I obtained my PhD in 2013 from The University of Manchester under the supervision of Prof. Michael Turner working on N-heterocyclic palladium carbene catalysts for polytriarylamine synthesis. After this I moved to the University of Liverpool working with Prof. Andrew Cooper as a postdoctoral research associate on soluble conjugated microporous polymers (C-PIMs) and water splitting using conjugated microporous polymers as photocatalysts. In 2015 started my new role as a Research Lead within the group leading the photocatalysis research. In 2020 I started my independent career as a Strathclyde Chancellor’s Fellow.

The goal of my group is to address challenges in sustainability. In particular we are aiming to make so-called ‘solar fuels’ (e.g. hydrogen and carbon monoxide) only using renewable resources and sunlight. For this we make organic materials that act as photocatalysts to drive reactions, such as water splitting and carbon dioxide reduction. We utilise a range of different materials, such as small oligomers, polymers, conjugated microporous polymers and conjugated organic frameworks. The modularity and structural diversity of the available building blocks allows for excellent fine tuning of the properties of these organic materials thus optimising their performance. Finally, we are interested in large scale application and working towards making demonstrator devices.