Our People
At the core of ABGI is a large team of highly professional post-graduate qualified scientists and engineers across all sectors, who undergo comprehensive and ongoing training on relevant legislation, regulation and tax guidance.
All ABGI colleagues are focussed on delivering great outcomes for our clients.
The expertise and experience our team have is second to none, making us best equipped to find the right innovation funding and incentive solutions for your business.
You’ll find just a few members of that team below:
About John
John has over 10 year’s experience in the chemical and drug development industries working for a leading CRO and the world’s largest laboratory equipment manufacturer.
He was involved in the development of over 50 analytical methods for the extraction and analysis of new chemical entities in pre-clinical and clinical studies. John works with clients in Oil & Gas, Chemical industries, CRO, manufacturing and engineering.
Qualifications
- BSC (Hons) Chemistry with Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Relevant Specialist Industry Experience
- Charles River Laboratories
- Aptuit
- Termo Fisher Scientific
Specialisms and Expertise
- Liquid Chromatography
- Gas Chromatography
- Tandem Mass Spectrometry
- Time Of Flight Mass Spectrometry
- Analytical Method Development
- Solid Phase Extraction
- Toxicology
- Drug Development
- Formulation Development
- Chemical Pharmacology
- Synthetic Organic Chemistry
- Bioanalysis
- GLP
- GCP
- GMP
About Graham
To add to his BEng, Graham has over 17 years industry experience, primarily focused on mechanical engineering relating to water and wastewater treatment plant design and installation, rotational equipment maintenance and repair, as well as project engineering within manufacturing companies and design consultancies.
Graham works with clients in general engineering, materials science, precision engineering and water and wastewater engineering.
Qualifications
- Postgraduate Diploma Engineering Design
- BEng (Hons) Energy Engineering
Relevant Specialist Industry Experience
- Ross-shire Engineering Ltd
- Clyde Union Pumps Ltd
- Advanced Technical Solutions Ltd
- Grontmij Ltd
- Black and Veatch Water (Europe) Ltd
- Gleeson Ltd
- Weir (Liquid Gas Equipment) Ltd
- VA Tech Wabag (UK) Ltd
- Bechtel Water Technology
Specialisms and Expertise
- Design Methods
- Design Tools
- Design Analysis
- Applied Design
- Product Design
- CAE Technology
- Mechanical Engineering
- Control Engineering
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Process and Environmental Engineering
- Heat and Mass Transfer Energy Strategy
About Douglas
Douglas has spent his entire career working in tax since graduating in 2000 and has spent the last 15 years specialising in R&D tax and Government innovation reliefs.
At ABGI-UK, Douglas leads the operations team across the UK and using his extensive industry experience, assists businesses to optimise the benefit of their innovation expenditure while mitigating risk of HMRC enquiry through having a robust claims process.
Qualifications
- BSc Computing and Mathematical Sciences
- Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT)
Relevant Specialist Industry Experience
- R&D Manager at PWC
- R&D Manager at Deloitte
- R&D Associate Director at Grant Thornton
Specialisms and Expertise
- UK taxation, UK and Australian R&D tax experience
- HMRC claim defence assistance
- Extensive interaction with HMRC and ATT on R&D tax policy
- Given the significant R&D changes proposed by the government, Douglas works closely with industry bodies to ensure ABGI remain at the forefront of the industry and adapts to ensure clients can plan and budget for any changes
About Mark
Mark has 30 years’ experience in software development in banking and insurance, oil and gas, and the public sector.
He has spent a decade working on high-performance scientific programs running on supercomputers for the oil industry. Mark works with clients in scientific and engineering software, mobile application development and big data.
Qualifications
- BSc Computing and Mathematical Sciences
- MSc High Performance Computing
- BA (Hons) Economics
Relevant Specialist Industry Experience
- Petroleum Geo-services Ltd
- Office of The PM, Malta
- OHM Surveys Ltd
- JP Morgan
- Lloyd’s Of London
Specialisms and Expertise
- Performance Optimisation for Speed and Memory Efficiency
- Serial and Parallel Computation On Shared and Distributed Memory Systems
- Cluster Computing
- Supercomputing
- Software and Hardware Co-design
- Computational Electromagnetics for Geophysics
- Software Architecture and Design
- System Validation and Verification
- Database Analysis, Design And Development
- Data Modelling
- Geographic Information Systems
- Software Engineering
- High Performance Computing
- Imperative Programming
- Functional Programming
- Software Optimisation
- Scientific Simulation
- Inverse Problems
- Visualisation
- Big Data
About Adrian
As a software engineer with a background in electronic, electrical engineering and controls, Adrian brings over 30 years’ experience of working in manufacturing, academia and global IT industries to the ABGI team.
Adrian works with clients in software and app development, 3rd party integration, IT infrastructure, SEO and cloud technology.
Qualifications
- BSc (Hons) Electronic And Electrical Engineering
- DIS Diploma In Industrial Studies
- CEng Chartered Engineer
- CITP Chartered Information Technology Professional
- PRINCE2 Project Management
- AMCMI Cmi Management Certificate
Academic Positions Held
- RA Loughborough University Of Technology
- Senior Lecturer In Computing Coventry University
- Senior Lecturer In Computing University Of Paisley
- Leader Human Centred Computing Group
- Leader Information Systems Research Group
Specialisms and Expertise
- Computer modelling
- Analogue electronic design
- Microprocessor programming
- Electrical control wiring design and installation
- Industrial control systems and algorithms
- Robot control, programming and production integration
- Genetic algorithms research
- Neural networks, AI research
- Human computer interaction research
- Information systems research
- Organisation research
- Software engineering
- Operating systems
- Real time systems
- Computer graphics (ray tracing)
- Human computer interaction
- Enterprise c++ development and technology stack
- Enterprise java® technology stack
- Enterprise microsoft®. Net stack
- Technology development integration and positioning
- IT and Network infrastructure and hosting
- Document management systems
- Mobile device and applications
- Interactive voice recognition and speech technology
- Service oriented architectures, design, specification, development, IBM, Oracle enterprise systems, TIBECO enterprise product set
About Alistair
Alistair completed his PhD at the University of St Andrews and spent a further two years working as a Postdoctoral researcher within the University’s chemistry department.
He works with clients in engineering, manufacturing, chemical industries and medical technologies, renewables and recyclables.
Qualifications
- BSc (Hons) Mathematics and Chemistry
- PhD Chemistry
Academic Positions Held
- Postdoctoral Researcher University of St.Andrews (2 Years)
Specialisms and Expertise
- Chemistry
- Life Sciences
- Chemical Engineering
- Powder X-Ray Diffraction
- Scanning Electron Microscopy
- Tunneling Electron Microscopy
- Atomic Adsorption
- IR Spectroscopy
- Gas
- Adsorption
- Microwave Synthesis
- UV SpectroscopyAutoclave (Hydrothermal) Synthesis
- Other Material Characterisation Methods
- Surface Area and Porosity Measurements
- Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA)
- Elemental Analysis
- Oil Exploration and Identification
- NMR Spectroscopy
- Oil and Gas Terminology and Related Applications
- DMV
- ATEX Guidelines
- CNC Machining Teminology
- Aerospace Engineering
- Engineering Technology and Related Procedures CAD, FEA Plastic Injection
- Molding and Associated Industry
- 3D Printing
- Updated Methodologies for Manufacturing Routes (Breweries, Plastics, Engineering) Electronics Integration
About Jonathan
Jonathan has an MEng in chemical engineering at Newcastle University and has experience working at a leading clinical diagnostics company.
Following completion of his degree, Jonathan leveraged his experience to help company’s across a wide range of sectors optimise their R&D tax claims at Moore Stephens LLP and BDO LLP. As an experienced innovation funding consultant, he specialises in the manufacturing, life sciences and energy industries.
Qualifications
- MEng (Hons, 1st class) Chemical Engineering.
Relevant specialist industry experience:
- Randox Laboratories Limited.
Specialisms and Expertise:
- Reactor Engineering
- Process Design and Modelling
- Control Engineering
- Process Intensification
- Unit Operations
- Downstream Processing
- In Vitro Diagnostics
- Food Technology
- Sustainable Engineering
About Glenn
After completing first, a degree in Applied Physics, and then a PhD in Engineering Physics, Glenn spent most of the last 20+ years working for high-tech companies, gaining experience over the complete product life cycle of an eclectic mix of technologies such as software development (both embedded software and app development) electronic design, mechanical design, or even building and managing an EMC test laboratory.
Glenn also has experience in the generation and management of IP in various forms and has supported a number of wealth generation activities such as VC funding and grants.
Qualifications
- Bsc (Hons, first class) Applied Physics
- PhD Engineering Physics
Relevant Specialist Industry Experience
- Myrica (UK) Ltd
- Infinite Data Storage Ltd
- NXvision Ltd
- Motive Television plc
- Forth EMC Services Ltd
Specialisms and Expertise
- Product Design
- Process Design
- Electronic and electrical engineering
- Software Architecture and Design
- Embedded software design
- App design
- EMC
- Video compression technologies
- Video streaming technologies
About Tony
35 years experience in electronic and software product and service design, covering military and aerospace weapon system design, including data storage designs including hard-disk and optical drives.
Tony also worked on consumer electronic product design including multi-media products audio and video, Television Broadcast software video on demand, Mobile application design including video on demand, live television, augmented reality and social media.
Qualifications
- Bsc Electronics and Mathematics
Relevant Specialist Industry Experience
- Mobect Ltd
- Eyetime Systems Ltd
- Liquid Inc
- TU LLP
- Crossroads (Dunfermline)
- NXVisions Ltd
- IDS Ltd
- Infinite Data Storage Ltd
- Myrica (UK) Ltd
Specialisms and Expertise
- Precision Mechanism Design
- Servo Control
- Electronic Circuit Design
- Television Broadcast System
- Video Compression and Streaming
- Software Platform Design
- Cloud Software
- Mobile App Development
- Agile
- DevOps
About Elizabeth
Elizabeth has 10 years experience utilising her mathematical ability and excel knowledge.
Supporting the Innovation Funding Consultants, Elizabeth works across all industry sectors to collate the cost capture spreadsheets, interpret data, analyse financial information. and reports on the company statistics. To support with this process she keeps up to date with industry knowledge such as attending conferences like Women in Tech and relevant courses to further her knowledge and education, as well as keeping up to date with HMRC's CIRD manual
Qualifications
- BSC Mathematics and its applications
- Business Analytics and Reporting i3BAR
- Visual Analytics and Dashboard Design i2VSA
Relevant Specialist Industry Experience
- Administrator at the Institute of Chartered Foresters
- Administrator at Edinburgh Council
- Finance Assistant at a Pharmaceutical company
- Records Manager at a Pharmaceutical company
Specialisms and Expertise
- Improve efficiency of the process for clients
- Data Interpretation
- Advance excel user
- Business reporting
About Sean
Sean is a French engineer with a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering. He was a project manager in a company specialised in plant-base water treatment.
Sean has been working in R&D Tax Credit consultancy for 3 years and works with clients in many different fields.
Qualifications
- Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering
Specialisms and Expertise
- Environmental Engineering
- Water Treatment
- Waste Management
- Renewable Energies
- Process Modelling
- Chemistry
- Microbiology
- Fluid Mechanics
- Energy and Environment Process Engineering
About Nigel
With over 25-years’ experience in high-tech precision engineering and manufacturing working with global blue tech companies like Rolls-Royce and Lockheed Martin, Nigel understands the day-to-day issues that your business can be exposed to, from the shop floor to the boardroom.
Nigel has a history of working in consultative roles to enable clients following a path of innovation and product development to unlock their financial potential available through R&D Tax Credits and other innovation reliefs, and reach the next level of their journey. He has been recruited to embed Best Practice R&D Claim management into existing processes.
Relevant Specialist Industry Experience
- JP Morgan Trade Consulting
- Rolls-Royce Power Engineering
Experience
- Senior Analyst
- Senior R&D Analyst
- Trade Compliance Consultant
About Diarmuid
Diarmuid has a master’s in information systems management from the National University of Ireland Galway. Diarmuid gained industry experience working as a Systems Administrator for a mechanical and electrical engineering firm in Ireland.
Following this, he worked as a senior R&D tax consultant with EY for several years assisting companies with their R&D tax credit claim. He has worked with an array of clients in a variety of different sectors.
Qualifications
- MSc Information Systems Management
Relevant Specialist Industry Experience
- Systems administrator for a mechanical and electrical engineering firm
- Senior R&D Tax Consultant with Ernst and Young
Specialisms and Expertise
- System Infrastructure and architecture
- Network Engineering
- Data Analytics
- Cloud Computing
- AI Technologies
- Database Technologies
About Gordon
After completing a five year Electrical and Electronic Engineering Apprenticeship, Gordon spent 15 years working for high-tech companies, gaining experience over the complete product life cycle of a diverse mix of technologies from consumer electronics, light electric vehicle battery management systems and sports tech. Gordon also gained an in-depth knowledge in offshore manufacturing planning and pilot and mass production validation. Gordon spent the last 10 years managing his own business supporting SMEs take their products from concepts to volume production.
Gordon also has experience in various forms of grant funding, the generation and management of IP, and has supported a number of investment activities such as business loans, perk- and equity-based crowdfunding as well as venture capital and angel financing.
Qualifications
- HNC/HND Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Sony qualified Environmental Management Representative
- Practitioner Certified in Quality Management
- Product Development and Product Life Cycle CPD Certified
Relevant Specialist Industry Experience
- Rodime PLC
- Myrica (UK) Ltd
- Infinite Data Storage Ltd
- KeaGo Ltd
- CHEEVC Ltd
- Limits Technology Limited
- AFGO Limited
Specialisms and Expertise
- Product Life Cycle Management
- Feasibility Studies
- Product Development: Hardware design, Mechanical design
- Tooling: 3D Printing, Jigs and fixtures, Milling, grinding, and machining, Dies for cold forming, sheet metal, forging and extrusion, Plastic injection molding
- Product Qualification and Validation: EVT, DVT, PVT
- FMEAs: Design, Process, Manufacturing,
- Product Accreditation: CE / UKCA / WEEE / RoHS, UL / CSA
- Offshore manufacturing planning and implementation
- Pilot and mass production validation
- AI Technologies
- Database Technologies
About Mariana
Mariana has more than 5 years of experience as a lawyer and consultant, mainly focused on R&D tax credits, having worked with clients from various sectors and company sizes. She started her career as a tax litigation lawyer and developed her experience working as a senior tax consultant at EY assisting companies with their R&D tax credit claims in Brazil, including one of the largest clean energy companies in the world.
She is a lawyer registered with the Brazilian Bar Association, has a post-graduate degree in Tax Management and Planning and is currently pursuing an accounting degree.
Qualifications
- Law Degree
- Postgraduate Diploma Tax Management and Planning
Relevant Specialist Industry Experience
- Senior Tax Consultant with Ernst & Young
Specialisms and Expertise
- Process design and improvement
- Manufacturing and Engineering
- Power and Utilities
- Tax Management
- Tax Planning
- Tax Litigation Law
About Owen
Owen is an experienced IT professional with a background in the finance, education and insurance sectors. During his time at Barclays, Owen worked with SME clients in supporting the growth of their business and dealing with the challenges posed by the pandemic.
Qualifications
- BSC Computing, First Class Honours
- PGCE Computer Science Education
- Cisco IT Essentials
Relevant Specialist Industry Experience
- Barclays
- IBM
Specialisms and Expertise
- E-Learning
- Mobile App Development
- Cryptocurrency
- Artificial Intelligence
- IT Hardware
About Taylor
Taylor has worked in R&D-focused roles as a Research and Development writer, where she compiled R&D projects and prepared reports for submission to HMRC for several sectors. Afterwards, Taylor progressed into a Regional Manager role, where she took on higher value (over £5m) and more complex client (RDEC, grants). Taylor monitored, trained and led the growth of a team of 8 members in her Regional Account Manager role.
Qualifications
- BA Hons - Politics
- ILM - Level 5 Leadership and Management
Relevant Specialist Industry Experience
- R&D Account Manager at Access2Funding
- R&D Regional Account Manager at Access2Funding
Specialisms and Expertise
- Construction
- Engineering
- Technical Report Writing
About Jennifer
Jennifer joined ABGI a few years after graduating with a Business Management Honours Degree.
As Client Retention Manager and Innovation Funding Specialist, she works with both clients and accountants partners, helping them identify and secure the right innovation funding solution for their business.
About Chris
Innovation has always been at the heart of Chris’s career. His experience includes business development, operations, education and training. He has worked in financial services in the South East, specialising in renewable energy funding when the sector was still in its early days. Previous to that he served as Senior Operational Manager at Open Interactive, a technology-focused joint venture set up by Sky and its investors to create the set top box functionality that most of us now use on a daily basis. He has also taught Systems Thinking within the Bachelor of Commerce programme at the Australian RMIT University in Vietnam, and was a researcher to aid the introduction of a new bespoke green building standard, Lotus, into Vietnam.
Chris has worked for both rapidly growing start-ups and large multinationals, and understands the challenges that each can face. He is keen to apply this blend of finance expertise and experience with innovation-focused sectors to help his clients benefit from R&D tax relief and Patent Box.
His interests include trying to learn Japanese (and remembering it the next day!), following Ipswich Town (which can be challenging), and motorcycling (in nice weather only!).
About Scott
Scott began his sales career in the leisure sector after graduating in sports therapy from a technical college.
He went on to work in commercial roles for 17 years, gaining experience in business development and account management within the property and financial sectors.
In the last 5 years, Scott has worked within the grant funding arena, providing advice, and building business relationships with companies of all sizes - from start-ups to multinationals, AIM listed and FTSE 100 clients with project sizes in excess of million pounds upwards - helping them navigate the funding process for their innovation projects, develop a grant strategy, and facilitate a successful grant application.
In his spare time Scott enjoys outdoor pursuits with his family such as camping, kayaking and mountain biking - but being only a stone through away from the river, kayaking is a firm favourite with the children!
About James
A 2010 graduate of Swansea University with a joint degree in Law and Economics, James completed the University of Birmingham's Legal Practice Course, which specialized in insurance law, intellectual property law, and employment law.
James has worked in financial services for nearly a decade, initially helping clients with their insurance requirements. He later specialized in Business Development, providing consumer credit solutions for dentists and their staff, ultimately helping grow the practices.
As Innovation Funding Specialist at ABGI, James helps clients and accounting partners identify eligible R&D to set them on the path to obtaining the most appropriate innovation funding solution for their company.
In his spare time, whenever he is not renovating his house, James can be found fishing on a boat or by the waterside. However, since the arrival of his first-born son in December, his "spare time" has become increasingly limited, and he has been spending most of his time with his family.
About David
A Bids/Proposal & Grants Manager with 25 years’ experience of successfully writing complexed proposals/bids and grants with extensive experience of supplying consultancy services.
Holding a BSc. (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering, experienced in working in highly regulated environments, having a self-invented patent, with significant expertise in bids/proposals and grant writing on an employed and freelance consultancy basis.
This employed / freelance crossover has made David astute in fostering relationships with key players in organisations.
At InnotecUK and TWI won over £8 million in grants (2018-2020) from Innovate UK, EPSRC, BBSRC, Regional grants, Clean Sky, Horizon2020, Elemental, Hanger51 and Lloyds Register Foundation working in advanced aerospace and automotive systems & low carbon manufacturing techniques using Artificial Intelligence (AI), additive manufacturing and immersive technology to reduce air pollution and plastic waste providing robust business cases, to win funding, targeting and working with partners (including universities and industry) to bring new innovative concepts to market, a small set of examples include:
Aerospace:
Development of innovative low energy welding systems for structural joints of Thermoplastic matrix based Composites.
Development of a methodology to optimize a wing composite panel with respect to reducing fuel consumption.
Automotive:
Digital Twin EV battery reducing plastic content and reducing weight.
Medical:
AI for health imaging
Wind Farm Industry:
Autonomous robot for wind turbine blade repair.
Climate & Farming:
Low energy and energy harvesting for electronics, real- time pig farm monitoring and early diagnostic system for African Swine Fever(ASF).
i-BUD AI based learning system minimises horticulture waste by predicting usage fine-tuned/updated in real time to suit customer’s needs/requirements and predict customers future buying trends.
