Laurence Taylor
Laurence is originally from the village of Headley in Hampshire, which has absolutely nothing of note in it. He moved to Cambridge for his undergraduate degree, then fled to the North for his PhD in St Andrews under Dr Petr Kilian. He's now settled for an intermediate location in the Midlands for a postdoc. He enjoys chemistry, which may explain why he's currently working in a chemistry department. He drinks a lot of coffee and wonders why he suffers from insomnia. He also enjoys regular human activities, like listening to human music and things that aren't chemistry, probably. His research interests include the chemistry of phosphorus, and the elucidation of mechanisms through kinetic studies.
Charlotte Gidman
Charlotte graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2015 with an MSci in Biochemistry and Biological Chemistry. She spent her fourth year project within Dr Deborah Kays research group, and decided to stay in Nottingham to do a joint PhD between Dr Deborah Kays and Prof. Neil Champness. Her PhD involves working with Group 13 and Group 14 analogues of BODIPY.
Hawazen Hassanain
Hawazen began her academic career at King Abdul Aziz University with a B.Sc. (2011). She become a teaching assistant at chemistry department, Science Faculty for Girls, King Abdul Aziz University (2012). In 2015, She obtained her Msc (by Research) from The University of Nottingham under the supervision of Prof. Neil Champness and Dr Deborah Kays. In 2015 she rejoined the Champness and Kays group to continue her research and complete her PhD.
Roberto Nolla-Saltiel
Roberto (Rob) is originally from Mexico City. He received his B.Sc. Chemistry from UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) in 2013, working with silver and gold catalysis, under the supervision of Dr Susana Porcel. In 2014, he joined the Kays group for an MRes and is currently working on a PhD in carbazole-based complexes; with emphasis in small molecule activation.
Rob comes from a relatively warm part of the world so he is constantly shocked about the need of checking the weather forecast and the unusual weather patterns of the UK. Since moving to the UK, Rob has embraced the culture of holding a warm cup of tea twice a day. In his spare time, Rob likes walking and indoor climbing.
Glen Murray
Glen is a 2nd year PhD in the Kays Group working under Dr Gimenez-Lopez of the University of Nottingham and CIQUS. Originally from Bristol, obtaining his MSci from the University of Nottingham in 2014. From this he went on to work for Unilever and Catalent Pharma Solutions before returning to undertake his PhD in 2016. His work ranges from electrochemical catalysis using metal-hybrid carbon nanostructures to the synthesis and characterisation of novel iron spin crossover materials.
Amy South
Originally from London, Amy obtained her MChem from the University of Warwick in 2015, where her final year project involved the synthesis of half sandwich osmium complexes. In 2016 she moved to Nottingham to start her PhD, investigating catalysis using m-terphenyl complexes of the first-row transition metals. In her spare time she enjoys reading and crocheting.
Yu Liu
Yu graduated from Northwest University, Xi'an, China, and then travelled to Nottingham to complete an MSc in Sustainable Chemistry, where he undertook a research project in the Kays group. He began studying for his PhD in the Kays group in 2016, and has been awarded a Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship from the University of Nottingham.
Olivia Churchill
Olivia completed a BA (Hons) in Natural sciences at Cambridge University with an emphasis on Chemistry in 2017. Currently in the Kays group, she is studying an MRes looking into the formation of heteroleptic low co-ordinate transition metal complexes and is looking forward to starting a PhD within the group next year. In her spare time, Olivia is an avid reader and likes to travel and explore new places.