Professor Anthony Ryan OBE

Tony leads the University of Sheffield’s programme in sustainability research, across pure and applied sciences, engineering and social sciences. His focus is on the global food, water and energy nexus challenge, harnessing the power of the sun for food production and renewable energy.  His research covers sustainable synthesis, structure, processing, and applications of polymers using advanced analytical and measurement techniques. For example, renewable sources for polymer synthesis, organic photovoltaics, maximising the properties of polymers and biopolymers through flow-induced crystallisation, formulation of home and personal care products and polymer foams for high intensity urban agriculture. The emphasis throughout is on understanding the fundamental science & technology in order to minimise resource use.  Tony holds BSc and a PhD from the University of Manchester and a DSc from UMIST.  In 1997 he moved to Sheffield and served as Head of Chemistry before becoming the Pro Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Science from 2008 to 2016. Tony has also delivered the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures and has an OBE for services to science.