Prof. Dr. Peter Richmond

Physics Department,

Trinity College

Dublin 2; Ireland

e-mail: richmond@tcd.ie

Web-site: http://www.tcd.ie/Physics/People/Peter.Richmond/

 

Peter Richmond trained as a theoretical physicist and has wide experience of research, technology, innovation and management within both academic and commercial environments. He is a Principal with EPM Associates Ltd, a research management and technology consulting company. He has been Visiting Professor in Trinity College Dublin, Ireland since 1998. After a period of teaching and research in solid state physics in the Universities of Kent, UK and New South Wales , Australia , he was offered a Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellowship to work in the Department of Applied Mathematics, Institute of Advanced Studies , Australian National University . Here he developed a keen interest in colloid and surface science. In 1973 he joined Unilever where he applied his expertise to the world-wide detergents business. He also assisted with strategic activities relevant to the wider business activity.

During the 1980's he built a new department concerned with the strategic science underpinning food processing at the Institute of Food Research at Norwich . After 4 years the department totalled 50 technical staff and was highly respected throughout the food industry and academia. Appointed Head of the Laboratory in 1986 he had responsibility for leadership of the Institute and its 300 staff working in the 3 key areas of diet and health, food biophysics and processing and biotechnology.

In 1991 he was appointed Group General Manager, Technical Services for CWS Ltd, the largest Consumer Co-operative in Europe and owner of both the Co-operative Bank and the Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS), responsible for innovation as the business evolved from a manufacturer and wholesaler into a major UK retailer. He was a member of the CWS Consumer Issues Group, a key policy making group that evolved the highly successful co-operative ethical policy and launched the first food product in the UK made via the use of a genetically modified organism and clearly labelled as such. For 4 years he chaired the Co-operative Retail Trade Technical Committee which linked the organisation to both UK and EU governments on regulatory matters.

He has served on a number of official and professional bodies. These include the UK Government's Committee on Novel Foods and Processes, the Food and Drink Federation and the British Retail Consortium. He has been Honorary Professor at the University of East Anglia , Norwich since 1988. From 1985-88 he was Industrial Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Loughborough . He has published over 120 papers in the technical literature.

Since establishing EPM in 1996, he has consulted widely for universities in the UK and Ireland , the European Commission and major corporations concerned with food and other FMCG goods. He has acted periodically for the UK Quality Assurance Agency in the assessment of Teaching Quality in UK universities. He is an Executive Editor of the Journal for the Science of Food and Agriculture. Recently he has turned his attention to the new area of econophysics .