UK Tribology Group

Robert Wood FREng

Professor of Surface Engineering and Tribology, University of Southampton

Robert Wood, FREng, is a Professor of Surface Engineering and Tribology at the University of Southampton and has 30 years of experience in tribology and surface engineering. He founded the EPSRC funded National Centre for Advanced Tribology at Southampton (nCATS) and has research interests in tribological coatings, tribocorrosion, erosion and wear sensing. He was awarded the Donald Julius Groen Prize for Tribology in 2011 by the IMechE, the Tribology Trust Silver Medal for outstanding contribution to national standing of Tribology in 2018 and the Tom Bell Surface Engineering Medal in 2022 by the IoM3. He chairs UK Tribology which unites tribology groups across five professional bodies (IMechE, IoP, IOM3, RSC and IET). He is Field Chief Editor for Frontiers in Coatings, Dyes and Interface Engineering.

David Arthur FIMMM

Head of Technical Community Support, IOM3

David is a metallurgist by background having graduated from the University of Manchester following which he went on to complete an MPhil in Offshore Engineering at Cranfield. 

Having joined what was then known as IOM as a student, he has been a member of the Institute since 1986 and is now a FIMMM.  

David then worked in the steel (continuous casting design and commissioning), titanium and metal powder industries in a range of technical, commercial and managerial roles. This gained him an insight in to R&D, Production as well as the commercial side and running of materials related companies, of varying sizes. 

A call from out of the blue led to David joining the Materials Information Service (MIS) which had been taken over by IOM3 from the DTI. Internal promotions followed as they moved the membership, finance and IT functions to the then office in Stoke with David as Head of Membership, a role he held for 14 years. 

Since then, David has worked in Accreditation and ran the Signature Materials project which deterring metal theft part of a UK Home Office initiative and is part of the technical support to IOM3. He currently oversees the Technical Communities to deliver benefits to members and the broader community. 

Keith Harrison FIMMM

Now retired, Keith Harrison has over 50 years’ experience in the Surface Engineering/Tribology sector, specialising in thermal spraying technology. Keith has been a member of the UK Tribology Operations Committee since 2015.

He chaired the IOM3 Surface Engineering Division for 8 years from 2007 until 2015 before becoming the chair of the Industry and Technology Policy Board. He was the first chair of the Technical Communities Board. Keith was also a Trustee of IOM3 and a member of Council representing Council on the Managing Board from 2012 until 2019. He was awarded the Sir Andrew Bryan Medal in 2020.

He is currently the President of the East Midlands Materials Society.