Prof Raj Thakur is Professor in Pharmaceutics in the School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast. He is the Co-founder, CTO and Director of Re-Vana Therapeutics. He has obtained his PhD in Drug Delivery from School of Pharmacy, Queens University Belfast (2009), M.Sc in Pharmaceutical Sciences from University Science Malaysia (2006) and B.Pharm from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, India (2002). His research interest is in the design and physicochemical characterisation of advanced long-acting biodegradable drug delivery systems including minimally invasive medical devices for localised drug delivery. Thakur’s ocular research is commercially focused which is currently developing two long-acting drug delivery platforms (EyeLief™ and OcuLief™) for delivery of both small molecules and biologics in tackling ocular diseases such as Glaucoma and Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD). Thakur is also acting as the vice chair for Ocular Drug Delivery (OcDD) Focus Group supported by the mission of Controlled Release Society (CRS). He has authored over 150 scientific publications, including 51 full papers (with h-index of 24 and i10-index of 37), 10 book chapters, four textbooks, several invited talks in national and international conferences and patents. He is currently an Editorial Board member of the three journals and a scientific advisor to the Editors of the J Pharmaceutical Sciences. He is also a reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals. To date, he has secured funding of approx. £2 million, from Invest NI, WHO, MRC CiC, UKIERI, EU (Horizon 2020) and Pharma industries.