University of Bradford (West-Yorkshire), United Kingdom

Title: Advances in high precision micromoulding

Symposium: Injection Molding & Molds

Educational Background

Professor Phil Coates is a Physics graduate (Imperial College), London. His PhD research was on solid phase deformation processing of polymers (Leeds University)

Professional Experience

Prof Coates was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1995.  He was Pro Vice Chancellor for Research & Knowledge Transfer at Bradford for 7 years (2004-11), and is Professor of Polymer Engineering, at the University of Bradford.  He is Director of the internationally recognised Polymer Interdisciplinary Research Centre (IRC) (across the Universities of Leeds, Bradford, Durham and Sheffield), with some 50 researchers at Bradford involved at the leading edge of in-process measurements for process monitoring, analysis and control, and computer modelling in a 4500 m2 laboratory.  He is also Director of the Polymer Centre of Industrial Collaboration, the Advanced Materials Engineering RKT Centre, and the International Centre for Polymer Microprocessing (a joint laboratory with Sichuan University).  The research targets high value polymer products for a range of sectors – healthcare technology (including bioresorbable polymers for orthopaedic applications), pharmaceuticals processing, optical, automotive and advanced materials developments, including nanocomposites and reactive grafting.  His research has substantial support (around £40 million total grants and contracts) from UK Government sources and industry, with over 100 companies collaborating in the research programmes from the USA, Europe, the Middle East, Australia and Japan.  Similarly, the research involves strong international cooperation in the UK, Europe, N America, Japan and China. 
He directs the RCUK Bradford Science Bridges China/ ESPRC Global Engagements programme – a government sponsored collaboration (currently over £10m total UK and China support) with over 20 Chinese Universities focussed on advanced materials for healthcare technologies, based around a research and open innovation platform.  He is an Honorary Professor of Sichuan University and Beijing University of Chemical Technology, and a Molecular Sciences Forum Professor at the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing and CIACAS Changchun, and has high quality joint publications with these groups.   He is also a Famous Overseas Scholar and member of the National Bureau of Foreign Experts of China.
Prof Coates is a director of Medilink (Y&H) Ltd, and of the new £5.7m EPSRC Medical Devices Centre of Innovative Manufacturing (2013 on).  He is a founder member of the Leeds City Region Business, Innovation and Growth Panel.  He was honoured by the award of the Institute of Materials (IOM3) Netlon Gold Medal for Innovation in Polymer Processing (1999), the Plastics Industry Award for personal contribution to the industry (2006), and the IOM3 Swinburne Award (2008).  He is a long-standing member of the International Polymer Processing Society committee, and has organised a wide range of international conferences, and regularly gives invited, keynote and plenary lectures.   He has published extensively – over 300 papers, in scientific journals and has co-authored 9 books, and edited 7 books.  He holds 12 patents.  He is Chief Editor of the IoM3 international journal, Plastics, Rubber and Composites: Macromolecular Engineering.  He is married to Jane (for over 40 years), with four children and three grandchildren; in addition to family, his chief interests are in music, his church and computers.

 

Web sites

www.polyeng.com   = the gateway web site to Prof Coates’ laboratories at Bradford, and www.polymerirc.org is the central Polymer IRC website; www.ukchina-amri.com and www.sciencebridgeschina.com show the UK-China programmes.