Following a PhD in chemistry from Imperial College London, Stephen worked in academia for over 20 years and was Professor of Biological Chemistry at City University London and Warwick University, UK and a consultant to several chemical companies and member of several initiatives of the World Health Organization and the International Organization for Chemical Sciences in Development (IOCD) on drug development. This was followed by periods as Director of the Health and Education Division in the Commonwealth Secretariat, as Chief Education Adviser at the UK Department for International Development and as Executive Director of the Global Forum for Health Research in Geneva. He has served as Kelvin Lecturer for the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Honorary President of the British Association for International and Comparative Education, Council Member and Vice-President of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Vice-President and Chair of the Commonwealth Association of Science, Technology and Mathematics Educators, and Secretary of IOCD. He is currently a Visiting Professor in the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London and Vice-President for External Relations of IOCD. He has worked extensively in the area of chemistry and sustainability, leading an IOCD action group which writes on this theme. He has published more than 400 works to date, including peer-reviewed papers, articles, reviews, book chapters, web pieces and edited books, many of them related to sustainable development and the role of chemistry. He has co-chaired three IUPAC projects related to systems thinking in chemistry for sustainability (STICE, STCS 2030+, SysTSCI) and is serving as Secretary of IUPAC’s Committee on Chemistry and Industry (COCI) for 2026-2027.
