The FRG had the pleasure of hosting Prof Iain McCulloch, from Imperial, on Wednesday. Iain’s talk was preceded by a student mini symposium, where Angel also spoke! Angel gave a great presentation, which was then followed by a fantastic lecture by Iain on the “Design of Polymer Semiconductors for Solar Cells and Organic Electronics”.
It was great to hear the latest results from Iain’s group, and an exciting opportunity to hear about some of our own students’ research!
Charl had the chance to experience the world-leading research activities in materials chemistry, supramolecular chemistry and self-assembly at the University of Tokyo. Prof Takashi Kato, the perfect host, organised an excellent visit for Charl, including a research seminar on Tuesday morning, and many interesting discussions.
Takashi also ensured that Charl experienced excellent Japanese food!
Charl also had the chance to look around Tokyo on Sunday (especially Shinjuku district).
After a good Christmas break, the year has started on a high note! A large number of academic staff members from the University of Bristol traveled to Kyoto for the 2nd Kyoto-Bristol Symposium.
A number of colleagues from Bristol (the School of Chemistry and the BCFN) and Kyoto took part in the “Physical Chemistry and Materials Chemistry Session”, co-organised by Prof Mitsuo Sawamoto and Charl.
A number of new collaborative projects were explored, and all participants had a fantastic time in beautiful Kyoto!
Charl visited Beijing and the China PhD workshop last week to talk about graduate opportunities for study and research at the School of Chemistry. Although very short, it was a busy trip meeting with students interested in studying in Bristol and giving a presentation (with Dr Terry McMaster from the BCFN, and Dr Emma Turner from the Bristol Chemical Synthesis CDT) at Beihang University.
Here Charl is talking to an interested candidate at the workshop!
Although also Christmas season, it is also viva season in the FRG. Emily successfully defended her thesis on Monday the 2nd of December, Ben his on Thursday the 5th of December, and Tom is defending his thesis today! Well done Emily and Ben, and good luck Tom!
More details and photos to follow soon!
A formal announcement was made this morning by the Universities and Science Minister, David Willetts, concerning funding of centres for doctoral training (CDTs).
Bristol performed very well, and managed to secure funding for 7 CDTs, while also partner and closely involved in a further 4 CDTs. Of particular interest was the successful funding bid for the BCFN, where Charl was closely involved in both the writing and the interview stages of the bid!
Well done Bristol!
It was recently announced that Charl has taken up an adjunct professorship at the Department of Chemistry at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. This 3-year position will certainly contribute to strengthen the ties between Bristol and Tsinghua!
The FRG took the opportunity to volunteer and help out at the Bristol International Student Centre (BISC) last night. We helped to cook welcome meals for new international students, and as it was the last night of these meals, it was very busy!
Here we can be seen in action, with some other Bisc staff and volunteers, and taking a break after a hectic evening! We served more than 140 meals! Well done!
Angel is looking at the use of molecules found in biosupramolecular systems as building blocks, such as guanine, to produce oligo(aniline)-based materials with anisotropic properties. Thus, the understanding of the self-assembling properties of these kind of building blocks becomes crucial to achieve control over the morphology and the molecular architecture of the final material. The Symposium on Nucleic Acids, Hydrogen Bonding and Supramolecular Chemistry has provided to him the opportunity to talk and listen to various scientists experts in the area such as Jeffery Davis, University of Maryland, USA, and Stefano Masiero, University of Bologna, Italy. Both experts in the study of self-assembly of nucleobases and their use as functional materials. Angel is now back in Bristol, after an exciting scientific day at University of Warwick, with new insights and ideas in how to take advantage of the different self-assembling properties of guanine-based complexes to face his current scientific challenges to produce anisotropic oligo(aniline)-based materials.
There are, as always, people leaving the group (Feli taking up a new job in Germany – congrats!), and new people joining! Yaozu just joined the group from China as Marie Curie fellow – welcome! More to follow soon!
