Professor John Patrick's research interests, in general, are in the production and characterisation of carbonaceous materials ranging from coals and cokes to carbons, pitch-bonded materials and graphites. Expertise has been gained especially in establishing the inter-relationships between raw material properties, process conditions and the structure and properties of the various carbon materials. He has supervised 27 research students over the last 20 years and has been or is currently a member of : EPSRC Chemical Engineering College; BCURA Council, DTI Advisory Committee on Coal Research, Coal Research Forum Executive Committee; Particle and Coal Technology Sub-committee of SERC Process Engineering Committee; British Carbon Group Committee, Coal Utilisation Subject Group Commitee of the IChemE and Northern Carbon Research Committee of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He has over 160 publications in journals and conference proceedings, 4 chapters in books, is the editor of 1 book and the author of more than 20 official reports on research projects.