Members Page
We are continuously looking for new members that can assist us with our vision of providing invaluable research opportunities to academics in the Developing World and at the same time providing recycling solutions that can help save our planet. Membership is open to anyone who shares our ideas and who can offer some time or assistance with the various projects we are running.
Anybody with skills in the analytical instrument service industry who is willing to donate some time and expertise in that field would be most welcome, the instruments donated are not cutting edge and do therefore require some service work and testing prior to shipping. Fundraising is very important we are continuously looking for new avenues of funding – if you know of any good sources then please get in touch or better still why not join and assist!
Please click here to register your details.
Introducing the RORO Team
Almas Khan
I am an Environmental Scientist academically, having completed my studies I spent a year in Egypt assisting the environmental law makers with some air, land and water studies in conjunction with the University of Cairo. Following the completion of this project I returned to the UK and was offered a job at Micromass (later to become Waters). I have been with them ever since (approaching 10 years now) and have a wide scope of knowledge/experience with Time of Flight and Quadrupole MS technologies and with LC and GC separations. "RORO is a great charity to be involved with. Giving the less opportune scientists in the developing world the tools to progress their research and allowing companies to advance their sustainability policies is a winning formula for everyone".
Giles Edwards
Giles Edwards is an analytical chemist with a keen interest in mass spectrometry. Giles’ interest in collecting redundant analytical instrumentation began during his time spent working as a Research Officer at Liverpool John Moores University. At that time the Universities mass spectrometry service was being run by Giles, the service to start with consisted of mainly running samples on an LCT providing accurate mass LC/MS. There was no funding available to purchase new kit to provide an accurate mass GC/MS service so Giles started to contact various companies and organisations to procure redundant instrumentation that could be donated for zero cost. The first instrument to be donated and subsequently collected was a Kratos MS-25 RFA magnetic sector GC/MS from the MoD.
Manufactures are constantly bringing new products to market with a view to driving sales and encouraging economic growth. It may be true that the speed, selectivity and sensitivity of mass spectrometers for example are constantly being improved, however, it is still possible to do research with analytical instruments that are ten years old.
Humaria Naseem
I work as a DMPK Scientist in the drug metabolism group at AstraZeneca, Alderley Park. My role involves planning, performing and interpreting a variety of drug metabolism studies with focus on characterizing drug metabolism pathways, metabolite profiling and ID, metabolite structural elucidation. I have extensive experience of working with a range of analytical instruments including Orbitrap, iontrap and Quattro II triple quadrupole mass spectrometers.
I joined RORO as I believe it can be a platform for providing research opportunities to the Developing World countries where access to the sophisticated analytical equipment is limited. By recycling and redistributing analytical instruments and equipment RORO can help the big Pharma to reduce their carbon foot print and help students in the developing countries at the same time.
James Ware
As a founding member of the Recycling Organisation for Research Opportunities (RORO) I have seen it grow since the early days. Back in 2004 when I was an undergrad, I spent regular lunch breaks in the research lab where Giles Edwards often had a mass spectrometer vented with its guts on the table in front of him. This was a great inspiration to me and I knew the analytical sciences were where the fun was at. It wasn’t long before Giles and I were dragging old UV Spectrophotometer and HPLC's out of skips, to save them from an early grave. We then asked ourselves the question, what to do with this abandoned scientific equipment? As time went on Giles’ flat was resembling a scientific research facility, and we knew we needed to find somewhere else to store the kit, especially as a Joel JMS AX-505 HA Magnetic Sector instrument (over 500kgs) had just been donated and we needed a permanent space to store and work on the equipment donated.
I currently work for a large engineering consultancy, as an environmental chemist in the contaminated land team. We undertake environmental site investigations and monitoring dealing with analytical laboratories regularly. It is therefore easy for me to see the need for separation, and analysis of the constituent chemicals of solids and liquids, not just for research but in the preservation of human health!
Mike Low
Mike (on the left in the pic) runs a WEEE recycling facility called Re-cyclers Organisation Ltd, Recyclers Organisation will recycle anything with a plug, specialising in IT equipment providing data erasure for their clients as well as re-use and recycling back to raw material, Mike continues to enforce the zero landfill policy and reports directly to the Environment Agency.
Re-cyclers are approved suppliers to Knowsley Borough Council and have assisted in the decommissioning of 6 large schools replaced by the Building Schools for the Future Project, scientific equipment recovered from these schools will be shipped to Ghana towards the end of this year with the analytical instruments RORO is shipping. Mike has assisted with the decommissioning of several mass spectrometer systems and provides the space required within the recycling facility to house the RORO laboratory and office.
Sukhdev Singh
My academic & industrial background is the Pharmaceutical Industry having worked for Glaxo SmithKline, 3M & AstraZeneca. I Currently work for Waters through which I met Giles and he introduced me to RORO. I remember fondly the 1st project I helped with, this involved hiring a Van & driving to Sheffield Hallam University to collect a VG 7070E sector instrument from Professor Malcolm Clench’s laboratory. This instrument was later shipped to the University of Nizwa in Oman. Now that RORO is a registered charity I would like to see the organisation grow so that we take on bigger & bolder challenges in providing access to scientific equipment to the developing world.
Key members of the RORO team
Anna Adams – Volunteer fundraiser
Stuart White – Test and installation engineer
Mark Halifax – Test and installation engineer