WCPC - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Research Officer
- Research Officer at the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating
Dr Andrew Claypole is a Research Officer at the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating (WCPC) within the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Swansea University. Andrew's research interests lie in the field of functional printing including stretchable and flexible printed electronics for wearable technology, sensors, packaging and manufacturing, and green and functional coatings for packaging.
Andrew joined the WCPC as a research assistant in 2019.
Prior to becoming a researcher, Andrew completed his EngD in the WCPC looking at Elite Sport as a Unique Test Arena for Printed Wearable Technology. This research looked at formulating stretchable conductive inks, using rheology to optimise their performance for different print processes, before creating and optimising a stretchable printed heater that was built onto a stretchable base layer garment. Andrew also holds a Bachelor of Engineering (BEng), first class honours from Swansea University, in Sports Science and Engineering during which time he invented a wearable printed heater for use in elite sport using conductive carbon and silver inks.
Job Titles:
- Research Assistant
- Research Officer
- Research Officer at the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating
Dr Ben Clifford is a Research Officer at the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating (WCPC) within the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Swansea University. Ben's research interests lie in the field of digital and direct write manufacturing techniques for applications in printed and hybrid electronics. He is also a lecturer in microcontroller architecture and programming in the Electrical and Electronics Engineering department and is a member of the Institute of Engineering Technology.
Ben joined the WCPC as a research assistant in 2016 and has worked on a number of research projects across multiple disciplines. He is currently working on two funded research projects: STREAM (Sensor Technologies for Remote Environmental and Aquatic Monitoring), a European Regional Development Fund funded operation managed through the EU Ireland Wales Programme; and ASSET (Application Specific Semiconductor Etching Technology), a European Regional Development Fund funded operation managed through the Welsh European Funding Office SMART Expertise programme.
Prior to becoming a researcher, Ben completed his PhD in the WCPC looking at the Optimisation of Aerosol Jet Deposition for the Development of Printed Electronics. This research looked at the formulation of inks specifically for use in aerosol jet deposition as well as an investigation into the effects of process parameters on print quality and electrical performance. He is also holds a Masters of Engineering (MEng), first class honours from Swansea University, in Electronics and Computer Science during which time he completed research that looked at the development and implementation of an intelligent monitoring system for care of patients suffering from diabetic neuropathy and at the development of a power logging device for early power point tracking in photovoltaic systems to maximise power output.
In addition to Ben's academic career he has worked in a number of roles in industry including as a Bluetooth and Electronics Consultant at NextGen Technology and Service Operations Engineer at Vodafone UK.
Job Titles:
- Senior Lecturer
- Senior Researcher at the Welsh Centre for Printing
Chris is a senior researcher at the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating working on materials and deposition methods for electronics, energy storage and biomedical sensing applications as well as chemical profiling of breath for disease diagnosis. He has worked extensively with companies in printing and related industries with product development, trouble-shooting and environmental compliance.
Job Titles:
- Investigator
- Professor in the College of Engineering
Dr Davide Deganello is a professor in the college of Engineering, Swansea University.
He is based within WCPC and his research is focussed on advanced manufacturing by functional printing and additive processing for energy storage, electronic and biomedical applications; as well as the study of underlining complex fluids rheology.
Davide is currently PI for an EPSRC award (£450,000) for advanced large-scale energy storage (EP/N013727/1). Further recent projects include an EPSRC first grant on surface instabilities in roll-to-roll printing (EP/M008827/1, 2016), EPSRC CimLAE funded Pathfinder project on laser induced forward transfer (SIMLIFT, 2017).
Davide has recently participated as investigator to the HaRFest project (2016), an Innovate UK co-funded collaborative project, in collaboration with PragmatIC, CPI, Cambridge University, CimLAE, aimed to investigate scale production of energy harvesting modules.
As investigator, Davide has also been named in more than 10 projects, including NIHR funded project for printed diagnostic devices for human cytomegalovirus in newborn babies. Davide's research has led to patents and a number of publications in leading international journals.
James is a research officer working in the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating on the development of a prototype heated blanket for social care funded by HTC Accelerate. The previous project being on the development of heated garments that were used by Gold medal winning British Olympic Athletes as part of the Application of Functional Micro and NanoMaterials Project. He has a PhD in Nanotechnology from Swansea University, which looked at the use of advanced rheological methods in the study of printing inks and how these can be related to the print performance for electrically conductive materials.
Job Titles:
- Research Assistant
- Research Assistant in Welsh Centre of Printing and Coating
Dr John Lau is currently a research assistant in Welsh Centre of Printing and Coating (WCPC). He has received the MEng degree in Chemical Engineering from Swansea University in 2013. He has completed an EngD degree in Materials Engineering at Swansea University sponsored by NSG Group. As part of his EngD training, he has gained knowledge in a range of printing and coating processes. During his EngD, John has primarily focused on screen printing of high-resolution features over large area.
Tim studied his undergraduate degree and PhD in experimental physics at Swansea University, completing his studies in 2013 and went to work on part of the GBar experiment in Saclay, Paris. The experiment involves creating and trapping large number of anti-matter atoms to measure the effect of gravity on neutral anti-atoms.
After returning to the UK, Tim joined the WCPC and worked on a range of projects, creating a novel pressure sensing methodology, printed energy harvesting devices and working on commercial ink formulations. Leaving the centre in 2018, Tim joined a small start-up Vortex IoT as a senior R&D engineer designing and building Thread based wireless sensor nodes. An air quality monitoring device saw commercial success with over 200 devices deployed across London, 70 in Neath Port Talbot and 15 in Swansea by 2021. After the acquisition of the company by Marston holdings in 2022, Tim left Vortex to rejoin the WCPC and work on the STREAM project creating low-cost water monitoring sensors to track the impact of climate change on Irish and Welsh coastal waters.
Ffyon is working towards an EngD in Materials Engineering within the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating (WCPC) in collaboration with KP Packaging. She obtained a BEng in Mechanical Engineering at Swansea University in 2018, before working with Innovia Medical as a Product Engineer designing surgical medical devices.
Her current work involves designing advanced packaging solutions to move towards a circular economy for plastic packaging, in particular flexible films.
Job Titles:
- Founder and Director of the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating
Tim Claypole is founder and director of the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating (WCPC). He is a faculty member of the College of Engineering, Swansea University. His areas of research include colour control, manufacturing systems, quality, maintenance, reliability experimental design, fluid mechanics and process thermodynamics. He is a British Expert on ISO TC130 on standards for the graphics arts. As well as graphics and packaging, he has internationally leading research on the use of volume printing processes for advanced manufacture of a diverse range of products including electronics, sensors and point of care health.
Tim led the ERDF funded DIPLE project won the 2009 Regiostars award for ‘Research, Technology Development and Innovation', reflecting the successful transfer of the research into industry. He was awarded an MBE for his services to graphic arts and industry in the 2010 Queens New Year's Honours.
His contribution to the printing industry has been recognised by the industry with the TAGA Michael award in 2008 and in 2009 an EFTA special award for outstanding contribution to flexographic printing. The EPSRC, Government and Industry have funded his research that has led to over 170 publications on printing and related topics. He recently finished a prestigious EPSRC Portfolio Grant in ‘Complex Fluids for Complex flows', these are only awarded to World leading research groups. He is co-investigator on the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacture of Large Area Electronics. This major UK award for research is held by the WCPC jointly with the other 3 UK Centres of excellence in Printable Electronics - Cambridge University, Imperial College London and Manchester University.