Philip Keenan, our Hub Manager, is a materials scientist by training (University of Sheffield) and has spent twenty-five years in research, development, and manufacturing, producing electronics and micromachined structures for various technology products, including disk drives and inkjet printheads. His previous academic experience was gained with Cambridge University in a ten-year UKRI-funded civil infrastructure sensor research programme. Philip is experienced in working with academic and industrial leaders to help them translate research into prototype proof-of-concept devices and on towards commercial products. Philip’s own exposure to air-sensing includes the measurement of particulate and volatile organic contaminants. in semiconductor cleanrooms used for producing microelectronics, as well as leading a team to develop a particle sensor to detect volcanic ash ingestion into the engines of aircraft and finally worked on a project to automate the measurement of CO2 emissions from freight transport and passenger and cargo aircraft.

What are you working on as part of the Hub?

The Biodetection Technology Hub academic team has prepared an ambitious research programme. Part of my role will be to help monitor the key financial elements of a large (£13.5M) research grant, including financial expenditure, research, and other income. Of equal importance will be the measurement and reporting of the Hub’s progress and impact, including tracking academic publications, patent filings, development of prototype analysers, outreach events with industry, and developing our industry partnership network (currently around twenty members), as well as creating an international network of academic and industrial collaborators. It is my hope and dream that the Biodetection Technology Hub will grow to become recognised as a world-leading real-time biodetection technology research centre with a vibrant track record of academic publications, a pipeline of new analytical instruments moving towards commercial applications, and an annual Biodetection Technology Conference. Perhaps we shall have our own academic journal?

What excites you the most about your role? 

Science and technology development are not only part of my job but are a personal hobby. What motivates me about this position is the opportunity to support the academic team in achieving its ambitious goal of transforming biohazard detection from a process of taking samples, then transporting them to a remote testing facility for analysis, to testing that produces results more or less immediately.

What difference do you hope your work will make?

The Hub can potentially transform airborne biological measurements to a real-time, sample-test-inform process. With this capability, interventions can be made promptly to minimize exposure to harmful agents.

What are you most proud of in your engineering career?

I was part of a team that designed and built a 3d printing machine that could produce photorealistic 3d objects out of a ream of A4 photocopier paper.