JRI Chief Executive Appointed Visiting Professor at University of Sheffield

21st October 2016

The Chief Executive of Britain's largest orthopaedic manufacturer has been appointed as a Visiting Professor at the University of Sheffield.

Keith Jackson, who heads the multi-award winning Sheffield-based company JRI Orthopaedics, will be a visiting professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He will deliver keynote lectures and act as a mentor to both undergraduate and postgraduate students. -I am thrilled to have been offered this opportunity to work with the next generation of engineers, entrepreneurs and business leaders, said Keith. -The aim is to enrich the curriculum with real world examples, such as the product development process; following an idea or customer need on its journey to a successful product design, testing and through regulatory approval channels to market. -I hope there will be opportunities to facilitate some workshops and I'm really excited at the prospect of mentoring a cohort of top-flight students. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Keith spent the first five years of his career as a design engineer for British motoring powerhouse Jaguar. After a year of voluntary work in Africa, he returned to the UK to study for a MSc in Biomedical Engineering. Keith, a Chartered Mechanical Engineer and a Fellow of both the IMechE and the Institute of Directors, worked in sales, product development and management before being appointed Chief Executive of JRI Orthopaedics in 2010. The company has world-class expertise in the design, development and manufacture of orthopaedic implants and surgical instruments. Uniquely, it is wholly owned by the charity Orthopaedic Research UK (ORUK), and has donated £12m over the last 10 years to fund world class research into bone and joint disease at centres of excellence across the country. Keith's visiting professorship builds on strong collaborative research and knowledge transfer links between JRI Orthopaedics and the University of Sheffield. Professor Neil Hyatt, Head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering says "I'm delighted to welcome Keith to the Department. His vast amount of experience within the medical devices industry provides an excellent opportunity for us to work together on joint programmes which benefit both academia and industry."