Dame Julia is currently President of the Biochemical Society. She was Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Kent from 2007 until 2017, the first female President of Universities UK and a member of the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology. She is a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Royal Society of Biology and the Institute of Physics and is an honorary member of the Biochemical Society. Julia’s scientific studies pioneered the use of computational methods to study the structures of large biologically important molecules. She became Professor of Biomolecular Sciences in 1995 at Birkbeck, University of London, where she was appointed Vice-Master from 1998 –2002. Before joining the University of Kent, Julia was Chief Executive of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

Professor Richard Reece is the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Education and Student Experience and Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Kent. He read biochemistry at The University of Leeds and did his PhD work, studying the mechanism of action of a class of bacterial enzymes called DNA topoisomerases, at the University of Leicester. Upon completion of his PhD, he spent five years undertaking post-doctoral work at Harvard University, before returning to the UK as a lecturer, senior lecturer and then professor at The University of Manchester. He moved to the University of Kent in 2020 to take up the role of Deputy Vice Chancellor.

Richard oversees the Education and Student Experience Strategy at Kent, which underpins one of the three key strategic objectives in the University Plan and looks after two large directorates - Education and Student Services. He joined the University Council as a member in August 2020 and serves as the Chair of the Board of KMTV. He chairs the University’s Sustainability Steering Group who are responsible for implementation of sustainability across the university. 

Richard’s research interests focus on the molecular mechanisms by which cells are able to alter their patterns of gene expression in response to metabolic changes in the environment. This work has involved a mixture of molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics and structural biology. He is deeply committed to raising the standards of teaching quality across higher education - both in the UK and across the world - and to promoting the public understanding of science. 

Frank is the Dean of the Biosciences Institute (NUBI) and holds a Personal Chair in Microbial Biotechnology at Newcastle University. He joined the University in August 2018, first as a Professor in the Faculty of Science, Agriculture & Engineering and from 2022 as a Professor in the Faculty of Medical Sciences. He studied biochemistry at the University of Edinburgh, followed by a PhD in the then Department of Biochemistry at the University of Dundee before moving to Norwich as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant. In 2000 Frank was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship to lead his own research group in the School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia. In 2007 Frank returned to the University of Dundee to take up a Personal Chair in Bacterial Physiology in the then College of Life Sciences. Frank was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2011.

Derry is Antimicrobial Programme Head at BIOASTER (Lyon, France) and a visiting Professor at Robert Gordon University. He gained his degree and PhD in microbiology at the University of Liverpool, before working in academia for over a decade. More recently, he has been working in industry on the design and development of novel antimicrobials. Additionally, he has a keen interest in modulation of the role of the immune system in combatting infection and antimicrobial resistance.

Lisa attended a West London comprehensive school, going on to receive a BSc (Hons) in Zoology from the University of Leeds and then to work at the now David Weatherall Institute (IMM). Her research in this area led to a D.Phil in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford. Postdoctoral work took Lisa to the USA to work in the Department of Biotechnology at the University of Washington in Seattle, with a subsequent postdoctoral appointment spent at the MRC Prion Unit at the University of London. In 2007 Lisa was promoted to Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle, and then in 2010 Lisa was appointed Lecturer in Protein Biochemistry at the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science at the University of Nottingham.

Luciane’s research focuses mainly on Education where she explores teaching approaches helping with student engagement and employability skills development. She acts as the Editor-in-Chief for the Education section of the FEBS OpenBio.

Luciane teaches bioinformatics at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Her passion for teaching bioinformatics has been recognised by four teaching awards including the 2019 Biochemical Society Teaching Excellence. As part of the Biochemical Society, she leads the Training Theme Panel where she works with bioscientists and other academics across multiple institutions on the development of training in different areas of biochemistry and education. She also delivers training in association with FEBS. 

Keywords: Educational Research, Bioinformatics, Skills Development

Nigel received his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Leeds in 1987. He was then awarded a Mr and Mrs John Jaffé Donation Research Fellowship from the Royal Society to work on the proteolysis and membrane anchorage of mammalian cell surface peptidases. In 1989 he was appointed as lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry at Leeds, followed by promotions to senior lecturer, reader and in 2001 to Professor of Biochemistry. He served as Director of the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology (2007-2011), Pro-Dean for Research (2011) and Dean (2012-2014) of the Faculty of Biological Sciences at the University of Leeds.

In 2014 he was appointed to the Chair in Cell Biology in the Institute of Brain, Behaviour and Mental Health, Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences at the University of Manchester. He has held roles as Vice Dean for Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health (2016-2020) and Director of Dementia Research for the University (2015-2020). Since 2020 he has been Associate Vice-President for Research

Susan was awarded her BA (Mod) in Microbiology from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland and continued her studies there to complete a PhD before moving to UMIST and then to The University of Manchester where she carried out her postdoctoral research on the impact of environmental stress on translation initiation in yeast. Susan was appointed Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam in 2013 and then Associate Professor in 2023.  Susan teaches a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules across the Biosciences degree programmes.  Susan’s research interests focus on understanding how cells regulation protein synthesis during stress and disease. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and the Postgraduate Tutor for the Biomolecular Sciences Research Centre.

Hannah is a lecturer (assistant professor) in the School of Chemistry at the University of Leeds, and a member of the Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology. Hannah teaches mass spectrometry and biological chemistry at undergraduate level, and her research group focusses on the development and application of structural mass spectrometry approaches to study dynamic disease mechanisms directly from human biofluids and tissues.

Hannah completed her PhD at Durham University where she worked on methods to study reactivity within the cell membrane. She then moved on to postdoctoral research with Professor Kostas Thalassinos (UCL) and Professor Dame Carol Robinson (Oxford), where she applied her mass spectrometry expertise to the exploration of protein behaviour at the cell membrane, with a particular focus on probing features of disease-related and glycosylated proteins within their native environment

Augustin Amour (Gus) has been with GSK for the past 24 years. There he led laboratory and project teams in R&D. With expertise in immunology and molecular pharmacology, particularly in enzyme inhibitors, he has contributed to over 50 publications and patents. Gus steers industry engagement with academia as the Chair of the Biochemical Society's Industry Advisory Panel and advises the EU Openscreen consortium, underscoring his leadership in drug discovery and his commitment to biotechnological collaboration. Gus is now a Cambridge-based scientific consultant advising biotechs on matters relating to drug discovery.

David Smith is a Professor of Bioscience Education at Sheffield Hallam University. He teaches fundamental biochemistry to undergraduate and postgraduate students and won the Royal Society of Biology HE Educator of the Year Award in 2019 for innovative teaching practices. He is a National Teaching Fellow and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. David collaborates with others to develop and disseminate teaching practices within his university and across the sector in learning, teaching, and assessment groups. The current focus of his work is on the use of generative AI and technology-enhanced learning methods in the classroom and laboratory.

David also conducts biomolecular research that combines protein chemistry, cell culture, and mass spectrometry to study the molecular basis of Parkinson's disease and cancer spheroid models. His studies are centered on developing 3D cell culture models and investigating these through proteomics, metabolomics, and imaging technologies.