most stand to benefit from these approaches have often struggled with how to get started.
On one hand, bench scientists who see the value in making experiments leaner, faster and more reproducible have faced pushback from leaders struggling to translate buzzwords like ‘AI’ and ‘robotics’ into action. On the other, leadership heavily invested in the digital future of scientific discovery must contend with the real needs of scientists for training in modern statistical methods and access to the tools needed to put those methods into practice.
This one-hour, interactive webinar offers rare insight into how chemists and scientific leaders can more effectively work together to build consensus and lay the foundations for digital chemistry’s implementation. In a frank and thought-provoking conversation, Director of the Johnson Matthey Technology Centres Elizabeth Rowsell, Research manager Stephen Poulston and Research scientist Pilar Gómez Jiménez reflect on their own company’s internal conversations, challenges and digitalisation process. JMP’s Phil Kay also features, helping to add context from his many years of experience.
A change agent and advocate for statistical enablement within the company’s R&D organisation, Gómez Jiménez built a compelling and actionable case for the adoption of data-driven approaches like Design of Experiments (DoE) that ultimately won Rowsell’s backing. With her visionary involvement in initiatives like the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Digital Futures report, Rowsell has long been a proponent of new frontiers in science. Her leadership role within the multinational specialty chemicals and sustainable technologies industry has also afforded her a nuanced and experienced perspective on evaluating the needs of a scientific workforce moving toward a nimbler approach to experimentation.
This webinar is a collaboration between Chemistry World and JMP.
About the Presenters
Pilar Gómez Jiménez works as a Principal scientist in Johnson Matthey, UK. She has a master’s degree and a PhD in chemical engineering, and she has been working in R&D of catalysts and materials for 20 years. She is enthusiastic about the application of Design of Experiments (DoE) and the DoE mindset. This led to her current role extending the use of DoE and advanced data analytics through training, support and method development within Johnson Matthey.
Stephen Poulston is a research manager in corporate R&D with Johnson Matthey where he has worked since 1998 and is based in the UK. He has extensive experience in a wide range of heterogeneous catalyst systems. He is focused on the areas of: renewable fuels and chemicals from biomass and waste, CO2 utilisation and the decarbonisation of syn-gas processes. He also has an interest in supporting improvements to data analytics within the R&D community at JM.