Category Archives: General interest

Charl speaking in Shanghai

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Charl was invited to deliver a keynote lecture at the 10th International Conference on Advanced Fibers and Polymer Materials (ICAFPM 2021), held at Donghua University, Shanghai, China. As travel is still restricted due to COVID-19, Charl Zoomed over to Shanghai to deliver his lecture on N-containing conjugated microporous polymers early Monday morning! He also joined the State Key Laboratory’s International Advisory Board meeting on Tuesday!

It was also an opportunity to congratulate Donghua University on it’s 70th birthday, and celebrate the 10th edition of the ICAFPM conference series.

Commonwealth Chemistry Posters submission

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Great efforts by group member Basiram on his successful submission to this years’ 2nd Commonwealth Chemistry Posters exhibition. This is a virtual event that allows for collaboration, discussion and engagement with other chemists from across the Commonwealth working on problems that address Sustainable Development Goals.

Basiram’s poster covers his work on “Tuneable Naphthalene-Based Microporous Polyimide Networks for CO2 Capture and Conversion” and is a fantastic summary of his research. Available to view here.

New lectureship advertised for the School of Chemistry!

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The School of Chemistry has just started to advertise for a new teaching-only lectureship (initial 3-year fixed term position). The full advert and detailed job description can be found here.

This is an exciting new development, and provides an opportunity to join one of the top chemistry schools in the UK. Recent rankings placed the School of Chemistry 3rd in the UK for chemistry research (Times Good University Guide 2021, £), and 5th in the UK for chemistry teaching (Guardian University Guide 2021).

Belated congratulations!

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Rather late than never – congratulations are in order to both Robert and Xue who successfully passed their MSc (Research) vivas at the end of 2020! Robert has now joined the group of Jean Hubert Oliver at the University of Florida as PhD student, and Xue secured a prestigious China Scholarship Council studentship to continue in the FRG with her PhD.

Thanks also to Pol Besenius from Mainz (Robert’s external examiner) and Emily Draper from Glasgow (Xue’s external).

Not sure how we missed making these important events known to the world – sincere apologies! Well done to both!

Funded postdoc position available

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As part of the £6M newly EPSRC-funded project “emPOWER: in-body artificial muscles for physical augmentation, function restoration, patient empowerment and future healthcare”, we are excited to advertise a research associate/senior research associate position within the Faul Research Group, with a focus on conjugated and block copolymer synthesis for implantable artificial muscles. This position will be available for up to 5 years.

Please note that the closing date for applications is the 28th of February.

https://www.empowermuscles.com

In addition to this exciting opportunity to join the FRG, there are a further 4 positions in the emPOWER project available in Bristol (also for up to 5 years):

  • one position in the Perriman group, focussing on the bio-engineering aspects and tissue engineering
  • 3 positions within the Soft Robotics group in engineering with Prof Jonathan Rossiter, focussing on soft robotic actuation, artificial muscles, smart materials and mechanical metamaterials

Online conferences continue – GWPore!

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GWPore – the local GW4 network for porous materials activities at the univerisities of Cardiff, Bath, Exeter and Bristol – has had an excitiing online conference, focussed on giving early career research the opportunity to present posters and oral presentations.

A number of FRG group members attended and gave posters (Julia, Connie, Merve, Safa). There were also two talks from the group (Neha and Veronica), as well as a talk by our colleague and close collaborator Kamran (from the Beijing)!

Fantastic effort by all, and a great opportunity to network and see what other exciting porous materials research is currently being performed in the South West of the UK and beyond!

Talk by Anita Etale… on water purification

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Great to have Anita and her research group (from the Global Change Institute and School of Chemistry, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa) visit on Zoom.

Anita gave a great talk on the challenges around acid main drainage, and the consequent impact on drinking water quality in informal settlements around Johannesburg.

Looking forward to developing some of the ideas generated and discussed into some exciting science with real impact! Thanks Anita!