STEERING Committee Chair
Secretary General - Society Of Cosmetic Scientists
Special Advisor
IFSCC president elect
EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS
Scientific Lead
SCS – Society of Cosmetic Scientists
Suite 109 Christchurch House
40 Upper George Street
Luton
Bedfordshire
LU1 2RS
Judi Beerling – Technical Director Pertech Associates Ltd
Judi has been a passionate cosmetic formulator for her whole career and has spent much of the last 15 years sharing her knowledge of the rapidly evolving area of green formulation and sustainability. Prior to that she spent a large chunk of her working life in the fragrance industry working on fragrance applications and many innovation projects for major clients.
Apart from running a formulation laboratory, she has lectured and given workshops around the world. Her consulting work has nurtured a number of international companies, small and large, in their quest to become greener. She holds an MBA from the Open University Business School and is a Chartered Chemist.
Judi has held many honorary roles in the Society of Cosmetic Scientists UK & Ireland over several decades. She was the President in 2008-9, is an Honorary Member and held the position of Honorary Treasurer and Council member for a fourth time finishing in May 2016. She has now turned her attention to the role of Chair of the Steering Committee for the 2022 32nd IFSCC Congress in London. As a member of the Steering Committee for the previous UK 2002 Congress in Edinburgh she was responsible for the much-enjoyed social events. Judi spent 7 years on the International Federation of Societies of Cosmetic Chemists (IFSCC) Praesidium, as Honorary Secretary and then Treasurer, between 2004 and 2011.
Gem Bektas
Gem is the key point of contact for the Society of Cosmetic Scientists and the 2022 Congress, being the Secretary General. Gem has been part of the full time Luton office based Secretariat staff since 2007 and was promoted to Secretary General in 2010 when Lorna Weston retired from the position. Gem ensures the Society runs smoothly and efficiently, communicating with the Council, President, members and many different external bodies, as well as being at almost all SCS events as the face of the Society.
Lorna Weston
Following a career as a Production Secretary with a major TV company and several years as a travel representative in both Italy and France, Lorna joined the SCS and IFSCC as Secretary General in 1986. She retired from the Society of Cosmetic Scientists in 2010, of which she was made an Honorary Member, but continued to work part time for the IFSCC until retiring at the 2015 IFSCC Conference in Zurich, Switzerland. During her working life she travelled extensively to SCS events in the UK and Ireland, to IFSCC events worldwide, as well as to related industry exhibitions. During her time as Secretary General of both organisations, she worked closely with the many Presidents, Officers and Council of the SCS, the IFSCC Praesidium and Congress/ Conference host societies. Her wide ranging experience of having attended at least 29 IFSCC congresses/conferences is an invaluable resource to the 2022 Steering Committee.
Dr Tony Gough
Tony Gough has a PhD in organic chemistry and has worked in R&D/technical roles within the personal-care product industry for 32 years. He is Technical Service Director at Innospec UK and previously held management/senior management roles at Unilever, Alberto-Culver, COSi, Surfachem and ISP/Ashland. Dr. Gough is on the Praesidium of the IFSCC, due to become President of the IFSCC in the London Congress year, 2022, and is a past-President of the SCS.
Dr Mustafa Varcin
Dr Mustafa Varcin has a background in Pharmaceutical (MPharm) and Cosmetic Sciences (AS) with a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium). He completed his studies summa cum laude. His PhD project was part of a consortium that brought together 5 Flemish research groups and industry partners & was funded by the Flemish funding agency VLAIO (formerly IWT-SBO). His research is published in peer-reviewed journals & presented at international conferences. During his PhD, he also served on the Royal Belgian Association of Cosmetic Chemists’ board as Scientific Advisor.
Dr Varcin was appointed as External Advisor for the development of the first UK postgraduate one-year MSc Cosmetic Science course in the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University. He is an Honorary Academic and works together with the academic team on different educational and research activities, including supervision of an interuniversity PhD project. In addition, he is also an Honorary Visiting Lecturer in the Faculty of Health and Life Science at De Montfort University in Leicester. Before his current role, he was the Course Leader for the integrated MSc Cosmetic Science course at UAL, and responsible for the academic leadership and management, including design, development & delivery of curriculum. Dr Varcin received the UAL Student’s Union Teaching Award for ‘his excellent teaching & guidance of students during their academic development’. His teaching covered a wide range of subjects relevant to cosmetic science & he supervised projects from year 1 to Masters’ level.
He is a Council Member of the SCS since 2016, Co-Chair for the International Journal of Cosmetic Science committee, IFSCC 2022 Congress Steering Committee Member, Head of IFSCC 2022 Congress Sponsorship committee & leads the pre-Congress educational workshops. In May 2019, he was elected as an Honorary Treasurer for SCS. Dr Varcin is responsible for two units on the SCS Cosmetic Science Distance Learning Course. He has rewritten the unit on Principles of Marketing (including Branding) and has reviewed the Consumer and Market Research unit. He is an Associate Member of the British Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Member of CEW UK & he was on the International Advisory Board of the IFSCC 2019 Golden Book.
In his previous role, Dr Varcin was responsible for R&I and management of new product development projects in the beauty division of Hammer Holdings in London. He supported early stage & established beauty businesses from target to market and acted as a key liaison between brand founders & industry partners.
Currently, Dr Varcin works for Cosmetics Europe and is actively involved in the current state-of-the art Long Range Science Strategy (LRSS) programme that is supported & funded by a consortium of Cosmetics Europe members & which focuses exclusively on developing safety assessment strategies for cosmetics using alternatives to animal testing. He works together with industry experts on innovative projects & different major scientific initiatives to promote NGRA (next generation risk assessment) & NAM (new approach methodologies) for safety assessment of cosmetic ingredients & finished products and to facilitate their regulatory use. Together with industry experts, Dr Varcin is preparing a new global five year science programme with focus on human health & environmental safety that will be launched soon.
Some other facts about Dr Varcin – born in Belgium to Turkish parents. Lived in Antwerp, Brussels, London & now back to charming city of Brussels. He needs his daily caffeine shots, is a fan of Belgian chocolates & good food.
Stewart Long
A biochemist by background, with over 30 years’ experience in the beauty and healthcare industry. My current role is Chief Executive Officer of Cutest Systems Ltd, a contract research organisation providing claims and safety data for personal care, medical device and pharma companies, of over 35 years experience, based in Cardiff. I began my career with Unilever, initially in the dental research group at Colworth House, before moving into the skincare research group where I spent 8 years. I then joined Boots, where over a 12-year career, I held the positions of Claims Innovation Manager, Product Evaluation Manager, Haircare Scientific Adviser and became company Skincare Scientific Adviser across all Boots brands globally. In 2010 I joined Dow Corning in Belgium as Global Market Leader for Skincare, responsible for the skincare ingredients business and in 2014 I moved on to become Global Market Leader for Medical Device materials. I joined Cutest in November 2015 after nearly 6 years with Dow Corning.
President of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists 2020-21 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Angela worked for 45 years in the Cosmetic industry (1971-2016) and is now retired. She began her career in R&D before moving into regulatory affairs, manufacturing and production, quality compliance, sales, marketing and even teaching. She worked and managed teams in a wide variety of cosmetics, starting with hair care and then colour cosmetics, skin care, raw materials and evaluation working at companies such as Kolmar, Quest International and Coty. Angela is a graduate of London University, has a number of publications and book chapters to her name and presented numerous papers at cosmetic conferences globally.
Her favourite field was the area of colour cosmetics, using not just science but also creativity and technology. Having worked in the UK, Monaco, Spain and USA she was involved with education programs in Cosmetic Science and multiple other professional activities.
In 2002 Angela was elected President of the IFSCC at the highly successful IFSCC Congress in Edinburgh having served on the IFSCC Praesidium and been closely involved with the Steering Committee for 2002. Prior to that she held the position of President of the SCS in 1988 when the previous 15th IFSCC Congress was held in London.
Angela notes that Cosmetic Science has moved on very fast since her professional life ended. She sometimes reflects on how challenging it would be to deal with the emerging areas in of genomics, microbiomes, digital marketing, artificial intelligence, etc, etc… So she is pleased to leave it to the new generation of scientists and learn from them!
Dr. Peter Hak-Hee Kang is currently working for the Kolmar Korea as the President of the R&D Center. He received his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Enginnering at Hanyang University, and went on for his master’s and doctor’s degree at KAIST and Hanyang University, respectively. Dr. Kang spent some of his career as the Factory manager at the AMOREPACIFIC France subsidiary, where he has had the chance to obtain global knowledge and experience in the field of cosmetics. He was the President of the IFSCC 2017-2018 and is currently the Immediate Past President of SCSK (the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea). Dr. Kang has published more than 30 patent applications and about 35 research papers, and has received the Jang Yeong Sil Award, KT Award, Award of the Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Energy, and the Presidential Award, the best CTO Award in Korea Industrial Technology association. He has been involved in the cosmetics industry for about 40 years.
A Board member and former President ( 2005 -2009) of the Brazilian Association of Cosmetology and IFSCC ( President from 2013 to 2014 ) Prof Nunes has a PhD in Pharmaceutical Technology / Cosmetic Sciences at University of São Paulo and is Professor of Cosmetic Sciences and Coordinator of the Cosmetic Technology Course at Oswaldo Cruz College (FATEC). During his professional career he worked in pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies where he was responsible for innovation, research, development, safety and developing efficacy evaluations and quality control areas for final products and active ingredients. Since 2015, Prof Nunes works in a consultancy capacity and mentors start-up businesses.
Fujihiro Kanda has a PhD in applied chemistry from the University of Tokyo, and has worked for Shiseido mainly in R&D/technical roles for 35 years prior to retirement in 2017. He currently runs his own business as a technical consultant and teaches at Mukogawa Women’s University as a Visiting Professor. He served the IFSCC Praesidium as the Chair of the Science Committee during the term 2008-2016, and designated as an IFSCC Fellow in 2019.
Dr. Minamino has been a Board Member of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists of Japan (SCCJ) for over 20 years. As part of the Organizing Committee for the 2020 Yokohama Congress she played an integral role in the reception of delegates both domestic and from abroad. She was IFSCC Education Chair on the IFSCC Praesidium from 2012-2015. She received her Ph.D. in Pharmacy from Osaka University and Ph.D. in Medicine from Osaka City University, along with an MBA from the Graduate School of Business Administration of Kobe University. Miki established the cosmetic enterprise “Bellevienus” in 2005, of which she is currently Vice President. She also teaches at Mukogawa Women’s University of which she is a Visiting Professor. Miki became an Honorary Auditor of the IFSCC in 2020.
Amy Wyatt is VP CHANEL US Innovation and Research, Regulatory Affairs, and Quality Assurance and an IFSCC Past President. She has worked in the Cosmetic Industry since 1993. She joined CHANEL in 2006 and is responsible for directing the US Research and Innovation in the Fragrance and Beauty category; managing regulatory risk and compliance; and assuring high quality incoming product. Prior to CHANEL, Amy worked 13 years at Aveda Corporation / Estee Lauder Companies where she was the Director of Skin Care and Makeup.
In 2016, Amy became President of the IFSCC – joining the IFSCC Praesidium in 2006 as Education Committee Chair. She is the co-founder of the Ecaterina Merica Cosmetic Education Programme bringing scientific workshops to economically challenged societies. Amy developed financial and structural changes to advance the Federation. She has had the privilege to present at a number of IFSCC societies including being a keynote speaker at the 30th IFSCC Congress held in Germany.
In 2006, Amy was the President of the United States and Canadian Society of Cosmetic Chemists (SCC). She has been an active member of the Society since 1994 serving in many national and chapter positions. Amy was awarded the prestigious SCC Merit award in honor of her outstanding service and distinguished leadership.
Amy is a member of the PCPC (Personal Care Product Council) a US based cosmetic association dealing with scientific, legal, regulatory, legislative and international issues. She has been an executive committee member of the Science and Regulatory Committee ( SACX) and the Policy Advocacy Steering Committee ( PASC).
Amy has a degree in Biology from the University of Minnesota.
