APA News

  • Professor Duncan Burns becomes an Honorary Member of the APA


    Professor Duncan Burns (centre) who has become an honorary member of the APA, pictured with t Jon Griffin and Michael Walker.

    At the recent APA Annual Conference, Professor Duncan Burns was awarded honarary membership of the Association in recognition of his research on Food analysis, and his long term support for the profession.
    Duncan Burns has been Emeritus Professor of Analytical Chemistry in the Queen’s University of Belfast since 1999, remaining internationally professionally and academically active with over 100 peer reviewed publications since formal retirement. He appears regularly as an expert witness and his on-going interest in the development of forensically robust methods and the interpretation of analytical data for legal purposes ties in with his involvement in the work of the Government Chemist programme in LGC.
    His long association with the Laboratory of the Government Chemist includes the key advice to the then incumbent of that post to ensure he had an MChemA on the staff and he has been a friend to the APA for many years. Latterly his support of the online open access Journal of the Association of Public Analysts is evidenced by 15 publications in JAPA since 2007. The topics have ranged over many of the aspects of our work, including essays on key Public Analysts of the past. A paper with the Laboratory of the Government Chemist and Kingston University on illegal ingredients in food supplements featured in quite a few media stories and led to a mention for JAPA in the Guardian.
    Thus, in recognition of Professor Burn’s research on Food analysis, and his long term support for our profession, he was awarded his honorary membership.