Professor of Materials Chemistry
Head, Inorganic and Materials Chemistry
School of Chemistry, University of Bristol
Bristol, BS8 1TS, UK
AND
Faculty International Director
Faculty of Science, University of Bristol
Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6224-3073
ResearcherID: D-7859-2016
Linked-In Profile: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/charl-fj-faul-付强-6680474
ResearchGate Profile
Charl FJ Faul received his M.Sc. (Physical Chemistry) from the Department of Chemistry, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, investigating the destruction of halogenated wastes by means of high-temperature pyrolysis. He then spent one year in the city of Durban, on the east coast of South Africa, in the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Natal, investigating the use of ultrasound for water treatment (a joint project with ESKOM, the national electricity provider). He then returned to Stellenbosch and completed his Ph.D. (Polymer Science) with Prof. Ron Sanderson in 2000.
His thesis focused on the use of mesoscopically organized polyelectrolyte-surfactant complexes as templates for directed synthesis. This already brought him into contact with Prof. Dr. Markus Antonietti at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (a new window will open) in 1998. After several research stays from this time on, he joined the MPI in 2001 as post-doctoral fellow. After less than a year he changed roles, and became group leader within the Colloid Chemistry Department, heading the Ionic Self-Assembly (ISA) group. He moved to the Inorganic and Materials Chemistry Section, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol in January 2005 as Lecturer. He held the position of Senior Lecturer from 2007-2012, Reader in Materials Chemistry (August 2012 – July 2015), and holds a personal chair as Professor of Materials Chemistry (since August 2015).
Charl was visiting professor in the Molecular Materials group at the Molecular Materials Group, Helsinki University of Technology, hosted by Prof. Dr. Olli Ikkala (2006 – 2010). He then held a prestigious visiting professorship from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hosted by Prof. Zhixiang Wei, National Centre for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, China) in 2012. He was furthermore invited by Prof Xi Zhang (Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China) as visiting international lecturer in 2011 and 2012, and visits Tsinghua on a regular basis. Charl was appointed in October 2013 as adjunct professor at the Department of Chemistry at Tsinghua University. This is a 3-year appointment, which was extended for a further 3-year period until the end of 2019. He was also visiting professor at the University of Rennes 1, Rennes, France in 2018.
He was appointed to the International Editorial Board of the Wiley journal, ChemistrySelect, in December 2015.
Locally, he is co-PI and serves on the management board of the Bristol Centre for Functional Nanomaterials (BCFN) and recently joined the management board of the Technology Enhanced Chemical Synthesis Centre for Doctoral Training and the external advisory board of the Bristol Composites Institute (ACCIS).
In August 2013 took on the role of Director of Graduate Recruitment for the School of Chemistry, and was in charge of all recruitment activities (local and international, Masters and PhD level) for the School of Chemistry until July 2018 (5 years). He is, since August 2018, the Head of Inorganic and Materials and is on the senior management team of the School of Chemistry. Charl was recently appointed as Faculty International Director (April 2021), where he is responsible for international partnerships, profile and activities for the whole Faculty of Science, University of Bristol.
True to his multicultural South African background, his group has always had a distinct international flavor (with members from China, Nigeria, UK, Mexico, India, Poland, Malta, Germany, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, Thailand, Pakistan, Oman and Kazakhstan over the years!). There is a strong focus on functional supramolecular polymers, and the design, synthesis and application of electroactive aniline-based porous conjugated materials in the group. Further activities also include 3D printing of functional materials for soft energy storage devices.
See Charl’s LinkedIn page for more details.
Charl is very happily married to Jacqueline Conradie-Faul (already since 1996!), a very talented artist, art director and designer, and former Director of the Bristol International Student Centre (BISC)! He was also a significant volunteer at BISC, and has, as head chef for their big events, prepared more than 15000 meals until January 2020 (obviously with the help of many volunteers, including the Faul Research Group)! Jacqueline is now welcoming internatonal students as part of the Global Lounge team in the UoB’s International Office, and the International Student Chaplain at the UoB’s Multifaith Chaplaincy.
Faul Research Group 
