Position:

Associate Principal and Executive Dean of Science

Distinguished Professor, Pure and Applied Chemistry, Research Chair of Chemistry, Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, University of Strathclyde, Director of the Centre for Molecular Nanometrology. 

Biography

Professor Duncan Graham is based at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow and is currently Associate Principal and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science.  He has a research group of around 15, and over 300 publications to date. Duncan Graham is also a co-founder of the  Centre for Molecular Nanometrology and was a co-founder and director of Renishaw Diagnostics Ltd (formerly D3 Technologies) that was sold to Bruker in 2016.  He is editor in chief of the RSC journal Chemical Society Reviews and  chaired the scientific advisory board for LGC Ltd.  Previously he served as Chair of the Publishing Board for the Royal Society of Chemistry and was a trustee of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2020-2024).  He is currently a trustee for the Association of British Spectroscopists Trust fund. He served as president of the Analytical Division of the RSC (2017-2020) and as a trustee of the Analytical Chemistry Trust Fund (2017-2020). He serves on the advisory editorial board for Analyst, and Chemical Science, the editorial advisory board for the  Journal of Raman Spectroscopy and has served on various peer review panels. Previously he was the vice chair of the Multidisciplinary Expert Review Panel for CRUK and a member of their Science Committee (2015-2021) and served on the EPSRCs Strategic Advisory Team for Physical Sciences (2016-2021). 

Posts held (all at the University of Strathclyde):

January 2022   Associate Principal & Executive Dean of Science

August 2016     Head of Department, Pure and Applied Chemistry

August 2013     Deputy Head of Department, Pure and Applied Chemistry

August 2012     Deputy Director WestCHEM

August 2010     Director, WestCHEM
August 2008     Deputy Director, WestCHEM
August 2008     Head of Research Pure and Applied Chemistry
June 2005         Co-Director, Centre for Molecular Nanometrology
March 2004       Professor, Pure and Applied Chemistry
April 2003         Senior Lecturer, Pure and Applied Chemistry
October 2002    RSC’s Analytical Grand Prix Five Year Fellowship
June 2002         Lecturer, Pure and Applied Chemistry
June 1997         BBSRC David Phillips Five-Year Fellow
Jan 1996           Postdoctoral Researcher

Awards and Fellowships:

2025                  RSC Interdisciplinary Prize

2017                  Charles Mann Award, FACSS.  

2016                  Theophilus Redwood Award, Royal Society of Chemistry

2012                  Fellows award from the Society for Applied Spectroscopy
2012                  Craver award of the Coblentz Society
2011                  Fellowship of the Society of Biology
2010                  Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award
2009                  Corday Morgan Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry
2007                  Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
2005                  Nexxus Young Life Scientist of the Year
2004                  RSC’s SAC Silver Medal
2002                  RSC’s Analytical Grand Prix five year fellowship
1997                  BBSRC David Phillips five-year fellowship

The main focus is the creation of a range of functionalised metallic nanoparticles which can be used for a variety of different purposes which include the diagnosis of disease and also the treatment of disease.  This includes the chemical manipulation of the appropriate surface molecules and labels required to turn these metal nanoparticles into functioning nanosensors capable of detecting single molecules in complex environments using SERS.  In addition, the mounting of therapeutic agents onto these nanoparticles has resulted in significantly increased performance of the drugs when tested against particular disease states.

1992  BSc Hons Chemistry, University of Edinburgh

1996  PhD, Chemistry, University of Edinburgh (Synthesis of Anti-HIV Oligonucleotides for Antisense Therapy, Supervisor Prof Tom Brown)