Our Team
James Vicary
Co-founder & Managing Director
James has 14 years of experience in AFM, 9 of which were spent designing and manufacturing unique cantilever sensors for various research projects at the University of Bristol.
Seeing his microfabrication endeavours yielding new science led James to found NuNano, in order to bring novel AFM probes to the wider scientific community.
Rick Chapman
Non-executive Chair
Rick has over 30 years of experience in high-tech industries. After 5 years with Marconi, Rick spent 12 years at STMicroelectronics, holding a variety of international positions, including R&D Director (Semicustom) & Business Development Director (Microprocessors).
Since 2001, Rick has worked with several start-ups. He was a founding executive of SuperH Inc., an IP licensing company and, as VP of Business Development, delivered revenue growth from zero to $7m in two years. After a spell as CTO of Cobault Ltd, a CRM software company, he joined Spiral Gateway Ltd, a semiconductor start-up designing an innovative microprocessor architecture.
He is currently Entrepreneur-in-Residence at SETsquared Bristol.
Mervyn Miles
Co-founder & Director
Mervyn is Professor of Physics at the University of Bristol. His research over the last 25 years has focused on the development and application of new scanning probe microscopes, including the invention of two new types of high-speed AFM and the use of nanotools controlled by holographic optical tweezers to act as a new type of AFM probe.
Mervyn has also co-founded Infinitesima Ltd, to bring high-speed AFM to the semiconductor industry. He is also Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Institute of Physics Publishing and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (London) in 2011.
Rob Rule
Non-executive Director
Rob has more than 30 years experience in industry including board level roles in several sectors including automotive engineering, food and beverage, and blue-chip chemicals companies.
Along with his general industry leadership skills, he has particular expertise in business development, technology commercialisation, IP protection & exploitation, early-stage technology development, and investment (including an IPO on AIM). He has a PhD in Physics and a Business Master’s degree.
Roger Humm
Non-executive Director
Roger is a chartered accountant and experienced director with extensive knowledge of high-growth technology companies both in the public and private markets. He gained his BSc from the University of Warwick before training with Grant Thornton and has an MBA from the University of Bath.
Current roles include part-time CFO for SERAC Life Sciences Group, Boxarr Limited and G-Volution Limited. Roger chairs the investment committee of the University of Bristol Enterprise Funds and is a trustee director and investment subcommittee member of the Oxford Instruments plc pension scheme.
He has recently worked with a number of other technology companies including Haydale Graphene Industries plc, Ixico plc, Oxford Nanoimaging Limited, OMass Therapeutics Limited and Nanosight Limited.
Rebecca Megson-Smith
Marketing Consultant
Rebecca has 10 years’ experience of working within financial market data management for a global corporate and 6 years sales and marketing experience for a variety of publishing, software, technology and science companies. She holds a Masters in Journalism.
Joanna Evangelides
Operations Manager
Joanna carried out her PhD at the University of Bristol in the Nanophysics group applying AFM to biochemistry and physiology. She previously worked in publishing at the UK Institute of Physics Publishing and more recently in R&D for the hearing implant company MED-EL in Innsbruck, Austria..
Jamie Goodchild
Applications Engineer
Jamie has 7 years of experience using AFM. He carried out his PhD at the University of Leeds in the Molecular & Nanoscale Physics Group where he used AFM to study cell membrane structure. More recently he worked as a postdoc in the Bio-AFM-Lab at Cornell Medical College in New York, studying membrane proteins with High Speed AFM.
Becky Penhale-Jones
Inspection Engineer
Becky has used AFM throughout her PhD in experimental quantum physics at Lancaster University, for analysing the physical and electrical properties of self-assembled monolayers and Langmuir-Blodgett films. Prior to her PhD she worked in the renewables industry, as she is still doing alongside her work at NuNano.
Richard Perry
Senior Process Engineer
Richard received a PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 2016 studying fundamental aspects of electrodeposition and developing new deposition baths for magnetic materials used in MEMS devices. In 2017 Richard completed a PGDE in Education before joining NuNano as a process engineer.
Daisy Dickinson
Process Engineer
Daisy completed her PhD in 2023 at the University of Edinburgh. Her work focussed on the application of liquid crystal laser technology in fluorescence microscopy. This included the fabrication of liquid crystal laser devices and the integrated study of healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship.
Johnny Barnes
Sales Intern
Johnny is in his 3rd year at the University of Bristol studying for an MSci in Economics with Innovation.