After a varied career in research, production and management, Lisa has gone back to her scientific roots for her latest role finding ways to create smarter, more sustainable energy infrastructure solutions.

The UK is recognised as a leader in this field and Lisa heads up 3M's Electronics and Energy technical group and leads its Energy Infrastructure research programme.

She said: "I love the physical sciences as they help us understand the world around us and solve real life challenges. I became interested in corrosion science at university as it's a major worldwide issue estimated to cost around $2.2 trillion per year, so it's no surprise that there is global interest in understanding why materials degrade and how this can be prevented."

Lisa grew up in Heywood, North Manchester, as the youngest of five and was the first in her family to go to university. She said: "I had a lot of encouragement from my mum in particular who would have loved an academic career herself, but this wasn't an option as she left school when she was 14 to help support her parents and six younger siblings.

"As a teenager I quite fancied being a journalist as I loved English and poetry, but I was also interested in science and this won through."

Lisa joined 3M in 1999 as an advanced scientist for Drug Delivery Systems. She said: "After gaining my PhD, I spent three years working as a post-doctoral research associate at University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology where I experimented with state-of-the-art laser processing to find novel ways to protect materials from corrosion in aggressive high temperature environments.

"I then decided it was time to move on from academia and spotted an advert in the New Scientist that I felt was written for me. The company was 3M and the job appealed as it specified a materials science background with a higher degree and experience of corrosion science and engineering – perfect.

"During the early part of my 3M career I was fortunate enough to run three different research projects with Manchester University and now I'm forging renewed relationships with my old university. Combining my knowledge of engineering and materials/corrosion science gives me an ideal base to work on a number of varied and interesting projects and I'm loving my latest challenge and feeling closely connected to our customers."

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