Debra Carr
Defence and Security Accelerator, Innovation Partner - Scotland
Debra Carr (CF CEng, FIMMM, FCSFS) has been a member of the Defence Safety & Security Leadership Team (and its predecessor) since 2010. She completed a HND in Materials Technology and BSc(Hons) in Materials Science at Sunderland Polytechnic followed by a PhD from The University of Birmingham on the compression properties of carbon fibre reinforced composites (supported by Courtaulds and RAE). Debra joined the British Composites Society as a PhD student in the mid-1980s and subsequently transferred to IOM3.
Debra joined the Stores and Clothing Research and Development Establishment (SCRDE which became the Defence Clothing and Textiles Agency, DCTA) in the early 1990s as a materials scientist working on personal ballistic protective equipment. In 1998, Debra transferred to academia as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Imperial College (paintings on canvas with reference to the Turner Collection) followed by academic positions at The University of Otago (Clothing and Textile Sciences) and Cranfield University at The Defence Academy (Impact and Armour Group). Her academic record can be found here. Her research interests include body armour and helmets, conservation science, textile science, forensic textile science and wound ballistics. In 2018, Debra joined DASA where she helps Scottish innovators secure funding to accelerate innovative ideas that benefit HM Armed Forces and National Security.
Debra’s career highlight has been meeting Shaun the ESA Astronaut at the 2023 UK Space Conference (see attached photograph).