Such predictions have proved unfounded. Chemistry has continued to surprise us with its discoveries – and not just in the obvious areas such as pharmaceuticals.

For instance, at the University of Burgundy in Dijon, France, a team of chemists has been analysing French wine. The wine is aged in oak barrels and, in the process, absorbs chemicals in small quantities from the wood. These substances vary depending on the source of the wood, as each forest has its own climate and soil characteristics. Using mass spectrometry, the team was able to identify a chemical signature unique to each wine, which could prove useful for authenticating wine of questionable origin, says Régis Gougeon, the lead researcher. Elsewhere, chemists from the University of Munich in Germany have been rescuing China’s famous terracotta army from impending ruin. Having noticed that the painted statues quickly dried out and peeled after being unearthed, the team found a way to moisturise the lacquer layer decorating the statues and glue it fast to the underlying terracotta.

Tinkering with wine or archaeological relics aside, the (RSC) is taking steps to ensure that chemists play a significant role in safeguarding our future. In July, the society produced a plan detailing areas where chemists can make key contributions to overcoming the challenges we face on the road to sustainability. Within these priority areas, which include food production, energy, health, lifestyle and recreation, as well as air and water quality, the RSC identified tasks for which chemists would be vital, such as the conversion of biomass feedstock into useful products or fuels, and developing early-diagnosis tools in medicine. Already, much is being achieved – and not just by multinationals. “There has been a definite shift towards growth in the small and medium-sized business sector, particularly in the number of small, vibrant companies coming from universities,” says Caroline Tolond, advice and guidance services manager at the RSC. “There are a lot of opportunities for graduates and postdocs to make a splash in small companies and grow their careers in a short time. Within five years you can go from a company of four people to managing a team of 40.”

For those interested in commercial applications, there are plenty of ways to make your mark. For instance, chemists at Bangor University have been working with Used Tyre Distillation Research, near Prestatyn in north Wales, to develop an industrial-scale version of a process that turns tyres into oil, gas, steel and carbon black. This could turn the estimated 50 million tyres discarded in the UK every year into a useful source of fuel oil. What’s more, a plant built to put the distillation process into action would produce sufficient methane to power itself, making it sustainable. Other smaller firms such as Opalux (see “Creative with colour”) are also at the forefront of solving challenges laid out by the RSC.

While chemists are clearly proving their worth, scientists from other disciplines can also get in on the act. At ITM Power in Sheffield, work is under way to develop a low-cost hydrophilic membrane – the same technology employed in soft contact lenses – that can be used to produce hydrogen cheaply from water and electricity, for use in fuel cells. “Our work lies at the boundary between chemistry and physics,” says Donald Highgate, the company’s director of research. “We depend on both subjects to formulate the materials, understand their structures and control their resulting properties. Chemists and physicists will play a major role in allowing us to make full use of renewable energy supplies, storing transient renewable energy and converting it into a clean fuel. This is a demanding, challenging and rewarding area for the interaction of chemistry, physics and engineering, which will be critical to the development of many biomedical and environmental technologies in the future.”

Thinking bigger

Of course the pharmaceutical industry is still a fertile ground for innovative chemistry, especially given the UK’s reputation in the field. “As a country we develop more than our share of blockbusting drugs,” says David Rees, senior vice-president of medicinal chemistry at Astex Therapeutics in Cambridge, which was founded 10 years ago to focus on the use of high-throughput X-ray crystallography to identify potential drugs. This novel technique allows Astex researchers to analyse how small, low-molecular-weight drug fragments interact with the proteins they are intended to target, and has resulted in the development of several antiviral drugs and cancer treatments. “Astex itself has three cancer compounds in clinical trials and our fragment-based drug discovery technique is being used internationally,” says Rees.

The real problem with chemistry, it seems, is that its practitioners are not especially inclined to promote their successes. “Chemists haven’t really been as proactive as they should in telling the public why their science is important,” says Rees. On the bright side, there’s clearly no shortage of opportunities to get involved in ground-breaking chemistry. “At the start of my career chemists that wanted to do drug discovery had the choice of entering big pharmaceutical companies or nothing,” says Rees. “Now this is just one career option of many. Given the challenges we face, there are a lot of opportunities out there.”

Bacteria often get a bad press thanks to their ability to produce toxins and cause disease. But now that their potential in a variety of applications is increasingly being recognised, bacteria are proving their worth as a useful tool in a vast range of disciplines. Which means the market for bacteria-based technologies is on the up.

“Traditionally biotechnology has tended to focus on the healthcare sector, but it is now diversifying,” says Tim Hart of ISIS Enterprise, part of the University of Oxford’s technology transfer company ISIS Innovation. He points out that bacteria can be exploited in environmental and industrial settings, and even in biosensing. “The development of functional foods [claimed to have health benefits] and probiotics is also growing, and we are much closer to large-scale market uptake than we once were.”

Take the example of Lactobacillus. Earlier this year, Jeremy Nicholson and colleagues at Imperial College London fed strains of Lactobacillus to mice whose gut microbes had been replaced by those that live in the human gut. The team found that Lactobacillus altered the content of bile acid, increasing the proportion of certain enzymes that reduce the amount of fat absorbed into the body. This suggests that adding this bacterium to food may one day have an impact on human obesity.

Given the potential for using bacteria across so many areas, it is no surprise that big business is keen to join forces with academia. Naturally, such ventures allow academics to gain experience of the commercial world and represent a chance to impress potential employers.

One organisation fostering such collaborations is the University of Manchester’s new Centre for Excellence for Biocatalysis, Biotransformations and Biocatalytic Manufacture (CoEBio3). The centre is designed to provide a world-class scientific environment for research to create new biocatalyst-based processes to meet the changing needs of industry. “We are working closely with companies including AstraZeneca, Pfizer, BASF and Shell to develop ways to get bacteria to make certain chemicals,” says Nicholas Turner, the centre’s director. This “white biotechnology” is key to developing technology such as new fuel additives, he says. One of the biggest growth areas is biofuels, using bacteria to convert biomass to high-value bioethanol or biodiesel on a large scale. “However, our remit also covers cosmetics, flavour and fragrance,” says Turner.

Researchers wishing to stay within academia can access several streams of funding, particularly from the Biotechnology and Biosciences Research Council (BBSRC). “Those interested in this area have access to a number of fellowships across our remit,” says Avril Ferris, the BBSRC’s policy implementation manager. This includes David Phillips fellowships, which offer five years’ support for independent research with the aim of securing a permanent academic position at the end.

As part of its activities, the BBSRC has also set up the Bioprocessing Research Industry Club (BRIC). A ÂŁ14 million, five-year partnership between the BBSRC, the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council and a consortium of leading companies such as GlaxoSmithKline and Pall Life Sciences, it aims to fund innovative biotechnology-related research across several universities.

Meanwhile, those looking for a position in a commercial organisation may find that gaining industry-specific training will open many doors. “There’s a perception that not enough people are skilled in this area of biotechnology,” says Turner. “We can help with training so they are ready to take jobs in the sector.”

For those considering striking out on their own, taking part in a programme such as the UK-wide Biotechnology Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (Biotechnology YES) can help. On this particular scheme, participants hear from leading figures about all aspects of technology transfer and commercialisation. They then enter a competition to create an imaginary biotech start-up and present their ideas to a panel of judges. Previous winners include Martin Wickham, a research fellow at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich, who is trying to turn his YES idea – a probiotic spray to prevent MRSA infection – into a pioneering new company, and Tim Hart, founder of Cybersense Biosystems (see case study).

Despite a bleak outlook for many sectors of biotechnology, there seems to be a consensus that people with certain skills in this field will be in high demand. “There is a lot of interest in synthetic biology – engineering bacteria to carry out interesting tasks such as producing drugs,” says Jeff Errington, director of Newcastle University’s Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology, which was formed in 2004 with the aim of studying a wide range of model organisms, including bacteria and protozoa, in order to advance our understanding of fundamental cell science. “In the past few decades, however, people have moved out of bioengineering to work on things such as pathogenic bacteria,” he says. “That means there is huge potential for people coming into this area.”

From the creation of biofuels to cleaning up toxic waste, micro-organisms are now being studied and manipulated with a view to solving many problems in a cleaner, low-cost manner. Whether as part of a university, business or new research-based venture, opportunities for those interested in working in this area should not be hard to find.

“The economic climate is disruptive – which makes this a wonderful time to be an entrepreneur”

COMBINING science with a passion for food, Dr Hervé This is France’s most famous chemist and a leading practitioner of what he calls molecular gastronomy – the branch of food science that focuses on how chemistry informs cooking and food preparation.

Now at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research in Paris, This has set his sights on improving our relationship with food. “We are sending probes to Mars, yet in today’s kitchen we still use tools that have existed since the Middle Ages,” he says. “We eat only what we know, which may be a primeval urge meant to protect us from danger, but it is also irrational. People waste huge amounts of energy by failing to cook rationally.”

This worked as a chemist and then a chef before returning to research, where he decided to investigate culinary old wives’ tales to see if there was any scientific basis to them. In one experiment, he devised formulae based on how emulsions, foams and gels interact with one another. He reported his findings to Pierre Gagnaire, one of France’s leading chefs, who used them to invent a dish called Saint-Jacques “Faraday” – an emulsion created with scallops, orange-flavoured oil, smoked tea and gelatine. Since then, Gagnaire and This have collaborated every month on a new recipe, publishing details on the web.

This coined the term “molecular gastronomy” in the 1980s together with Nicholas Kurti, a professor of physics at the University of Oxford. Today interest in the field is growing, as is research funding, says This. The European Commission recently provided funding for a three-year research project, INICON, which is developing innovative technologies to help modernise cooking. While encouraged by these developments, This says he pushes his students towards industry. “Personally, I think that there is generally less money and fewer jobs in academia,” he says.

Someone else who bridges the scientific and culinary worlds is Rachel Edwards-Stuart, a Cambridge-trained biochemist and Paris-trained chef. Besides demonstrating novel techniques to chefs, such as the use of gelling agents and liquid nitrogen to produce unusual textures in food, she is pursuing a PhD at the University of Nottingham and under the watchful eye of celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal, owner of the Fat Duck restaurant at Bray near Maidenhead in Berkshire.

Despite his dislike of the term “molecular gastronomy”, Blumenthal is co-sponsoring Edwards-Stuart to research innovative texture and flavour experiences. “My PhD has created a lot of interest,” says Edwards-Stuart. “It was a great way to marry my two passions for science and food.”

To get into the field you need an understanding of food processes and what happens to food when you cook it, she says. “Ultimately you also need a restaurant and a chef with the interest and the money to fund laboratory work.”

While such environments are rare, Edwards-Stuart notes that the University of Brighton has set up a culinary research department, and she is hopeful that the industry surrounding food science will grow. “Science is getting closer to cooking. A few years ago it was seen as radical, but now there’s even a molecular gastronomy Facebook group.”

The industry scientist

TO RECREATE the smell of strawberries, take the sweet, burnt-sugar aroma of candyfloss, mix it with the bouquet of fresh cut grass and add a whiff of… vomit? That’s the secret of success, promises Charles Sell, who works on organic chemistry and olfaction at flavour and fragrance producers Givaudan. “Olfaction research is highly interdisciplinary,” he says. “At the moment we are investigating the chemical processes in the nose and, in collaboration with sensory scientists, how these translate into odour images in the brain.”

Industry offers you the opportunity to work with colleagues from a range of scientific disciplines, says Sell. “We have sensory scientists, chemists and molecular biologists working together.” In contrast, he says, it is rare to find a university whose staff would include such a wide range of specialists with a common interest in olfaction.

To become a sensory scientist candidates must have a passion for the job. “You mustn’t be afraid to smell things,” says Sell.

As senior flavour chemist at Takasago, another flavour and fragrance company, James Buchanan specialises in oral-care products, dealing with ingredients such as mint oil. Out of a potential palate of 3000 compounds, most flavour chemists use only 200 or so effectively, he claims. “In perfume, if you make a mistake you get a new smell. In flavour, [a mistake means] you just don’t have strawberry any more.”

Buchanan never intended to become a flavourist, though, and admits that it was running out of money at college that prompted him to apply for a job with the flavour company Naarden (now part of Givaudan) – which he chose because they were based close to where he lived and they “had an interesting name”. It is testimony to the captivating nature of the flavour and fragrance industry that, 35 years on, he is still deeply committed to his job.

In order to become a senior flavourist, you must be prepared to serve a long apprenticeship, says Buchanan. “You can’t go to school to learn to be a flavour chemist. You have to learn from your seniors,” he explains. “Starting as a technician and working your way up is best, but a lot of people aren’t willing to do that.” He says it took 10 years before he could call himself a flavour chemist.

Buchanan once worked on sauces and sweets, and he is clear about the advantages of moving around the business. “Everything affects flavour, including plastic packaging,” he explains. “I did a lot of packaging work at Colgate-Palmolive, which added a lot to my experience and knowledge. I would recommend working outside your area of expertise as it makes you more valuable.”

Tim Finnigan, head of innovation for Quorn and Cauldron Foods, both of which specialise in products containing alternatives to meat, says that interest in food research and development is growing. “A lot of people think the sector is about low skills and low pay but this couldn’t be further from the truth,” says Finnigan, adding that companies such as the huge Northern Foods conglomerate are offering bursaries to students studying for any food science-related course, through their own charitable foundation.

The policy-maker

AS HEAD of the novel foods, additives and supplements division of the Food Standards Agency (FSA), Clair Baynton works with scientific advisory committees and collaborates with staff from across the agency on issues such as genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the nutritional benefit of supplements. Another facet of her job is to support government ministers, briefing them with relevant information to handle parliamentary questions and debates.

When, in April, the agency recommended phasing out six artificial colourings following a study at the University of Southampton that linked them to hyperactivity in children, Baynton was right at the heart of the decision-making process. These decisions put Baynton in the media spotlight. “Dealing with high-profile incidents involves media activity,” she acknowledges. “You have to be able to present yourself and your subject, and explain science in very basic terms.”

Baynton’s big break came when, thanks to her background in molecular biology, she got the job of senior scientific officer in what is now the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, where she advised on GMOs. But while specialising in an area relevant to an organisation’s remit can provide a good entry point to a job, there may also be openings available at a lower level. “As well as specialists we need general scientists who are flexible,” she says. “Studying science gives you the basic skills you will need for the job; you just need to think about how you will apply them.”

The brewer

“YOU tend to get the engineering-type brewer and the biologist-type brewer,” muses John Keeling, brewing director at Fuller, Smith & Turner, who discovered his love for the industry after leaving school aged 16 and getting a job at Wilson’s Brewery in Manchester. Having worked there as a laboratory technician, Keeling left to pursue a degree in brewing at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. “Brewing is a very specialised area,” he says.

Fergal Murray, too, certainly knows something about the job. Now a master brewer at Guinness, he has worked in the industry for more than 25 years. He says entrants from all backgrounds find that they have to diversify their skills because there are so many factors involved in successful brewing. Even computer scientists can find themselves a niche in the industry. “Improvements in the software world and the use of computer technology have changed the job of brewing,” Murray says.

Keeling’s advice for anyone wanting to get involved in brewing is to get a summer job to “try it out and find out what interests you”.

Keeling also notes that large and small breweries can offer very different opportunities. “Working for a small brewery is a craft. It’s like being a chef, as the emphasis is on taste and not creating efficiency.” On the other hand, a larger brewery offers general experience that can be of use to someone who subsequently wants to work at a smaller outfit, as the smaller breweries are interested in people who may be able to introduce industrial-scale efficiencies into their operation. If you’re not totally sure what kind of place you prefer to work at, Keeling advises approaching the big brewers first.

The academic researcher

WHAT is it about kopi luwak, a coffee bean recovered from the dung of wild civets, that makes people willing to pay up to 10 times the price of the next most expensive coffee variety?

One person who has been trying to find out is Massimo Marcone, assistant professor in the Department of Food Science at Canada’s University of Guelph in Ontario. A biochemist, Marcone worked in horticultural research and then moved into food science, eventually specialising in the field of delicacies. “The field isn’t as bizarre as you may think – many are common foods with an uncommon twist,” he says.

As for kopi luwak, Marcone discovered that gastric enzymes in the stomachs of civets remove some of the caffeine as well as the bitter proteins from the ripe coffee cherries, which the civets devour. Though this might furnish some justification for the high prices kopi luwak commands, it’s not all good news – Marcone also found that more than 40 per cent of kopi luwak on sale internationally is fake.

“Research like this gives you the ability to travel and also [lets you] learn to adapt the scientific method from the laboratory to the field,” says Marcone. And there are some big challenges on the horizon. “The population in the west is ageing. With age, your appetite decreases and your taste buds dull, meaning you eat less than your body needs,” he says, adding that we need to combat this by coming up with more nutritious, energy-rich foods.

Food research is open to people from just about any field, says Marcone. Even an interest in the English language can be utilised: “It plays a big role in food labelling,” he says. “Basically, if you like research, you can go where your curiosity takes you.”

As anyone who has seen Dragons’ Den on TV knows, such a scenario is hardly unusual, but it serves to demonstrate that the ability to innovate is by no means a guarantee of wealth and success. However, for scientists with bright ideas, bridging the gap between scribbled drawings and a real-life product – without the help of reality television – could be getting easier.

The secret lies in the growth of science-specific MBAs. They not only allow budding entrepreneurs to reap huge benefits from translating science into commercial products, but also provide scientists with credible business skills, allowing them to emerge as a valuable commodity in academia and industry.

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is keen to attract such people. “There is still a need for a core of pure scientific research, but we must also be commercially astute to make sure that the public and the country get value for money,” explains Ian Licence, human resources director.

Innovation manager David Mulligan studied for an MBA at Henley Management College while working at the NPL. “I wanted my science skills to be more commercial,” he explains. “As you progress as a scientist, you need to be able to manage money and attract research.” Currently on secondment to the South-East England Development Agency, Mulligan believes his business skills have put him ahead of the game. “Now I can see how my work fits into the bigger picture.”

Learn the language

żěè¶ĚĘÓƵs such as Mulligan are in short supply, making them highly employable. “At the moment, there is a lack of technology translators in the UK – people who can speak both the languages of science and business,” says Fiona Reid, director of the Oxford Science Enterprise Centre at the University of Oxford’s SaĂŻd Business School. “There is a clash of values between the science and business worlds,” she explains. “In business, you often need to make educated guesses. This is hard for scientists, who are used to making evidence-based predictions.”

“It’s a different world,” agrees Bart Knols, MBA Student of the Year 2007, who now runs his own healthcare consultancy (see “Science skills are not enough”). “Management deals in grey, whereas everything in science is black and white. It is an uncomfortable place for a scientist to be and you need the skills to deal with this.”

Justin Fry, CEO and founder of computer display company Seamless Display, learned such skills during an MBA at Saïd Business School in 2002. “To translate science into a commercial product you need to be well prepared,” he says. “An MBA means you won’t have a blank look on your face when people talk about balance sheets and venture finance.”

After building up experience in computer programming, Fry applied to the University of Oxford with the intention of targeting a fellow scientist and commercialising his ideas. Through the MBA programme, he discovered Bernard Stark – a research fellow from the department of engineering – who was investigating the possibility of a wraparound computer display. Within two years of founding their start-up company, Fry and Stark numbered BAE Systems and the Canadian Department of Defence Research among their customers. “As a scientist with business knowledge you are a lot more powerful and far more realistic,” Fry says.

As scientists’ careers progress, even those who don’t want to go it alone can find they are thrust into a position where business skills are essential. “If you look at the FTSE-200 companies, more and more businesses such as BP, Shell or Cadbury Schweppes are appointing scientists to board level,” says David Gann, head of innovation and entrepreneurship at Tanaka Business School, part of Imperial College London.

“People working in industry flagged up the problem of scientists rising through the ranks then suddenly needing skills they did not have,” says Stephen Little, head of the Centre for Innovation, Knowledge and Development at the Open University Business School. As a result, academic institutions are increasingly offering business courses with content specifically directed at graduates with a scientific background.

However, with 117 business schools to choose from in the UK, deciding where to apply can be daunting. “You need to look at the emphasis of each course by examining the modules on offer,” advises Jeanette Purcell, chief executive of the Association of MBAs. “Visiting institutions is a good idea. Many will encourage you to sit in on lectures and meet students to get a feel for the course.”

Tanaka Business School recently achieved a top 10 best-in-entrepreneurship placing in the Financial Times annual survey of global MBA courses, and its students benefit from strong scientific links with industry. During the course, students must build a business plan for a piece of intellectual property drawn from Imperial College’s science resources.

“18% average salary increase after MBA graduation”

Entry to such high-ranking courses is competitive. “We are looking for people with a spark of interest in the future,” says Purcell. “We want people interested in big ideas, such as how to engineer a new energy system.”

To be accepted on an MBA course you will need a high score in the GMAT, a standardised entrance examination that most business schools use to assess applicants’ qualifications, says Purcell. “Alternatively, if your GMAT score is not as high as you might wish, good work experience and testimonials from employers may persuade schools to take you on.”

Bart Knols chose the Open University’s MBA course as it was accredited by the Association of MBAs, the European Foundation for Management Development and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. “Their course is one of only a few that are triple-accredited by the three major groups,” he says. “I knew that [whatever I chose] had to be of high quality as I would be investing a lot of time in it.”

But a word of warning: “The methodology for an MBA is completely different to that of a BSc or PhD,” says Susana Pinheiro, who completed her MBA at Saïd Business School after spending 10 years working on ways to prevent HIV epidemics. “My natural inclination was to work like a scientist, trying to read around every subject on the course, but it wasn’t necessary.” Pinheiro had to learn all over again how to study, in order to develop her venture to expand health infrastructure in Africa. “An MBA is very challenging and hard work, but it’s also very rewarding.”

Careers – Find out how to make the most of your career in our comprehensive special report.

FOR any scientist working in energy, these are exciting times. New career paths are emerging right across the industry, from cutting coal power’s carbon emissions to harnessing the power of the tides.

With so much variety, the tricky part is predicting where your career choices today will take you 10 years down the line. Unfortunately, energy’s “next big thing” seems to change every other week. Will we all have wind generators on our roofs? Can solar cells produce enough juice? Could fusion power bear fruit? (See “Fusion power”). Such uncertainty means that pursuing a career in the wrong area could prove a dead-end, should government and corporations decide to siphon their support and money away. Just look at how nuclear power fell out of favour in the 1990s as costs soared. The good news is that many areas of energy – including nuclear – are now going from strength to strength, and are drawing in scientists and engineers from all backgrounds.

To find out whether an idea on the fringes today will become mainstream tomorrow, the first thing to look at is what the politicians are backing. Last month the UK government released a major white paper on energy, in which ministers pledged to cut the country’s carbon dioxide emissions by 60 per cent by 2050. Realistically, this target can only be achieved by using carbon-free power such as renewables, which the government reckons will provide 20 per cent of the nation’s electricity in just over a decade.

Renewables are undeniably one of the sexier areas of energy to work in as a scientist. “People come to renewables as they are excited by working in a vibrant new industry,” says Tony Fegan, renewables and projects director at Scottish Power.

Perhaps the fastest-growing area over the past decade has been wind power. According to the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA), the UK ranks eighth globally in terms of the number of wind farms, and the government shows no signs of pulling its support. In December 2006, it granted permission for the construction of the world’s largest farm, the 1000-megawatt London Array, to be built off the Kent coast. Though wind turbine technology is relatively mature, this area still needs scientists to look at ways of making units more efficient, particularly at low wind speeds.

żěè¶ĚĘÓƵs and engineers should also consider a career in marine energy. “The wave and tidal industries will be growing over the next five years, just like the wind industry has grown,” says Fegan. Scottish Power recently announced a ÂŁ10 million wave generation project off the Orkney Islands, where five “Pelamis” wave energy converters will float on the surface like giant sea snakes, buffeted by the waves. This motion pumps oil through a hydraulic electricity generator.

Although most of the career opportunities in marine energy are for engineers, Fegan says environmental scientists and ecologists are essential during the planning stages to address any public concerns over the environmental impact of construction. At the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, Middlesex, scientists are investigating the best ways to measure the noise generated by the construction of marine turbines, to minimise the impact on sea life. “We have a very broad spectrum of science staff,” says Martyn Sené, director of the quality of life division at NPL. “In fact, we take on a lot of materials scientists, engineers and mathematicians.”

The UK government and industry are pouring money into research on renewables. For example, next year the government will open a £1 billion Energy Technologies Institute. As well as government, a clutch of the big players in energy, such as BP and Shell are backing the ETI. Nigel Brandon, executive director of the Energy Futures Lab at Imperial College London, says industry will snap up any academic research on renewables that has commercial potential. “There is a big need for innovation, fresh ideas and new technology,” he says. He believes that engineers in particular have the potential to bridge the divide between university and the commercial world.

Despite the government and industry push for renewable power, this alone is unlikely to meet targets for cutting CO₂ emissions, so in last month’s white paper, politicians also gave a tentative green light to a new generation of nuclear reactors. In the past, the high cost of nuclear power proved a barrier, stalling any growth and making the industry unattractive to new entrants. Now, higher electricity prices have helped make it more competitive, and the good news for scientists is that the sector’s spell in the doldrums has created a skills gap today, meaning that bright job applicants could be fast-tracked to senior positions. Staffing the UK nuclear sector will require up to 2000 graduates a year, according to the country’s Northwest Regional Development Agency. These scientists will be needed to manage existing nuclear plants, to oversee the decommissioning process and help process nuclear waste. As well as physicists, engineers and environmental scientists, chemists will have a role to play, for example modelling the behaviour of waste in storage.

“The sector’s spell in the doldrums has created a skills gap today”

“I find working in the nuclear industry really exciting. It is constantly changing and offering new challenges driven by market changes, government and technology,” says Sarah Johnson of power company British Energy. “If you are environmentally minded then the industry will definitely appeal.”

However, if the renewables and nuclear sectors are burgeoning, where will that leave scientists working in coal and gas power? Fossil fuel energy is unlikely to fade away soon – coal still provides a third of the UK’s electricity, and the industry wants scientists who can develop technologies to remove the impurities from coal so it burns more cleanly. “It is interesting work, because it’s about how you face the challenge of the need for energy as well as a clean environment,” says Mike Farley, director of technology policy liaison at power plant operator Doosan Babcock. He thinks a background in physical science or engineering is your best bet for a career in fossil fuels, but there are plenty of opportunities for others. For example, mathematicians are required to model furnace performance, while the chemical engineering of plants obviously requires chemists.

żěè¶ĚĘÓƵs who can help improve carbon capture and underground storage of CO₂ are also in demand. According to Jeff Hardy of the Royal Society of Chemistry, carbon capture will require materials chemists to develop selective membranes that can filter CO₂ from flue gases, while geochemists will be vital for ensuring CO₂ is stored securely in rock layers underground. “This is certainly a good time to be a chemist with an interest in energy,” he says. “There will be opportunities across the whole sector, from nuclear to carbon capture and renewable power generation.”

No matter what your discipline or personal preference, there will be a role for everyone in this cleaner, greener world.

This scene from TV comedy The IT Crowd, depicting one of the characters wearily answering a computer-illiterate caller, captures just how crucial the IT specialist is in today’s working world. Without the people who know that Java is more than just a type of coffee, everything else would fall apart.

Yet that’s where the parallels end. In real life, computer-savvy professionals don’t stew in dingy basements. Instead, many work in glass offices on the top floors of the country’s most exciting companies. żěè¶ĚĘÓƵ spoke to a selection of them to find out what it feels like to have chosen the smarter career path.

Perhaps one of the most coveted jobs in IT is a role at Google. David Singleton, a software engineer at the company, says it is a pretty special place to work. Industry experts give regular tech talks – a bit like the popular ones given in the auditorium of Apple stores – to keep all staff up to date with the latest trends. What’s more, should staff feel the need for a little relaxation to stimulate their minds, there are huge beanbags for them to lie back in. And there really is such a thing as a free lunch here: many employees are given a complimentary bite to eat in the canteen every day.

Singleton first encountered Google’s offbeat culture on the day of his job interview. He had followed the company’s fortunes since its early days, so after graduating from the University of Cambridge with a degree in computer science he jumped at the chance to apply when he spotted an opening. At the interview, rather than facing a board of executives who would ask the usual humdrum questions about his leadership skills and what he thought his weaknesses were, Singleton spent a day with his potential colleagues talking through tricky coding problems. “It was completely hands-on, solving real problems, and actually really good fun,” he says.

Fast-forward to the present, and a typical day for Singleton is a combination of programming and discussing how a technology will end up working for ordinary people. For example, he is trying to make Google’s search engine easily available on mobile phones, so owners can do things like find a taxi firm in a strange city. “I sit down to program and have the freedom to be as creative as I like,” he says. “That’s what keeps me coming to work in the morning.”

Singleton says that one of the best things about working for Google is that bosses tend to recognise a good idea no matter who it comes from; seniority does not come into it. Employees are given what is called “20 per cent time” to work on their own ideas. Gmail and Google News both started out in this way. There are even whiteboards throughout the building, so colleagues can bounce ideas off each other wherever they are – even in the canteen. “Google has a very flat structure. That means that rather than having directions forced down from the top, really good ideas percolate from anyone upwards,” he says. “The team tends to work together to come up with a solution to any problem rather than splitting the task depending on rank.”

Going it alone

Some people prefer to avoid the bureaucracy of a big company altogether no matter how offbeat the working environment. If you are one of them, the answer may be to break out and set up on your own. Five years ago, Dan Haagman did just that by setting up computer security company 7Safe, after leaving his position as a computer security expert at the London Stock Exchange.

Haagman’s firm specialises in two areas. The first, ethical hacking, is about helping companies expose security flaws by breaking into their data. “We don’t take on ex-hackers,” he says. “It’s all very ethical so we can’t have anyone with a dodgy past.” The second, digital forensics, can involve working with the police to recover evidence from hard drives and mobile phones. For example, last November 7Safe provided expert advice and evidence that helped convict a man who had hacked into young girls’ PCs and secretly recorded them using their own webcams. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Specialists like Haagman often find themselves knocking down doors with law enforcement officers. “If a computer is seized in a raid, the police used to confiscate it,” Haagman explains. “Now, we have to go in and look at the data before they pull the plug. All computers and mobile devices leave a digital footprint and this must be analysed.”

Knowledge of how to harvest hidden virtual information is evolving, so you need to have your finger on the pulse, he says. “It’s all moving very fast, and it offers a really exciting career as long as you are driven and willing to be constantly learning.”

The same goes for most jobs in such a fast-moving sector. The good news is that there has never been so much choice about where to work, so no matter what your passions are, there is probably a niche for you. “Every business in the UK has some level of IT requirement,” says Stephen Wilkinson of recruitment agency The Ashdown Group. Obvious it might be, but consider that this means there are now opportunities for IT specialists everywhere from campaigning charities to TV broadcasters.

Karen Flanagan took advantage of broadcast giant BSkyB’s increasing demand for IT talent. The media has had to adapt to our increasing hunger for information on demand, whether it is on a news web page or a podcast. Websites are becoming richer in audio-visual content and more tailored to our particular interests. Smart IT specialists play an important role in ensuring all of this is available, and must continually adapt as each wave of new technology arrives.

Flanagan’s job is to manage projects with a technology bent. For example, she helped launch Sky’s high-definition television programmes (HDTV), which meant making sure that the digital broadcasts and set-top boxes worked properly at the unveiling. “Everything the company wants to do has a technology and IT component to it,” she says.

Not all career paths in IT have the glamour of TV companies, police forensics or the world’s most popular search engine, but it is undeniable that the high salaries and other perks can more than make up for it, says Shelly Barta of recruitment agency Elan Computing. For every position crunching customer data in the back room of a bank, there is at least one other career path with far better prospects. For instance, Barta recently found someone a job with insurance giant AIG, the company that sponsors Manchester United. Insurance might not float everyone’s boat, but there was a sweetener. “The best thing about this is the location – it’s in Bermuda,” she says.

“The best thing about this job is the location – it’s in Bermuda”

So will the next series of The IT Crowd feature a tanned cast in tropical shorts, tapping into their laptops from under the shade of a palm tree? It’d never work.

It’s probably fair to say that an industrial unit tucked away behind a municipal car park in the concrete new town of Crawley, West Sussex, is about the last place you’d look. Especially when the company is valued at £128 million and has been described as “world-leading” by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Yet nestling in the corner, next to 15 identical units, sits Ceres Power – AIM-listed start-up, Imperial College London spin-out and, according to City analysts, home to what may soon become a billion-pound business.

I’m here to see the man behind this outwardly unassuming company – Nigel Brandon, chief scientist at Ceres and a professor at Imperial College. His claim to fame is the design of a technology known as a combined heat and power fuel-cell stack – rather like a tiny power station that produces both heat and electricity (see diagram).

Comprised of many fuel cells layered on top of one another, this device combines fuel and air to create electricity and heat via a quiet and clean electrochemical process similar to that of a battery. Brandon’s company plans to include the technology in a new generation of boilers that, owing to their low production costs, should be little more expensive than a conventional system.

Compared with many older boilers, it uses less gas to produce the same amount of heat, and electricity is produced as a by-product, making it effectively free. As with all solid-oxide fuel cells, each cell is composed of an anode and a cathode separated by an impermeable ceramic electrolyte layer. The ceramic layer conducts negatively charged oxygen ions from the cathode to the anode, where they combine with hydrogen and produce electrons, creating electrical current. The reaction also produces heat and water. Unlike similar fuel cells, however, Ceres’s cell is made from stainless steel and ceramics, rather than precious metals, so it is cheap to produce, and robust.

The cell can run on existing fuels such as natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas as well as biofuels and hydrogen. “It’s purely a cost issue that it is cheaper to run on natural gas at the moment. It will reduce your carbon emissions and save you money,” Brandon says. The stack could also replace diesel electricity generators and be used to power freezer units in commercial vehicles.

So will every home one day have a fuel cell? “We’d like to think so,” he says. “Every home is probably too strong, but the great majority of them could.” Ceres is also in the enviable position of having no direct competitors. “We have a very robust patent in place. In fact, we have a portfolio of them,” he adds quickly.

As the generic exterior of the company’s unit masks the nature of the business inside, so Brandon’s calm, measured manner disguises an inner drive evinced by his progress to the top of his field.

Originally from Sutton Coldfield, Brandon studied minerals engineering at Imperial, followed by a doctorate in electrochemical engineering. His interest in renewable energy was sparked later, during an eight-year stint at BP’s Sunbury research centre where he dabbled in fuel-cell technology – an area in which BP had only a minor interest at the time.

In 1992, he joined the Rolls-Royce Strategic Research Centre in Derby, realising that fuel cells were where his future lay. He formed a team to look at the development of solid-oxide fuel cells, specifically in gas turbines, to produce electricity. “We had the job of looking at how fuel cells could impact on Rolls-Royce’s business – it taught me a huge amount about real engineering,” he says.

In the six years that followed he immersed himself in the technology, with great success. By the time he was tempted to Imperial College as a senior lecturer in 1998, he had left Rolls-Royce with a substantial legacy. Not only had he and his colleagues designed a different way of generating power, but he had three patents to his name and research was thriving. Rolls-Royce’s fuel-cell research group is now one of the largest in Europe. “When I started there were only two of us,” he says.

At Imperial he again helped to build a thriving fuel-cell research unit from scratch. “I joined to set up the fuel-cell engineering group,” he says. “At that point there was no one.” Now there are 12 in the fuel-cell group, with about 60 further staff.

Big break

It was at this point that Brandon made the breakthrough that was to shape his whole career. One problem with fuel cells at the time was that they could only produce energy in the megawatt range at temperatures above 900 °C. Together with his colleagues, John Kilner, Alun Atkinson and Brian Steele, he identified the need for smaller cells in the kilowatt range that could work at lower temperatures, preferably below 600 °C. “In the late 1990s, this was considered a ridiculously low temperature,” he says. “Everyone else was trying to drop the temperature to perhaps 750 °C at the lowest.”

Using Imperial’s wealth of materials research, Brandon and his colleagues built a few of these small devices and filed a patent. “It was the catalyst for the technology that went into Ceres Power,” he says. In 2001, the company was founded to take the technology to market – something he found both exciting and nerve-wracking. “There’s a level of professional credibility and putting your reputation on the line,” he says. “That’s what people are backing.”

The company started out with Brandon as CEO, helping to raise £4 million of City investment. He split his time between Imperial and the fledgling business, unwilling to lose touch with academic life. In 2003, a full-time CEO was recruited and he became chief technical officer, then later chief scientist, a move that has brought him back to the research and development role he relishes. It seems this was something of a relief. “Being CEO was like doing an MBA for real,” he says. “This wasn’t where I wanted my career to be, even though I enjoyed doing it.” Since then, he has continued with this dual-track existence, as both the business and his academic career have grown in stature. He holds a range of prominent positions in academia, from the running of major research programmes to senior fellowships (see “CV”).

You would expect Brandon to struggle with holding down two careers. “I feel quite comfortable with both,” he says. Finding enough time can be difficult, though, he concedes. “I leave home at 6.15 in the morning and get back at 7 pm. I enjoy being busy – I always have.”

What is the secret of his success? “The key is being able to take a real problem and break it down into a series of questions answered by research,” he says. “That’s what engineering is about – applying science to a real problem.”

So, when will the company satisfy investors who have been clamouring to see a working prototype of the fuel-cell stack? Brandon pauses. He is well aware that one misplaced word could have all sorts of effects on Ceres’s share price. “Future-facing statements… this is where we have to be careful,” he says. “People over-analyse what you say. We’re in the product development phase and are testing engineering demonstrators of the fuel-cell products. I’m not going to give a date as it’s a hostage to fortune.”

I wonder whether the pressure of so much expectation ever gets to him. He smiles, and his response is pragmatic. “I believe we have the best chance of anyone in the world in delivering what we have, so we’ve just got to do it,” he says. “The challenges are all doable. It isn’t worrying – it’s what gets me out of bed in the morning.”

The new breed of engineer is at the cutting edge of discovery, from nanotechnology to carbon-free energy. Though some engineers may well work on heavy machinery, their role is to devise future technologies, from cars that spare pedestrians’ lives in an accident to trains powered by hydrogen.

żěè¶ĚĘÓƵ chose four examples of this new breed to demonstrate the best an engineering career can offer.

Tim Lucas

Senior mechanical engineer at the Adidas Innovation Team

AS GERMANY and Costa Rica lined up in the opening game of the 2006 World Cup, one group of engineers was watching with nervous anticipation. After more than five years of engineering research and development, their creation was about to be put to the test. Not a new stadium, TV camera or even the medics’ stretcher – it was the ball.

Ask the average person in the street what mechanical engineers do, and you’re likely to get a picture of a man with a spanner and dirt under his fingernails. For Tim Lucas, mechanical engineering has taken him about as far away from greasy overalls as it is possible to get. He inhabits a world where millions of people watch their sporting heroes compete using his handiwork.

Based just outside Nuremberg in Germany, Lucas has worked on projects ranging from ball design to sports clothing and high-performance footwear. While sports equipment may often seem to be more about flashy marketing than science, sports engineering is serious stuff. For instance, the right equipment can prevent career-threatening injuries.

The research behind the World Cup ball was designed to improving the quality of the game – to produce a ball that behaves consistently wherever it is struck. This involved testing various materials and designs using computer simulations and a wind tunnel, modelling the ball’s behaviour when kicked at up to 160 kilometres an hour. Soon after the 2006 tournament drew to a close, Lucas was hard at work on designs for a ball that meets the tournament requirements for South Africa’s 2010 World Cup, and has just finished another for the European Championship in 2008.

Originally trained in food technology, Lucas moved to sports engineering for his doctorate, studying computer models of the golf stroke. He then joined Adidas as the only engineer in the company’s research wing, introducing advanced computer-based modelling to the group.

During his seven years at the company, Lucas has also made breakthroughs in sports footwear, helping to design shoes such as the “ForMotion”. This shoe is designed to improve the body’s natural movement, and adjusts with motion to let each footfall adapt to its landing surface. Rather than absorbing shock on the vertical axis – up and down – a pair of sliding plates in the midsole also absorbs shock and controls motion backward, forward and side-to-side, reducing stress on the knee and lower leg. “It contains a spherical bearing, which I first saw used in the earthquake protection system of a US building,” he says.

Lucas has built up a team of nine engineers in the company’s 60-strong Innovation Team, and is currently seeking two PhD students for a project to develop a computer model for prototype footwear.

It will come as no surprise that jobs like Lucas’s are highly sought-after. “We do get a lot of letters,” he admits.

Matthew Leach

Deputy director of Imperial College London’s Centre for Energy Policy and Technology

TURNING to renewable energy will be a lot more complex than simply building more wind farms and flicking the switch. One problem, for example, is that if there’s a shortage of wind, the grid will have to be able to quickly swap to another source.

Matthew Leach of Imperial College London is one part of a UK research group working to solve niggles like this. The Sustainable Power Generation and Supply, or Supergen, consortium is a ÂŁ40 million programme set up to address the technical and social barriers to low-carbon energy in the UK.

“We are looking at what needs to be done to the electricity network to make it low-carbon,” says Leach. “The electricity network of the future also needs to be flexible. We need to encourage using renewables while making sure people get the standard of service they expect.”

Leach has also worked on a project with BP called Urban Energy Systems, examining how energy, people and materials flow through a city in order to improve the efficiency of both existing and new urban developments. It also looked at ways to recycle water and cut down energy wastage within cities, such as heating homes with the warmth from waste water.

Leach’s interest in sustainable technologies began during a trip to Africa during his degree course, where he took part in a project to design low-cost, low-energy cooking appliances for the urban poor in Zimbabwe and later Zambia. “It was great to use my engineering design knowledge to make something for people with a totally different experience to us,” he explains. “It was the green angle that particularly appealed.”

His work won him a prize from what is now the UK Association of Professional Engineers. This success motivated him to continue an academic career, completing a master’s degree in environmental research at Imperial, followed by a doctorate in energy policy.

“My postgraduate work broadened my view from engineering to take in economics, law and the social and behavioural aspects of the energy market,” he says. “I find people with an engineering background are good at integrating broader knowledge with their scientific core. To solve its problems, the world needs people with a broad view.”

“We need people with a broad view to solve the world’s problems”

Sixteen years on, Leach is running the energy policy course himself. Many of his students have gone on to staff the newly created renewable-energy arms of multinationals or set up their own firms. Two are involved in the company behind Solio, a solar powered charger for iPods and mobile phones.

Engineers are much needed to develop greener technologies, he says. “The energy sector has a fantastic skills shortage at all levels, both now and looming over it for the next 10 years,” he says. “Not only are there some good career opportunities, but there’s a lot of money going into the research side, too. With the pressures of climate change and the energy gap, in the last few years funding from the research councils has probably doubled.”

Stuart Moran

Technical director, Surgical Innovations Group

LIKE many successful entrepreneurs, Stuart Moran started out with nothing but a great idea. Around 16 years ago, Moran’s father, a retired designer of surgical instruments, was busy spending his spare time inventing a new surgical device for use in keyhole surgery, a field then in its infancy. Like beads on a thread, the instrument was designed to be flexible while its internal cable was slack, allowing it to be fed into the body through a small opening. Once inside, tensioning the cable would stiffen the device, forming a predetermined shape for manipulating organs or tissue.

Armed with a prototype, he turned to his son for help. “My degree in mechanical engineering had been design heavy, so I knew all about the materials side,” says Moran junior. He also had a fair amount of business know-how. “At the time I was studying for an MBA while working, but the surgical device bug took over.”

Soon, the device – known as Endoflex – was ready for production. Securing a big order from the US, Moran left his job at BP to set up a company called Surgical Innovations. Since then he has developed products that combine disposable and non-disposable elements, such as coagulator scissors – shears that seal blood vessels as they cut through tissue – with a reusable handle and single-use blades. “Designing equipment with a reusable part keeps the cost down,” explains Moran. “That’s ideal for an organisation like the NHS.” The SI Group is now the European Union’s biggest manufacturer of single-use scissors.

Moran has also designed products to allow patients to store their own blood for transfusion during procedures, to avoid the risk of infection using donor blood.

In 2004 Moran won a prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering silver medal for his work, while in 2005 his company increased its profits by two-thirds, with a turnover of more than ÂŁ4 million.

He is now looking to transfer SI Group technology into other markets. Rolls-Royce is already using Endoflex to examine the inside of jet engines without removing them from the wing. There’s a raft of opportunities for engineers in the medical device and pharmaceutical sectors, says Moran, developing everything from implants that can deliver drugs to a specific part of the body, to home kits for measuring fertility. “Engineering covers so many disciplines – that’s the exciting thing about it,” he says.

“Engineering covers so many disciplines – that’s the exciting thing about it”

Lynne Moore

Senior lecturer in civil engineering at Cardiff University

IF THERE is such a thing as a Renaissance engineer, then Lynne Moore would be it. “When I said I was thinking of going into engineering, I remember being told by a friend of the family that it was one of the most diverse careers you can have,” she says. With experience spanning academia, the media and a business start-up, she has certainly proved this to be true.

Moore has spent her career applying artificial intelligence to engineering, predominantly in the field of building design, and has published more than 50 papers and a book on the subject. Working with psychologists, she has looked at how engineers tackle design problems. For example, she says that when designing a building, engineers need to take into account how it will be used by its first tenants, and how it may be used by someone completely different in the future.

Take the 2012 Olympics buildings, for instance. The designers will have to meet the demands of the various sporting activities, but also ensure the buildings don’t end up as white elephants once the games end. Designers have no crystal ball to consult, so they usually turn to past experience to inform their decisions.

Moore and her colleagues took this approach to the next step and created a computer program that uses artificial intelligence to seek out information from thousands of sources, including building plans, journals or reports about the decisions made during previous building designs. The artificial intelligence does the searching for the most relevant information, rather than simply reporting back on basic keywords. “This will allow [designers] to be able to make better choices about designs, by making the data required easier to access,” says Moore.

Following a degree in civil and construction engineering at Cardiff University, Moore moved into industry before pursuing a doctorate on artificial intelligence in civil engineering. It was an exciting area to be in at this time. “In the early 90s, artificial intelligence was very new,” she says.

Later, while working at a science festival she was introduced to a TV producer and selected to front HTV’s What on Earth?, a science and engineering programme aimed at teenagers. Her promotion of science on TV and later radio has been recognised by a media fellowship award from the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

She has also tried her hand in business. Her IT company, Learning Industries, develops online educational materials and was listed as one of Wales’s “Hot 100” start-ups for 2006. Clients have included various councils and NHS trusts, as well as the Australian National Prescribing Service.

As with the other engineers żěè¶ĚĘÓƵ spoke to, Moore’s wide variety of experience demonstrates how diverse a career in engineering can be. From reducing humanity’s carbon footprint to improving its health or entertaining and informing the masses, engineering has a new face.