Professor Tariq Butt
Tariq's area of expertise is in the development of biopesticides for control of invertebrate pests of socioeconomic importance, especially pests impacting on food security and human and animal health. He has great experience in developing entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) and semiochemicals (attractants, repellents, antifeedants etc) which are deployed in innovative integrated pest management (IPM) programmes (e.g. "lure & kill", "stress & kill"). He works closely with industry, assisting in the development of new products or strategies that enhance the efficacy of the control agent. He has generated several patents with some IP being licensed to industry. Tariq also works closely with government agencies on matters related to the risk assessment and registration of EPF and other biopesticides. Over the years, he has supervised numerous PhDs and patented various semiochemicals for a variety of insects.
Swansea University, UK, Email: t.butt@swansea.ac.uk
Dr Ian Baxter
Ian is a toxicologist, specialising in biological products at Syngenta. He is also Vice President of the UK’s arm of the IBMA (International Biocontrol Manufacturer’s Association). The IBMA is the voice of the Biocontrol technologies industry and represents all its members to promote them and bring to the market via proportionate regulation these green innovative and effective technologies for sustainable agriculture, allowing the farmers to grow healthy, productive and profitable crops. Asides from his IBMA role (which is voluntary) Ian is also Honorary Visiting Fellow to the Department of Biosciences at Swansea University, where he enjoys a particularly long-lasting and active collaboration with Professor Butt in a variety of areas of sustainable pest management. Ian’s twenty five year career has been spent almost entirely in the biorational crop protection area, where he has held a variety of research, development and registration roles. Prior to this, Ian obtained a PhD from Southampton University on the uses of pheromones and entomopathogenic fungi against stored product pests.
Senior Technical Expert Toxicology, Syngenta, Email: ian.baxter@syngenta.com
Dr Peter McEwen
Peter is an experienced CEO who has successfully sold multiple businesses across four countries and two continents. He holds a BSc in Environmental Studies from Hatfield Polytechnic and a Ph.D. in Medical Entomology from the University of Wales, Bangor. His career has spanned applied entomology and business development, with international experience in Spain, Finland, the USA, South America, and Asia. He has 60 scientific publications and established PKMCConsultants in 2023. Peter's journey began with BCC Consultants, which covered various services, and he was involved with the Welsh Government Welsh Pest Management Forum.
Director, PKMCConsultants, Email: Peter@pkmcconsultants.co.uk
Dr Farooq Shah
Dr Farooq Shah is Manager of the Natural Products BioHUB, a Swansea University collaboration with Swansea Council to bring together academia, industry and community to pioneer the use of sustainable natural products. He is also founder and CEO of Razbio limited, a biotech company specialising in the development of Biopesticides and smart insect pest monitoring. Dr Shah has diverse fundamental and applied research experience of biological control of insect pests, having successfully completed five industry led R&D projects, aimed at developing novel solutions and products for environmentally friendly insect pest control. His current research interests include; improving the monitoring of insect pests and developing strategies for enhancing the efficacy of bio-pesticides. Dr Shah is also leading a consortium of UK and Pakistan based academia, industry and policy makers to establish a biopesticide hub in Pakistan to support capacity building and biopesticide uptake in Pakistan.
Natural Products BioHUB, UK, Email: f.a.shah@swansea.ac.uk
