I was inspired to make chemistry my career during my BSc at UEA. Subsequently I undertook a PhD exploring the interactions of metal atoms trapped in inert low temperature solids. I then spent 18 months at the Air Chemistry Division of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, researching stratospheric kinetics and photo chemistry. Returning to the UK I was a BP Venture-Research-Fellow at the University of Cambridge, working with Professor Peter Edwards FRS, testing the theoretical hypothesis that atoms, even in highly symmetric environments may spontaneously become dipolar. I joined Kingston Polytechnic in 1992 as a senior lecturer in physical chemistry, teaching widely across the subject. My teaching interests are kinetics, surface chemistry, computational chemistry and spectroscopy. Since joining Kingston University I have developed research interests in materials chemistry, principally studying organic/inorganic hybrid materials for a variety of electronic applications. I am currently the head of the department of chemical and pharmaceuitcal sciences and have overseen a number of changes to the structure of the school and faculty during that time. I have maintained some research activity in spite of the demands of my role and have developed an interest in computational chemistry which has allowed me to collaborate with colleagues on a variety of projects. Most recently I have been involved with a project led by Dr Gemma Shearman in which we use muon spin resonance to study the interactions of small molecules with membrane materials.
Head of Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences & Associate Professor