Timothy Leighton

Global-NAMRIP particularly supports Low/Middle Income Countries with not-for-profit interventions, for example with initiatives in urban and rural Ghana (infection being the primary cause of death in rural Ghana). In Uganda in 2019, Global-NAMRIP members from Uganda, Liberia, Malawi, Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia and the UK met to compare, for the first time, the national AMR strategies of their respective countries, to share best practice. The meeting also produced significant impact in education, support for young innovators, and responded to a request from the Ugandan Minister for Health to write for him the 'Kampala Declaration on AMR'.

The 2016 report that first raised the issues was, in the first 2 years, downloaded over 20,000 times from the Royal Society website, leading to requests for a follow-up, a journal special issue, and numerous conference sessions worldwide as the importance of this topic was realised. Scientists, engineers and the public around the world are now logging the location and type of device that emits ultrasound. Leighton became an acknowledged world expert on such public exposures, and on the claims of 'sonic attacks' on US Embassy staff in Cuba and China. His expertise on the effect on humans of ultrasound in air provided the scientific basis that was cited by Giles Watling MP (Clacton, Conservative) in the Motion for leave to bring in a Bill (Standing Order No. 23) on "Anti-loitering Devices (Regulation)" (17 July 2018 Volume 645, 2.06 pm).

These 10 streams of fundamental research represented the knowledge on which Sloan Water Technology Ltd. was founded. It is currently producing technology for cleaning and changing surfaces using only cold water, air bubbles and sound (without chemicals or drugs). This reduces the use of water and electricity, reduces pollution and has run-off that is easier to convert back to drinking water, and reduces the threat of ‘superbugs’.

In 2018 he was elected to Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences, the citation reading for 'harnessing the physical sciences for the benefit of patients' as:

In 2018 the International Institute of Acoustics and Vibration (IIAV), of which he had not been a member, undertook a change to its Bylaws, and vote of all IIAV members, to create new rank of Distinguished Fellow. It is the highest rank for individual IIAV members of this international body, and Professor Leighton was the recipient in its inaugural year.

Global-NAMRIP creates new research teams, commissions new research, engaging with industry to roll out solutions to society, and engaging with the public and policymakers to conduct outreach, education and dialogue. The award-winning Public Engagement and Policymaker Engagement programmes that Leighton devised and leads have been mentioned in Parliament by the Under-Secretary of State for Health on 16 November 2017. and Leighton has addressed the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee on his approach to addressing the threat of AMR.

Leighton has developed and conducted multiply-award-winning outreach activities to the public, and to encourage of young men and women to engage, and possibly follow careers in, science and engineering, with school visits, science fairs, exhibits, games, and appearances on TV and radio. His public engagement work regarding his invention, “The most dangerous game in the world”, which he designed to communicate with the public on the issue of superbugs and how they can protect themselves and society, was mentioned by Steve Brine MP, the Under-Secretary of State for Health on 16 November 2017. The IMDb and "Who's Who" have collated entries for Professor Leighton. In his 2014 book 'Sonic Wonderland', the broadcaster Trevor Cox described Professor Leighton as 'a middle-aged Harry Potter'.

The Global Network for AntiMicrobial Resistance and Infection Prevention (Global-NAMRIP), is a multidisciplinary research team of hundreds researchers and end users, across four continents, including engineers, chemists, microbiologists, environmental scientists, veterinary and human medics, clinicians who contribute to international and national antibiotic guidelines for specified conditions, experts in food, ethics and law, crucially networked with economists, geographers, health scientists and experts from other social science disciplines to provide a truly joined up approach to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and infection prevention (offsetting the loss of diversity in pharmaceutical industry research teams). As Leighton said at NAMRIP's 2016 conference:

Health Effects of Ultrasound in Air (HEFUA) was founded to map the increasing use of ultrasound in public places, and to investigate whether or not this increase is having adverse effects on some humans (following an investigation which revealed that the use of ultrasound in public places is increasing, and that guidelines were inadequate prior to the 2016 report).

Leighton is an Academician of three National Academies. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2014. His nomination reads:

...I looked at all this and realised that even if there was a billion-dollar fund for new antibiotics, it would not sort out the problem; it might just buy us an extra decade. We need a new approach – a step change like the one antibiotics gave us when they first came in.

Leighton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) in 2012 for his services to Engineering and society. He was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP) in 2000, Fellowship of Institute of Acoustics in 1999, Fellowship of the Acoustical Society of America in 1998, and Fellowship of the Cambridge Philosophical Society in 1988. He is a Visiting Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies of Loughborough University.

and assisted the Institute of Cancer Research with technology for tumour therapy monitoring (2010).

The citation of the 2006 Paterson Medal of the Institute of Physics states that:

an outstanding academic inventor whose leadership in acoustical physics of bubbles has led to the development of new medical devices and procedures. His research has dominated the field of acoustic bubbles since the appearance of his monograph in 1994, ‘The Acoustic Bubble’, which was published at the age of 29. In this, he laid out the mathematical foundation upon which much of the recent cutting edge research on ultrasonic contrast agents, drug delivery, and focused ultrasound surgery has been based. He has exceptional ability to deliver engineering solutions to real world problems from conceptualisation to product development embracing an advanced practical knowledge of IP strategy.

He joined the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR) at the University of Southampton in 1992 as a lecturer in underwater acoustics, and completed the monograph The Acoustic Bubble in the same year. He was awarded a personal chair at the age of 35.

He was educated at Heversham Grammar School, Cumbria and Magdalene College, Cambridge where he studied the Natural Sciences Tripos and awarded a double first class Bachelor of Arts degree with honours in physics and theoretical Physics in 1985, obtaining a PhD in 1988 at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. Following his PhD, he was awarded senior and advanced research fellowships at Magdalene College, Cambridge funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

In the late 1980s, Leighton discovered a new ultrasonic signal that he identified as due to surface waves on the walls of gas bubbles in liquids. Multidisciplinary research in the following ten parallel streams of work turned this discovery into Sloan Water Technology Ltd:

Timothy Grant Leighton FRS FREng FMedSci (born 16 October 1963) is the Professor of Ultrasonics and Underwater Acoustics at the University of Southampton. He is the inventor-in-chief of Sloan Water Technology Ltd., a company founded around his inventions. He is an academician of three national academies. Trained in physics and theoretical physics, he works across physical, medical, biological, social and ocean sciences, fluid dynamics and engineering. He joined the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR) at the University of Southampton in 1992 as a lecturer in underwater acoustics, and completed the monograph The Acoustic Bubble in the same year. He was awarded a personal chair at the age of 35 and has authored over 400 publications.