Speaker details

Russell Cowburn

Russell Cowburn obtained his PhD in condensed matter physics from the University of Cambridge in 1996.  He then joined the nanoscale science group in Cambridge University, where he worked as a staff member for 4 years, before being appointed to a faculty position at the University of Durham, UK in 2000.  In January 2005 he became Professor of Nanotechnology at Imperial College London, where he leads a large research group in the department of physics studying applications of nanotechnology to computer memory, cancer treatment and fraud prevention.  He is CTO to Ingenia Technology Ltd, a UK company seeking to bring the Laser Surface Analysis (LSA) method of authenticating documents and branded products to market.  Professor Cowburn is the inventor of this patented technique .  He has published 60 papers in international refereed journals (including 3 in Science and 2 in the Nature family) and has given over 40 invited conference talks, including security and brand protection conferences organised by PIRA, PISEC, I4 etc.  He gave evidence to a House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee and is a consultant to a number of external organisations.