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About Us

The Colt Foundation was established by the O’Hea family under a Trust Deed dated 28 August 1978, with gifts of shares in Colt International and Associated Companies Limited.  In 2021 the Colt Foundation became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation and is now completely independent of the Colt business.  The Board is made up of trustees and advisers and supported by a director.

The Colt Foundation funds high quality research in environmental and occupation health with a particular interest in projects that are likely to inform policy and working practices and thereby improve the health and wellbeing of workers and the wider population.  In recent years the Foundation has also focused on building research capacity within work and health by supporting academics with fellowships of up to five years.

Board Strategy Meeting July 2024

Trustees

TRUSTEE

Professor Alex Jones

MChem, PhD, FRSC

Alex is the Principal Research Scientist at the National Physical Laboratory Biometrology group which he joined in 2017 to lead on the development of time-resolved spectroscopy, non-linear microscopy and optogenetics.  Alex held a Colt Foundation PhD Fellowship between 2005-08, investigating the biophysical origin of associations between exposure to man-made magnetic fields and adverse health outcomes (e.g., childhood leukaemia).

Alex has been awarded several research fellowships focussed on how ambient light and magnetic fields interact with biology and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.  Since 2012 Alex has served as a Scientific Advisor to the Colt Foundation and he was appointed as Trustee in 2021.

TRUSTEE - Chairman

Professor Sir Anthony Newman Taylor

CBE, FRCP, FFOM, FMedSci

Sir Anthony is Emeritus Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Imperial College.  Previously Principal of the Faculty of Medicine and Head of National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College. His specialist interest is occupational causes of lung disease. 

Sir Anthony is Chairman of the HSE Workplace Health Expert Committee (WHEC).  He is also  Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Centre for Mesothelioma Research at Imperial College and a Trustee of the Rayne Foundation and the ADVANCE Charity.  He was previously, Chairman of the UK Industrial Injuries Advisory Committee and of the Independent Medical Expert Group (IMEG) for the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, MoD. He has worked as an advisor to government bodies in Greece, Spain and India.

Sir Anthony was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2008 for public service and received the Institute of Occupational Health and Safety Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.  Sir Anthony joined the Colt Foundation as a Scientific Adviser in 2001, he became a trustee in 2005 and Chairman in 2008.

TRUSTEE

Mrs Clare Gilchrist

Clare has been a trustee of the Colt Foundation since 1995 and is the granddaughter of IJ O’Hea.

Clare initiated the Founder’s Award and introduced the first holder, a young woman in Nepal who the Colt Foundation supported through her tertiary education.  Clare has always been keen to support young academics as they establish their careers and particularly enjoys our Research Day were the PhD students, funded by the Colt Foundation, give presentations on the progress of their research.

Clare is proud of the Foundation’s achievements over the last 44 years and the continued legacy of her grandfather whose company through which the Foundation was funded, was set up to make the working environment safer and more comfortable for those employed.  Away from the world of occupation and environmental health research, Clare is a director of an international company which 28 years ago, led by example in changing working practices, especially regarding child labour issues in Nepal.   

TRUSTEE

Professor David Coggon

OBE, MA, PhD, DM, FRCP, FFOM, FFPH, FMedSci

David is Emeritus Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, University of Southampton.  Over a career spanning more than 40 years, David has conducted epidemiological research on a wide range of occupational and environmental hazards, focusing particularly on the relationship of musculoskeletal disorders to work, and the health effects of various chemical pollutants. 

David has also engaged extensively in scientific advisory work for government, both nationally and internationally, and was President of the UK Faculty of Occupational Medicine from 2008-2011.  He became a scientific advisor to the Colt Foundation in 1996, and has been a trustee since 2001, he is also on the Foundation’s PhD Fellowship interview panel.

TRUSTEE

Dr Elaine Wainwright

CPsychol, PhD, FHEA, MSc, MA (Oxon)

Elaine held a university funded PhD studentship between 2008-2012 investigating the social negotiation of sickness certification between employees living with chronic pain, employers and General Practitioners.  She has since worked for the Universities of Bath, Bath Spa and Aberdeen on a range of occupational health research projects supported by UKRI, charitable and Government funding.  Elaine has also lectured in Health Psychology and qualitative research methods, and currently works in the Epidemiology Group, University of Aberdeen, where she has a particular interest in the impact of pain on work. Elaine is a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychology Society, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and has served as a Scientific Advisor to the Colt Foundation since 2021.

TRUSTEE

Professor Ira Madan

MBBS (Hons), MD, FRCP, FFOM, FRCP (I)

Ira is a consultant in occupational medicine at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Professor at King’s College London.  She was the lead occupational physician to the Houses of Parliament for 21 years and is currently the Academic Dean of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine.   Ira became a scientific adviser to the Colt Foundation in 2012 and in 2017 was invited to join the Board as a trustee.  

TRUSTEE

Mrs Patricia Lebus

Trish, with her father, IJ O’Hea, her brothers and sister was a founding trustee of the Colt Foundation, she has been a trustee continuously ever since.  She was Chairman of the Foundation for five years from 2000 to 2005.  Over the 44 years Trish has been involved with the Foundation she has particularly enjoyed focussing on the importance of the question and the impact of the research proposals submitted to the Foundation for funding.

Trish was a Relate counsellor for 16 years and has worked with the Riding for the Disabled charity for many years.

TRUSTEE

Professor Paul Cullinan

MD, FRCP, FFOM

Paul was Professor of Occupational and Environmental Respiratory Disease at Imperial College and Royal Brompton Hospital.  He was an academic respiratory physician with long-standing clinical and research interests in occupational lung diseases; but doesn’t find it difficult to become fascinated in all sorts of other work-related health issues.

Paul has been a scientific adviser to the Colt Foundation since 2018 and served on the Foundation’s PhD Fellowship interview panel for many years and now Chair’s the PhD Selection Committee

TRUSTEE

Professor Rodger Duffin

BSc (Hons), PhD, MRCPath, FRSB

Rodger is Professor of Thoracic Toxicology and Head of the Particle and Fibre Research Laboratory within the Centre for Inflammation Research at the University of Edinburgh.   His research interests are focused on the mechanisms controlling the processes of inflammation, from initiation to resolution and also understanding the potential toxicology surrounding environmental and occupational (nano)particle exposures.  He trained in Edinburgh with Professor Ken Donaldson as a Colt Foundation PhD student in particle toxicology.  After completing his PhD, he undertook a three year post-doctoral training position in Dusseldorf before returning to Edinburgh in 2005, after being awarded a Colt Foundation Research Fellowship.  Rodger has been a scientific adviser to the Colt Foundation since 2018 and served on the Foundation’s PhD fellowship interview panel for many years.

Director & Financial Advisers

Director

Mrs Tash Heydon

Tash started her career in politics before transitioning into the sports television industry and subsequently running her own interior design business for many years.  Tash was a trustee of the Colt Foundation for 18 years from 2001.  In 2019, Tash had the honour of becoming the Director of the Colt Foundation, a role that she takes great pleasure in.

Investment Advisor

Mr Royston Fox

FPFS

Royston studied at both the University of East Anglia and University of Cambridge before completing qualifications in accounting and finance with ACCA, Chartered Institute of Bankers, and the Chartered Insurance Institute.  He was appointed a Fellow of the CII in 2018.  Royston has enjoyed his 30-year career in finance and now runs his own consulting firm.  Royston became Financial Adviser to the Colt Foundation in 2009.

Contact Us

For all queries about the application process please feel free to get in touch with all of your questions and concerns. 

Meeting of the Board of Trustees hosted by Mr IJ O’Hea, 17th April 1979

The Colt Foundation was established in 1978. We fund high quality research, support students undertake higher degrees at UK universities, and organise and financially support scientific conferences in the occupational health research sector.

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Charity no. 1190167

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