13 December 2023

Oxford Instruments plc launches Australia hub

Leading UK microscopy and analysis company Oxford Instruments plc launches Australia hub to extend reach to this growing market, with demand from academia and industry

Oxford Instruments plc designs, supplies and supports high-technology products and systems which enable its customers to image, analyse and manipulate almost any material down to the atomic and molecular level. The company, the first commercial spin out from Oxford University, was started up in the garden shed of its founders, Sir Martin and Lady Audrey Wood, in 1959. It has since expanded to become a global leader in imaging and analysis systems employing more than 2,000 people, and listed on the London Stock Exchange, with academic and industrial customers in over 70 countries.

The Group’s products and services help its customers to accelerate R&D, increase manufacturing productivity and make ground-breaking discoveries across its key market segments: Semiconductor & Communications, Advanced Materials, Healthcare & Life Science, Energy & Environment and Quantum Technology. Its core purpose is to enable a greener, healthier, more connected advanced society.

Oxford Instruments’ team in Australia will be led by Ken van’t Schip as Regional Manager for Australia and New Zealand and Jocelyn Carpenter as Commercial Services Manager. 

The newly created team will support the whole Oxford Instruments product range, which encompasses microscopy and analysis techniques including electron, atomic force and Raman microscopy, as well as technologies for low and ultra-low temperature environments and high magnetic fields, and semiconductor fabrication equipment.

With 15 years’ dedicated experience in scientific sales since graduating in nanotechnology from the University of Technology, Ken van’t Schip joins Oxford Instruments from Scitek Australia, where he was territory manager and business manager for Surface Science. He previously spent five years with scientific instrument company JEOL.

Jocelyn Carpenter is returning to the imaging and analysis industry after a number of years in consultancy. She previously built up an extensive network of customers across Australia and New Zealand with nanoTechnology Systems and before that with FEI Company, having spent over 10 years in academia as an electron microscopist and lecturer.

Ken and Jocelyn will work closely with Oxford Instruments’ longstanding sales and service representatives in Australia, Julie Sheffield-Parker and Les Brownlow, as their business transitions to Oxford Instruments’ direct operation. Oxford Instruments Australia Pty Ltd will become the key customer point of contact for Oxford Instruments in Australia and New Zealand, offering a full business service, including handling of sales, technical support and general enquiries.

Dr Eugene Choo joins Ken and Jocelyn to launch the service and installation function for Australia and New Zealand, relocating from South-East Asia where he has worked for Oxford Instruments since 2017.

Jonathan Bryon, President of East and South East Asia, Oxford Instruments, said:

“At Oxford Instruments we take pride in building market intimacy to first understand and then address our customers’ needs. With their deep knowledge of the technology and the market, our Australia and New Zealand team are supremely well placed to help customers accelerate their progress in a range of areas, right through from academic research to commercial R&D and high-volume production.”

Ken van’t Schip, Regional Manager for Australia and New Zealand (pictured, top), said:

“Early conversations with potential customers have demonstrated that there is real excitement and appetite for our product ranges here. It’s fantastic to be able to demonstrate how we can unlock analysis challenges for customers, enabling them to achieve results they didn’t know were possible.”

Jocelyn Carpenter, Commercial Services Manager for Australia and New Zealand, said:

“I’m excited to be returning to the industry and look forward to taking care of our customers as part of the excellent Oxford Instruments team.”

To contact the team, please email sales.australia@oxinst.com, or for service enquiries: service.australia@oxinst.com