Theresa is a biochemist with a PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and has extensive international experience in the cosmetics industry. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Pasteur Institute, she transitioned into corporate skin care research. Over her 35-year career, she has held senior R&D roles at LVMH, Unilever, Marks & Spencer, J&J, Evonik (Cosmoferm), Hill-Top Research, and proDERM (SGS). In 2008, Theresa founded Callaghan Consulting International in Germany, focusing on cosmetic claims and scientific advancements, collaborating with ingredient suppliers and brands. She is a widely published author, and also known for her multi-lingual book "Help! I’m Covered in Adjectives: Cosmetic Claims & The Consumer," in its second edition, and has appeared on various radio shows and podcasts. Theresa is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Cosmetic Science and is active in a number of professional societies including SCANCOS and The British Herbal Medical Association. She mentors graduates and industry new-comers, advises TKS Science Publisher, and writes a monthly Claims Insights column for Euro-Cosmetics magazine and LinkedIn, as well as a monthly ingredient technology article for BEAUTY STREAMS. Theresa is also a Covalo Ambassador.

Dr Zhenyu Jason Zhang is a Professor of Soft Matter Engineering at the School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham. With twenty years’ research experience and expertise in investigating soft matter at surfaces and interfaces, he leads multiple large research programmes funded by UK Research & Innovation, EU Horizon Europe, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and forms strategic partnership with industrial collaborators including Procter & Gamble, Innospec, FiberLean Technologies. He has a broad interest in tribology, surface/molecular interactions, and polymer physics, and applies them in practical applications such as Formulated Products, Surface Coatings, Healthcare Technologies, and Food Engineering. He received the McBain Medal 2023 by Royal Society of Chemistry & Society of Chemical Industry in recognizing his accomplishment in colloids and interface research.

Professor Charles Spence is a world-famous experimental psychologist with a specialization in neuroscience-inspired multisensory design. He has worked with many of the world’s largest companies across the globe since establishing the Crossmodal Research Laboratory (CRL) at the Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University in 1997. Prof. Spence has published over 1,200 academic articles and edited or authored, 16 books including, in 2014, the Prose prize-winning “The perfect meal”, and the international bestseller “Gastrophysics: The new science of eating” (2017; Penguin Viking) – winner of the 2019 Le Grand Prix de la Culture Gastronomique from Académie Internationale de la Gastronomie. His much-anticipated new book Sensehacking was published in 2021. Much of Prof. Spence’s work focuses on the design of enhanced multisensory experiences. He has recently published on the theme of multisensory cosmetics, and their impact on people’s social, cognitive, and emotional well-being (see Spence, 2022; Spence & Zhang, 2024). Spence, C. (2022). Neuroscience-inspired multisensory design in the cosmetics sector. IFSCC Magazine, 25(2), 1-10. Spence, C., & Zhang, T. (2024). Multisensory contributions to skin-cosmetic product interactions. International Journal of Cosmetic Science, 46(6), 833-849. http://doi.org/10.1111/ics.12975.

A biochemist, with over 30 years’ experience in the beauty industry. I am Chief Executive Officer of Cutest Systems Ltd, providing claims and safety data for beauty companies globally. I began my career with Unilever, working on stratum corneum research. After 8 years, I joined Boots, where I held positions of Claims Innovation Manager, Product Evaluation Manager, Haircare Scientific Adviser and Skincare Scientific Adviser over a 12-year career. Regularly interviewed on television, radio and in other media. In 2010 I joined Dow Corning in Belgium as Global Market Leader for Skincare. I joined Cutest in November 2015 as C.E.O. I was honoured to be President of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists 2020-21 and Chair of the Scientific and Awards Committee for IFSCC 2022 Congress in London. I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists. In 2024, Cutest Systems celebrated 40 years of research and innovation as a clinical trials company serving the beauty, medical device and pharma industries.

I have worked for over 20 years in the cosmetics industry, including Procter and Gamble and more recently with GSK.  In 2012 I set up my own consultancy – JMC Scientific Consulting Ltd, based in Egham, UK.  My experience ranges from new product research with novel materials, through to developing and running clinical studies to provide claims support data for product launches. Even when I was in a corporate environment I worked across multiple project areas at any one time to translate the needs of the individual teams into executable study designs and plans. Research areas worked on include moisturisers, cleansers, and hair removal methods (shaving, waxing, epilation, depilatory creams, light based hair removal).  I now work with clients to help them understand how their products work and how to improve them, as well as spending my time researching novel methodologies and imaging techniques to help push the industry forward. Photography has always been a passion of mine, and a current focus area for my research is UV imaging, and how it can be used to visualise skin and sunscreens. UV imaging is extremely challenging, with a unique set of complexities above and beyond standard colour photography, and my research often requires me to build equipment to help with my work where nothing suitable is commercially available. An example of this is my work from 2017-18 in which I built the first cross polarized UV imaging system, to enable imaging of sunscreen film morphology after spreading by eliminating the shine from the surface of the film. In 2020 I built a UV transmission microscope with the goal of imaging different sunscreen components to help with formulation development and optimization. I keep my website up to date with any non-confidential work I am doing, as I’m a firm believer that openness in scientific research is the best way to move it forwards. I have a very hands on approach to science and am experienced with the operation and use of a wide range of skin testing equipment including Corneometer, Sebumeter, TEWL, Colourimetry, Confocal In-vivo Raman Spectroscopy (for hydration profiles, NMF and ceramide monitoring and ingredient penetration), photographic imaging techniques (UV, visible and IR), microscopy, skin grading, tape stripping and SEM, and clinical test design. After building my expertise in the skin methods field I also became more involved with teaching the science of skin measurement, to audiences from Dermatologists to Journalists and Marketing groups. I am also strongly linked with Academic research, having overseen a number of projects with different universities. I have authored over 40 papers and book chapters, with an emphasis on skin measurement and imaging, and the validation of techniques to prove what they can (and in some cases cannot) do. I am also a reviewer for the International Journal of Cosmetic Science and other journals. I graduated from Durham University with a BSc in Chemistry in 1994, and went on to do a PhD in Surface Modification and Analysis which I completed in 1997, and loved the research so much that I stayed on for an extra 3 years as a Post Doctoral research assistant. During this time I developed a strong Analytical chemistry background with a wide variety of surface analytical techniques (XPS, Auger, ToF SIMS, Raman, ATR-IR, SEM and TEM, AFM) for materials analysis, along with cold plasma treatment of materials for the manufacture of metal surfaces and ultra-low energy materials. It is the ‘cross discipline’ background I have from working at the boundaries between chemistry, physics and engineering, which I have now applied to my assessment of skin. I apply a strongly analytical and critical approach to my work, and am known for being open and impartial and working with the highest integrity. I’m also a scientist through and through, and am driven to question and understand how the world works. Please contact me if you want to know more – jonathan@jmcscientificconsulting.com