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.

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 and Director for Boxarr Limited, Trustee Director and Investment Sub Committee member of the Oxford Instruments plc pension scheme, Treasurer & Trustee of the Churchill & Langford Minibus Society, and Trustee of the Sidney Hill Churchill & Victoria Jubilee Langford Alms House charities.

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.

Rob Rule

Board Advisor

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.

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.

Tom Steward

Inspection Engineer

Tom has a background in electron microscopy and previously worked at the Wolfson Bioimaging Facility at the University of Bristol. He completed his PhD at the University of Bristol in synapse dysfunction relating to Alzheimer's disease in 2024.

Nicolò Tormena

Applications Engineer

Nico has over 7 years of experience working with AFM. He completed his PhD at Durham University in the group of Kislon Voitchovsky, where he used AFM to investigate the structure and behaviour of model membranes under varying environmental conditions. He continued in the same group as a Postdoctoral Researcher, collaborating with AkzoNobel to characterise the topographical and mechanical properties of novel antifouling coatings using AFM imaging and force spectroscopy.

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.

Shruti Verma

Process Engineer

Shruti completed her PhD at Indian Institute of Technology Indore India in 2015, utilising AFM to study ZnO-based thin films and nanostructures. She has over 9 years of experience in fabrication, characterisation and simulation of optoelectronic devices.

Shan Zhang

Process Engineer

Shan completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh just after she started at NuNano in 2024. She was working on developing and optimizing an implantable miniaturized electrochemical oxygen sensor; this sensor is designed for detecting anastomotic leakages after colorectal surgeries. In her project, she gained experience in manufacturing the sensors using microfabrication techniques, and characterizing the devices electrochemically.