Leadership Team
Ian Underwood
Project Lead
Professor of Electronic Displays at The University of Edinburgh
More about Ian
Ian Underwood is an award-winning researcher, innovator and entrepreneur. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Ian co-founded MicroEmissive Displays in 1998 and PureLIFI in 2012 and has supported the formation or growth of many more start-up/spin-out companies. He is a mentor at the Enterprise Hub of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
From research roots in visual displays and photonics, his research interests have expanded in two directions – technologically into miniature sensors deployed across a range of applications and generically towards broader and deeper inter-disciplinarity in topics and themes.
He has become a proponent of inter-disciplinary doctoral research training, initially as Assistant Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Integrative Sensing and Measurement (CDT-ISM, 2014 to 2022) and, since 2021, as Director of the pioneering ACRC Academy within the Advanced Care Research Centre, funded by Legal and General plc.
Kev Dhaliwal
Clinical Theme Lead
Professor of Molecular Imaging and Healthcare Technology at the University of Edinburgh and a Consultant Physician in Respiratory Medicine
More about Kev
Kev has a passion for developing new technologies for healthcare impact and driving commercialisation.
As Co-Director of the Baillie Gifford Pandemic Science Hub, Kev leads the development of therapies and technologies for infections and inflammation. He has been the Chief Investigator on multiple first-in-human trials and collaborates across disciplines, including engineering, chemistry, physics, and informatics. He is a board Director of Codebase, the UK’s largest tech incubator and delivers the TechScaler programme for creating, developing, and scaling tech startups.
Andrew Mount
Electrochemistry Theme Lead
Professor of Physical Electrochemistry and Dean of Research & Strategic Partnerships, College of Science & Engineering at the University of Edinburgh
More about Andrew
Andy’s research interests are in the development, characterisation and application of novel electrode and spectroscopic sensing and analysis systems, particularly for applications in healthcare and energy.
Andy Mount has been the leading Chemist in >£50M of multidisciplinary collaborations in the fundamentals and applications of electrochemistry, novel micro/nano sensing systems and healthcare technologies. As Chair of Physical Electrochemistry in the School of Chemistry, his personal research and development interests also include modified electrodes, molten salts and systems with applications in clean energy. He is President of the Royal Society of Chemistry Faraday Community and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), Chair of the Space Scotland Board, and a member of the Rosalind Franklin Institute Board and the Earth Space Sustainability Initiative (ESSI) executive committee. He was previously a member of the Scottish Science Advisory Council, which provides policy advice to the Scottish Government and Chair of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) Deans of Natural Science Policy Group.
As Dean, Andy leads strategic research, impact, and innovation development across the seven Schools and College Centres, including strategic partnerships and signature Institute activities, governance and management both nationally and globally.
Robert Thomson
Photonics Theme Lead
Professor of Photonics at Heriot Watt University
More about Robert
Robert is interested in the applications of light in areas such as clinical photonics, laser manufacturing and advanced optical instrumentation.
Specific current interests include the development of fibre-optic technologies for the minimally invasive imaging of tissues with unprecedented resolution, light-based therapies for treating infection and resecting tissues with extreme precision, and photonic approaches to interrogating tissues in a label free manner with the aim of guiding clinical decisions.
He is the academic co-lead for the Global Research Institute in Health and care Technologies at Heriot Watt and the Principal Investigator of the £6M “U-Care” Programme Grant, which was funded as part of the EPSRC “Transformative Healthcare Technologies for 2050 call”.
Robert collaborates closely with industry, and co-founded Optoscribe Ltd which was acquired by Intel in 2022.
In 2024, Robert was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering for his pioneering work on ultrafast-laser-based techniques to fabricate 3D waveguide devices.
Outside of work, Robert enjoys walking, reading, and spending time with the family and friends.
Tim Birks
Optical Fibre Technology Theme Lead
Professor of Physics at the University of Bath
More about Tim
Tim’s research interests focus on understanding light propagation in optical fibres.
Tim is best known for pioneering research on photonic crystal fibres, with a current focus on fibres with hollow cores. He has also made key contributions to the development of photonic devices based on tapered fibres, including the photonic lantern. His research is driven by curiosity, and also by applications in telecommunication, astronomical instrumentation and healthcare technology. He is inventor or co-inventor of 25 granted US and European patents, was elected Fellow of the Optical Society of America in 2007, and was jointly awarded the 2018 Rank Prize for Optoelectronics.
Tim is the MicroTex Hub’s Theme Lead on Optical Fibre Technology, and he manages its research activities at the University of Bath.
Natalie Jones
Hub Project Manager
More about Natalie
Natalie oversees the coordination, delivery, and strategic alignment of the MicroTex Hub to ensure its success from lab to clinic.
Beginning her career in cardiovascular research, Natalie carried out a PhD in cardiovascular biology focusing on the role of the kidneys in blood pressure regulation before undertaking a postdoctoral position looking at in vivo renal sodium handling, both at the University of Edinburgh.
Since then, Natalie has moved into Project Management where she worked on the EPSRC Transformative Healthcare Technologies for 2050 project U-Care before joining the MicroTex team. She is passionate about interdisciplinary research and patient and public involvement and engagement within research.
