Meet Alana Thompson

Meet Alana Thompson

In a series of blog posts, we will be introducing CAMS’ industry members, to find out more about their work and how they support CAMS.

By Alana Thompson, Marketing Manager, Anthias Consulting Ltd

Anthias Consulting Ltd – we have been an industry member of CAMS since its inception. We’re a small team of analytical scientists and support staff with our office based in South Cambridgeshire. We provide training in analytical science techniques and consultancy support offering independent advice for troubleshooting problems, helping develop and optimise methods, and guidance to improve sensitivity and efficiency. We support professionals in a range of roles including analysts, researchers, technicians and technologists, in both academia and industry.

We are a part of the training arm of CAMS, BEAM, and you will find our scheduled training courses listed on the events pages of the CAMS website. We are proud to be a member of BEAM supporting the continuous improvement of knowledge and skills and helping individuals progress their professional development throughout their career journey. We feel that we bring a unique perspective to understanding the skills and development needs of the community, from over 17 years delivering training and consultancy support to professionals in industry and academia, on a hugely diverse range of applications. This gives us insight and experience in a vast range of analytical systems, applications and methods, which we aim to share through our training. Attendees of our courses are often surprised by the variety of roles, industries and research areas of their fellow trainees, it makes for a rich learning environment where we can all learn from each other’s experiences and, underlines the broad scope of these analytical techniques.

Our aim is to “bridge the gap” between manufacturers of scientific instruments and the end users. We run public scheduled courses throughout the year and travel the world to train analysts on their own systems. Our ultimate aim is to help laboratories get the most out of the instrumentation they have. This can be through looking at the optimum set-up, most appropriate consumables and examining each parameter; to ensure all of these aspects match the end goal of the analysis. When we’re called upon to fix a problem, we usually combine an element of training so that the team can benefit from learning more about maintaining and troubleshooting their instrument and method, and how to approach problems in the future.

Our training programmes range from courses which are universal and can be applied to any instrument and on these we teach how to use a particular technique and optimise the parameters, maintain parts and common areas for troubleshooting. Our manufacturer-specific courses focus on a particular instrument and cover how to operate, maintain and troubleshoot that model of hardware and software. With all our courses, we teach the underlying chemistry of the technique and how to focus on the end goal of the analysis to guide each step of method development.

We have seen a huge demand for practical-based training in the past year, with members of the analytical community looking for hands-on experience in the laboratory. With our partner venues we’re able to offer a training facility with live instruments so that attendees can have a go themselves, under the guidance of an expert. They can then return to their own labs with the knowledge and confidence to implement what they have learnt.

When not teaching, our trainers are practicing analytical chemists and can be found in the lab installing and maintaining instruments, developing methods and analysing samples while  applying their skills on a wide range of multi-disciplinary projects including food, drug and space applications.

CAMS members benefit from a 15% discount on all Anthias scheduled courses in 2023 – see the full list at https://www.anthias.co.uk/training/training-course-list

Please do reach out to us for any training needs you have, we would welcome the opportunity to connect with you and see where we might be able to help.

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