Richard Friend is a physicist and engineer who has pioneered the understanding of the electronic properties of semiconductors made from organic materials. His work with carbon-based polymers represents the foundation of a new type of electronics, which is now used in a wide range of commercial technologies. His current research interests include the fundamental electronic processes involved in charge photogeneration in molecular semiconductors.

Richard has always taken a keen interest in the commercialisation of his research, and has been involved with numerous businesses designing and manufacturing polymer semiconductors, with applications such as light-emitting diodes, solar cells and thin film transistor circuits. He is the recipient of several awards for science and engineering, and in 2003 received a knighthood for his services to physics.