Laura is originally from North Wales and came to study MSci Chemistry with a Year in Industry at the University of Nottingham. Throughout her degree Laura found that she had a great interest in organic synthesis. She gained experience in the field on her year in industry at Endeavour Speciality Chemicals Ltd. where her project focused on the synthesis of flavour and fragrance chemicals for food. On returning to Nottingham she completed her Masters project in organic synthesis, particularly 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions, under supervision of Dr. James Dowden.

Laura applied to the CDT as she found she had an interest in making organic synthesis more sustainable and liked the idea of collaborative research. Laura is currently working with Prof. Christopher Moody on the use of sunlight-irradiated quinones to perform more sustainable oxidation reactions.

Laura's research project is aligned to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

Originally from Braga, Portugal, Tatiana graduated from the University of Minho in 2012 with a MChem degree in Medicinal Chemistry. During her final year, she worked on the synthesis of analogues of several natural O-heterocycles for in vitro biological evaluation. After that, she was granted a scholarship by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) to explore the synthesis and electrochemical behaviour of chromene-based derivatives in order to be tested in colorectal cancer cell lines. Currently, she has been focusing on the development of potential bioactive N-heterocyclic scaffolds using more sustainable synthetic methodologies. In her spare time, Tatiana enjoys watching films, reading and travelling.

Tatiana's research project is aligned to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

Originally from Kent, Megan graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2014 with an MSci Chemistry degree. During her Masters project she worked with Jon McMaster developing transition metal complexes as small models of the enzyme Galactose Oxidase. Megan’s interests include developing novel sustainable materials from renewable resources and biocatalysis. Megan is undertaking a collaborative project with Professor Steve Howdle and Prof Rob Stockman, involving the synthesis of renewable monomers for novel sustainable polymers. In her spare time, Megan enjoys swimming, travelling and reading.

Megan's research project is aligned to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

Originally from Liverpool, Steven graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2014 with a MChem Chemistry degree. During his final year he worked under the supervision of Prof Pete Licence dealing with reactive distillations of ionic liquids. During his third year of his undergraduate Steven spent the year working for Astra Zeneca Mölndal, Sweden. Outside of the lab Steven enjoys art galleries and travelling. Steven’s current project aims to explore the dissolution of bio polymers using ionic liquids. The project aims to research into the interactions associated with the bio polymer in question and the ionic liquid and also what features of on ionic liquid makes it suitable for dissolution chemistry.

Steven's research project is aligned to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

Rossella comes from Italy, she graduated from the University of Cagliari in 2014 with a MChem Chemistry degree. During her final year she moved to the University of Nottingham with the Erasmus project to do her master project. She worked under the supervision of Prof. Martyn Poliakoff developing heterogeneous catalysts with supercritical carbon dioxide for biofuel production and homogeneous catalysis with near critical water to acrylic production. Her research interests include ionic liquids with special emphasis in catalytic applications. Her project involves synthesis of ionic liquids and coordination complex.

In the future, Rossella intends to work in research and development in a company. In her spare time, Rossella enjoys listening to music, playing the saxophone, running and visiting Italy whenever possible.

Hailing from Birmingham, Thomas graduated from The University of Nottingham in 2014 with an MSci in Chemistry. During his final year he worked in collaboration with GSK on a drug discovery project for the treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. Thomas has also completed an internship with BP plc looking at Enhanced Oil Recovery. Thomas’ research work revolves around the development of efficient, sustainable chemo-enzymatic routes from cheap, renewable feedstocks to high value chemicals useful in an array of different areas. Outside of the lab Thomas actively participates within the public engagement towards science as well as enjoying archery and writing.

Tim received his MSci from Nottingham University in 2014, working under the supervision of Professor Chris Moody on the synthesis of novel thiazine-thiophenes. Tim’s interests in chemistry are natural product synthesis, flow chemistry and drug fragment design influenced by his time spent in GlaxoSmithKline's Fibrosis DPU. Tim is currently working under the joint supervision of Dr. James Dowden and Dr. Anca Pordea on the synthesis of high value sp³ rich biocative scaffolds. Originally from Hertforshire, Tim’s interests include shooting, badminton and the works of Michael Crichton.

Tim's research project is aligned to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

Originally from Belfast, Connor graduated from Queen’s University Belfast with an MSci in Chemistry in 2014. His final year project was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Kirill Tchabanenko, focusing on the synthesis of Englerin A analogues. Connor’s interests include asymmetric catalysis and the total synthesis of natural products. Connor is currently carrying out his PhD project under the supervision of Professor Hon Wai Lam, working on the development of new reactions which are catalysed by abundant first row transition metals. Outside of the lab, Connor enjoys swimming, photography and travelling.

Connor's research project is aligned to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

Paul, originally from Belfast, obtained his MSci in Chemistry from the University of Nottingham in 2014 after working with the George group on infrared spectroscopy of photoactivated ligand substitution reactions.

Paul has undertaken a collaborative research project between the schools of Chemistry and Synthetic Biology. This project is the use of vibrational spectroscopic probes to provide real time monitoring of a fermentation process. He also has an interest in strengthening links between governmental policy design and the scientific community.

Paul is also an avid kayaker, previously competing with the Ireland canoe slalom team and currently representing the University at national competitions.

Paul's research project is aligned to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

Grace studied for her Chemistry degree at the University of Nottingham, graduating with a Masters degree in 2014. During her degree Grace undertook a number of summer projects with the Walsh group and spent a year in Belgium on an industrial placement at Janssen Pharmaceutica. Before starting her PhD Grace spent three months at the Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Germany. While there, she worked with the group of Dr Benjamin Dietzek, and in collaboration with Dr Elizabeth Gibson, to investigate the charge-separated states of photocathodes using resonance Raman spectroscopy. Grace is currently working with Dr Darren Walsh and Dr Ross Denton. The project focusses on developing more sustainable Birch-like reduction reactions for organic chemistry, by developing Earth-abundant cathode materials for electrolysis.”

Grace's research project is aligned to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

Originally from London, Edward graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2014 with an MSci in Chemistry with a Year in Industry, completing an assessed year-long industrial placement at Sygnature Discovery Ltd. During his final year he worked with Mr Thomas McInally and Dr Jonathan Fray on a drug discovery project for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline. His research project involves the sustainable chemical synthesis of biologically active compounds in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline. This includes using more renewable starting materials, reagents and solvents, as well as seeking and developing more sustainable synthetic chemical methods. Outside of chemistry, Edward enjoys playing the ukulele and rock climbing.

Edward's research project is aligned to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

Born in Castelo Branco (Portugal), Mariana has a bachelor in Biochemistry and a master in Biotechnology from the Faculty of Sciences and Technology – New University of Lisbon (FCT-UNL). As a part of her course, she completed a 6-month internship in ITQB (Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica). During her final Masters year, she worked under the supervision of Dr. Alexandre Paixa and Prof. Pedro Simões (FCT-UNL). Her focus was on developing optimization of the continuous production of biodiesel, from a renewable feedstock, combining biocatalysis and supercritical fluids. Afterwards, Mariana had two research grants working with supercritical fluids and renewable feedstocks.

Her research interest involves production of biopolymers and green solvents. Mariana chose University of Nottingham to develop her international skills and to be able to follow her research interests. In the future, Mariana intends to work in industry.

In her spare time, Mariana likes to visit other countries (when possible), to do modern dance, line skates and, of course, visit Portugal as many times as she can.

Mariana's research project is aligned to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: