New Years Honour for Professor Richard Williams Director at ITS

Professor Richard A. Williams, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Enterprise, Knowledge Transfer and International Strategy at the University of Leeds, has been awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Years Honours List 2009 in recognition of services to science and engineering.

Richard is also Professor of Mineral and Process Engineering in the University of Leeds Institute of Particle Science and Engineering and a founder director of ITS.  Richard was Chairman for ITS in its formative years until Allan Whittaker took over in 2002.  He continues to serve on the board providing valuable advice in charting ITS’s progress.

Richard’s academic research, looking at the properties of mixtures of fine particulates in fluids, has focused on solving problems in the scale-up of manufacturing process. He has more than 440 publications in this field, received both national and international awards for innovation and has founded several innovative companies from his work.

He said: “I am delighted and extremely honoured to receive this OBE.  The award reflects the fact that innovation in engineering is at the very centre of society and drives improvement in our quality of life on a global scale.”