Professor Claypole is founder and director of the University's Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating (WCPC), which undertakes research on all areas of printing and coating. As well as aspects of graphics, current research activity includes printing for the manufacture of electronics and biotechnology, as well as the environmental impact and occupational health for the printing industry.
Speaking about the award, Professor Claypole said: "It is a great honour for the Centre to be recognised for our leadership in graphics research and our technology transfer into the printing industry, particularly in Wales. This would not have been possible without the hard work of those in the WCPC, in particular that of Professor David T Gethin who is also a founder and director".
The WCPC was recently recognised by Westminster as one of the five complementary Centres of Excellence in Plastic Electronics. WCPC expertise is in the realisation of plastic electronics through volume printing technology. The laboratories and staff have been developed over the past 20 years with support from the European Structural Funds and the Welsh Assembly. It has also enjoyed support for project from HEFCW, EPSRC and the Technology Strategy Board.
Under Professor Claypole's leadership, the WCPC won the prestigious EU 2009 Regiostar for technology for its ERDF "DIPLE" project, which transfers technology into the Welsh printing industry.
Professor Claypole is a British expert on ISO TC130 on standards for the graphic arts, and project leader on process standards for "Screen Printing" and "Flexography". The EPSRC, Government and Industry have funded his research, which has led to over 150 publications on printing and related topics. He currently jointly holds a prestigious EPSRC Portfolio Grant in "Complex Fluids for Complex flows". (Portfolio Grants are only awarded to world leading research groups.)
Professor Claypole is on the Advisory Boards of Cambridge University's Integrated Knowledge Centre within the Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics (CAPE), UK Printable Electronics Centre (PETEC), Imperial College Doctoral Training Centre in Plastic Electronics, and the Photonics and Plastic Electronics KTN.
He is a member of the board of the European Flexographic Technical Association (EFTA) and was recently elected to the Board of the International Association for Research Institutes in the Graphic Arts (IARIAGI). Until April 2007 he was Vice President Technical Papers of the Technical Association of the Graphic Arts (TAGA), the first European based member to be an officer of TAGA.
In 2008, he was awarded the TAGA Michael H Bruno Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the international graphic arts industry, and in 2009 received an award from EFTA for his outstanding contribution to flexographic printing.
