David is a biologist and has gained wide experience in the Agrochemical industry and in academia. He is considered a leading expert in the development of biopesticides and crop nutrients. David won the prestigious 'Young Biotechnologist of the Year Award' presented by the editor of New Scientist magazine in 2005 in recognition of his work in these fields.
In 2007 he was shortlisted for the 'Best R&D Pipeline Award' at the inaugral Agrow Industry awards, Davids work was largely solo whereas the other shortlisted companies had teams of several thousand scientists (Dupont were the winners).
David has contributed to a number of industry publications such as Speciality Chemicals, Outlooks in Pest Management, Fertilizer Focus, Agrow, and Chemistry and Industry. He has membership of the SCI (Society of the Chemical Industry) and the American Phytopathological society (APS)
David has close links with Lancaster University where he holds the post of Honorary Research Associate. He has been involved in collaberative research with Almeria University, Fundacion Aula Dei and CABI Bioscience. He is a student mentor for Entrepreneurs at Liverpool John Moores University, and a student mentor for Environmental Scientists at Lancaster University.
He has lectured for the Society of the Chemical Industry, the Royal Society of Chemistry, CABI Bioscience and The Chinese Acadamy of Science.
David has been a company director for the last 11 years. He is committed to inventing products that address the challenges that face modern agriculture today:
- Pesticide residue and safety issues
- Pesticide resistance issues
- Abiotic stress
- Biotic stress
- Quality of produce for the consumer
- Shelf life of produce
- Lowering inputs without reducing the benefit to the crops and the quality of the produce for the consumer
Davids scientific work and business activities centre around the development of agricultural chemicals. These include botanical pesticides, speciality fertilizers, crop quality improvers, stress tolerance chemicals, adjuvants, biostimulants, elicitors, and plant growth regulators (PGRs). He is the inventor of over 30 granted patents on four technologies and of many other patents pending covering eight technologies in total (and counting).
Key technologies invented by David include:
BugOil Botanical pesticide chemistry covered by UK patent GB2411117B and associated European and International patents. This patent was licensed to Arysta Life Science Corporation in 2009.
Speedo Plant Growth Regulator covered by EC patent EP1956912AP currently held by Plant Impact plc.
CaT Calcium fertilizer covered by UK patent application GB2429205A currently held by Plant Impact plc.
Alethea Abiotic stress tolerance chemistry covered by UK patent application GB2429205A currently held by Plant Impact plc.
Nematicide Patent application number GB20060009436 20060512. NOT CURRENTLY GRANTED IN ANY MARKET