team of twelve or thirteen is incredibly lean, and he is quick to praise the work of his administrator, Dr Caroline Livingstone, for this efficient structure. Professor Dobson also reserves high praise for Barbara Allsworth, the popular manager of the Centre for Innovation and Enterprise. With experience working for Phillips and having consulted for a number of large companies, Professor Dobson is well qualified to comment on what makes for a successful science park, and is delighted with the way Begbroke operates. With Begbroke in close proximity to other science parks in the county, such as Harwell, Oxford Science Park and Milton Science Park, Professor Dobson believes Begbroke can play an important role if the parks can work to their collective strengths. “We really have a hotbed of science research and development here in Oxfordshire, but it is vital that we play to each others’ strengths for the greater good.” With regards to the projects being undertaken at Begbroke, Professor Dobson gives us an insight into a selected few, “We are currently examining the ways in which microbes interact with nano particles. We are also moving on to figure out how we can use nano technology to harvest the most value out of crops, turning waste biomass into high value compounds, such as alcohol or other high value chemicals. There is another group, predominantly from the materials department, which is working on solar cells and how their idea can be scaled up so that we can produce the solar cells in a continuous reel on a plastic film. “In the Engineering Science and Chemistry Departments, we have colleagues who are someone working on new catalysts to convert waste methane into a liquid fuel. The same group is also looking at taking out some of the waste products from exhaust streams, an area in which we hope to do a lot more work in the future.” Professor Dobson also has a vision of capturing carbon dioxide from a power station, adding water and using sunlight to convert everything into an alcohol, and then into a fuel. “We are looking ahead at things which will help climate change, help energy sustainability and it is really the application of the lessons we have been learning from nano science in the last decade. A new concept is creeping into our academic world and that is life cycle analysis. We are looking at the whole process from birth to death of a product and trying to minimise the energy input and minimise the waste legacy. It is part of what I call a ‘solution driven approach’. We are looking at problems and we are finding solutions.” I also learn more about the vehicle of the future, powered by motors on all four wheels, and about impact testing of materials for aircraft and jet engines to enable them to withstand bird-strikes. There are new gas-powered guns under development that will fire projectiles into materials to simulate this. In terms of products developed which we see in our everyday life, Professor Dobson’s own company, Oxonica, has developed a titanium oxide sunscreen which is www.b4-business.com
retailed through Boots, and Stagecoach are employing a diesel fuel which uses a nano particle of cerium oxide, again developed at Begbroke. “We are also conducting some novel medical research work here. We have developed particles which can be injected into the body to give higher contrast for cancer tumours, thus facilitating detection of cancer tumours at a smaller size, before they start to cause problems.” Professor Dobson also reveals his vision for the future of the planet. “All vehicles will be under a tonne in weight, no more 4x4’s with just mum and a child in”, he claims, “we are going to see incremental improvement for the internal combustion engine, but I am really excited about the prospect of being able to have electric powered vehicles where the electricity has been generated by a sustainable source. I suspect we will go to an intermediate stage of using nuclear power - it’s an absolute must in the UK, but we have always got the problem of legacy and what we should do with the waste.” But he concludes, with a word of warning, for the planet, “Population explosion, if I was being philosophical, is something which needs to be curbed. Improving lifestyles for the whole world, including the third world, is not a sustainable scenario, due mainly to the levels of CO² emissions. We have to, in some way, lower our overall expectations and use energy more efficiently.” I put to Professor Dobson that his research into saving lives, through medical advances in particular, could end up creating an even worse scenario. “Of course, if you start increasing your life expectancy in countries like India and Africa, we will have a severe problem on our hands. I was shocked to discover that the mortality rate of Indian women in poor agricultural areas was around 35, caused predominantly, it is believed, by them inhaling the smoke from their cooking stoves. If you solve that problem, and their life expectancy goes from, say, 35 to 60, the population is going to mushroom and grow. This, in turn, will place massive stress on sources of food and water, which could ultimately lead to wars. “If we are going to solve or partly solve the problems a growing population will bring, we have got to start accepting genetically modified (GM) foods, but that in turn poses problems as they require water. I appreciate GM foods are more drought resistant, but only slightly, and I can see a day when water is more scarce than oil.
PROFESSOR PETER
DOBSON After a career as a lecturer in Physics at Imperial College and Senior Principal Scientist at Philips Research laboratories, Professor Dobson was appointed to a University Lectureship and College Fellowship at the Queen’s College Oxford in 1988, and a Professorship in 1996. At Oxford, his research moved into the areas of nanoparticles, nanostructures, optoelectronics and biosensors. In 1999 he spun-off a company, now called Oxonica plc, that specialises in making nanoparticles for a wide range of applications, ranging from sunscreens to fuel additive catalysts and bio-labels. In 2000, with colleagues in Chemistry and Engineering, he spun-off Oxford Biosensors Ltd that made a hand-held device based on enzyme-functionalized microelectrode arrays. He was appointed to his present position in August 2002, and has the responsibility of setting up new research institutes that will combine University activities with company R&D, and leading a team that facilitates the rapid transfer of technology and knowledge. This has led to him being in demand internationally to advise on Knowledge Transfer. He consults widely and advises several corporate and national organizations on nanotechnology. His research interests are very broad, covering most aspects of nanotechnology, and embracing biotechnology, environmental technology, energy and materials science, especially the applications to medicine. He is also currently the Strategic Advisor on Nanotechnology to the Research Councils in the UK P J Dobson, BSc, MA (Oxon), PhD, C Phys, F Inst P, Member of the ACS.
“Society is going to face huge problems and they are not going to be resolved by technical minds. The solution requires all sciences to be embraced, combined with the economic and social science aspects of technology, because these disciplines will have to combine to help save the planet. The problems of the future will bring the thinkers from the pure physical and social science arenas together, and I look forward to Begbroke playing a significant role.” www.begbroke.ox.ac.uk 63