Charl is back in Beijing at Tsinghua, teaching an introductory course on liquid crystals and soft matter on the Tsinghua Xuetang programme. His host is prof Xi Zhang, who will visit Bristol in May this year.
Before the lecture series starts, there was an opportunity to enjoy good weather and clear skies to see Beijing from a different perspective!
Ben had his viva at the end of last week, and performed exceptionally well! A perfect way to end his PhD, and a very good reason to end the week on a high note with cake, fizz and celebrations!
Here Ben is celebrating with Simon Hall (internal examiner), Charl and Uwe Bunz (external examiner). More photos of the celebrations to follow! Well done Ben!
Pete shared some of his latest results in a mini symposium as part of Prof. Ryota Sakamota’s visit, while Carl gave an excellent talk before our main speaker of the day – Prof Uwe Bunz from Heidelberg.
Uwe gave a great talk on some exciting new approaches to chemical sensors (so-called “chemical tongues”). Great talks, and exciting science all around!
We have a busy two weeks coming up – with Pete and Carl speaking at two mini symposia connected to two international speakers this week [Prof Sakamoto and Prof Bunz]. These events will be followed by Ben’s viva on Friday, and another symposium next week (Prof Pietrangelo, where Ben will be speaking).
Updates and photos to follow!
Charl is currently in Australia, where he was invited to speak at research management workshop at Macquarie University (Sydney), and at the Australasian Colloids and Interface Society 2017 Meeting (Coffs Harbour).
Sydney was sweltering, but fortunately cooled down after a massive rain storm! Here a view of the famous sights in the harbour area, just before the storm hit!
Charl had the pleasure of visiting Malaysia for some recruitment activities (in and around Kuala Lumpur) recently.
It was a busy time, with visits to the Ministry of Education, a local matriculation college (just outside KL), as well as a British Council Recruitment fair. More photos from the school visit to appear shortly!
Charl also visited Prof Bo Song at the University of Soochow, Suzhou, China. Bo, a former PhD student of close collaborator prof Xi Zhang at Tsinghua University, was the perfect host, and made sure that the stay was perfect!
Charl gave two lectures – one covering research aspects from the Faul Research Group, and one where he shared some experiences about laboratory safety from the School of Chemistry here in Bristol!
Charl is currently in China for a short conference tour. He is starting in Beijing, where he is speaking at the Porous Organic Polymers meeting (held in the impressive Chinese Academy of Science’s Academic Hall).
Charl will then also visit former FRG group member Yaozu Liao at Donghua University in Shanghai, to take part in an exciting one-day symposium (organised by Yaozu). Finally, Charl will use the opportunity to visit and give an invited lecture at Suzhou University.
Maha and Charl are attending the well-known International Conference on Synthetic Metals, the longest-running conference series in the field of conducting and semiconducting organic materials. This year the conference is held in Guangzhou, China, which is very humid and hot this time of the year!
Maha is presenting a poster, and Charl gave a talk on Monday (and chaired the afternoon session). More updates to follow soon!
Charl is visiting the chemistry departments at the Universities of Cape Town and Stellenbosch this week to explore potential collaborations and give research seminars. It is of course great to be back in South Africa, and great to visit old friends, colleagues and potential new collaborators.
Charl is being hosted by Assoc. Prof. Greg Smith at UCT, and Dr Prinessa Chellan at Stellenbosch.
Faul Research Group 