Sir Colin Humphreys CBE FREng FIMMM has been awarded Fellowship of the Royal Society. He is Director of Research at the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, UK, and  was president of IOM3 from 2002-2003. He is Master of the Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers, which sponsors the Institute's Young Persons' Lecture Competition.

Humphreys is renowned in the field of electron microscopy. His work has researched indium gallium nitride (InGaN) quantum wells used in LEDs. Work on InGaN has led to industrial interest to help the development of the technology. Humphreys' services to science education led to a new Institute Award  in his honour, The Colin Humphreys’ Education Awards, which recognises those who have made an outstanding contribution to enhancing students' scientific or technological literacy in materials, minerals or mining.