Dr Mustafa Akay is a retired Senior Lecturer from the School of Engineering at the University of Ulster. He obtained the degrees of BSc and PhD from UMIST, and previously worked at Donald Macpherson & Co Ltd., Bury; Viking Pulp and Paper Mill, Izmir, and the Middle East Technical University, Ankara. His research interests include processing and mechanical and thermal properties of polymeric materials. Research activities have enabled industrial collaboration with companies such as ICI, Wilton, and Short Brothers, Belfast. Dr Akay has supervised numerous MSc and DPhil students and acted as external examiner for undergraduate courses, MSc, MPhil and PhD theses for various higher education establishments. He has published many journal/conference papers and has reviewed/refereed books and technical papers for various publishers/publications, such as Prentice Hall, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Composites, Journal of Materials Science, Polymer Engineering and Science and Journal of Biomechanical Engineering.