Reporter

Japanese volunteering project

3 November 2011

From the 11-25 September, five Imperial students Ryan Browne (Chemistry), Francesco Ferroni (Mechanical Engineering), Kuo Jian Wong (Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology), Jiahui Tan (Computing), Jingyi Yu (Chemistry), visited and worked in five sake breweries in the region of Tohoku that had sustained damage in the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. The Sake Volunteer Project was organised by student-led Action for Japan UK and the Japan Affairs Forum.

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Tags: Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering
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Celebrating five years of big nano- achievements

13 October 2011

Earlier this month researchers celebrated the work of the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN) at a seminar held in honour of the fifth anniversary of its opening.

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Tags: Chemistry, London Centre for Nanotechnology
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Artifact

23 September 2011

Tags: Blyth Gallery, Chemistry, Royal College of Art
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A green idea

11 August 2011

65 students with a passion and talent for innovation and entrepreneurship arrived at Imperial on 8 August 2011 at the end of a six-week tour of universities across Europe where they have been working in teams to develop business plans which help tackle climate change.

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Tags: Chemistry, European Union
Posted in Students | 1 Comment »

FONS research staff awards

29 July 2011

Three members of staff from the Faculty of Natural Science have been rewarded for their outstanding contributions to promoting a positive working culture within their Department by the Faculty Academic Opportunities Committee for the Faculty of Natural Sciences.

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Tags: Chemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Life Sciences, Physics
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Inorganic Chemistry Chair

29 June 2011

Professor Nick Long (Chemistry) has been appointed to the Sir Edward Frankland BP Chair in Inorganic Chemistry at the College. Previously Professor of Applied Synthetic Chemistry in the Department, his research expertise lies in transition metal coordination and organometallic chemistry. The Chair is one of the most prestigious chemistry positions chemistry in the world. It was created for, and first held by, Professor Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson, Fellow of the Royal Society and Nobel Laureate.

Tags: Awards and Honours, Chemistry
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Harassment support volunteers acknowledged

20 June 2011

On Thursday 9 June the Rector welcomed new volunteers into the Harassment Support Contact (HSC) Network, at a reception marking the contribution of current HSC volunteers. The HSC network, initiated in 2004, consists of volunteer staff from across the College who can confidentially support anyone experiencing bullying and harassment. The volunteers act as sounding boards for staff who are having difficulties in their working relationships and, in some cases, can offer more formal support, such as coaching and mentoring.

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Tags: Chemistry, Harassment Support Contacts, Rector
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Night moves

9 June 2011

While students are revising hard into the night during exam season, a wide range of less well-known Imperial activities takes place after hours on campus and beyond. Reporter loaded up on caffeine and joined in with staff and students for a special report into an Imperial all-nighter.

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Tags: Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics
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Media mentions

9 June 2011

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Tags: Centre for Environmental Policy, Chemistry, Department of Medicine, World Health Organisation
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Top of the Bench final

16 May 2011

Last month, 29 teams of school students, aged 13–16, came to Imperial from across the country to compete against one another in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s (RSC) Top of the Bench final. Dr Melanie Bottrill, Scientific Projects Manager (Outreach), organised the competition in the Department of Chemistry. She describes the day:

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Tags: Chemistry, Outreach
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Where science meets art

28 April 2011

On 21 February, postdoctoral research associate Dr Dan Emmerson (Chemistry) attended a ‘speed dating’ event organised by Artifact, a collaboration between Imperial and the Royal College of Art (RCA). The event in the Union Concert Hall was attended by postgraduate students and staff from Imperial and the RCA, all hoping to work on collaborative projects that would be showcased at an art exhibition at Imperial’s Blyth Gallery this summer. Dan reports on his experiences:

The event began with some interesting talks from scientists and artists involved in successful collaborations, such as Dr David Dexter (Medicine), a neuroscientist studying Parkinson’s disease. He is involved in a project to encourage people to donate their brains to scientific research and had invited a photographer to watch a brain dissection.

The real excitement of the day for me was the ‘speed dating’ which aimed to establish partnerships between artists and scientists. I met artists whose specialities range from painting and animation to interactive design. It was interesting to think about different approaches taken by scientists and artists to their work. For instance, artists are trained to be very self- critical, while scientists often rely on their peers for critiques of their work.

At the end of the evening we scored our ‘dates’ out of 10 and eagerly awaited the name of our chosen partners. I was partnered with Colin Henderson, who is studying screenprinting at RCA. We have submitted a proposal for a project with a general theme of visualising the invisible , and will explore the way in which the language of chemistry helps us to visualise and understand the microscopic world of atoms and molecules. We plan to start working on the project in the next month.”

Tags: Chemistry, Royal College of Art
Posted in College, Research, Students, Your Voice | No Comments »

Mini Profile: Mimi Hii

19 April 2011

Dr Mimi Hii, Reader in Catalysis (Chemistry), explains her work as a mentor assisting with Imperial’s Junior Research Fellowship Scheme, which aims to give early career researchers the freedom to concentrate on their research.

What is your role at Imperial?

I work on the development of catalysts and catalytic processes which are particularly useful for fine chemical or pharmaceutical industries. I’ve been here for eight years and came here as a senior lecturer from King’s College London.

How did you get into mentoring and how does it feel being a JRF mentor?

I first met Dr Silvia Diez-Gonzalez (Chemistry) at an American Chemical Society meeting in San Francisco. Sometime after, she got in contact to see if I would be interested in supporting her application for an Imperial Junior Research Fellowship (JRF). I agreed and became a mentor for Silvia. It was the first time I had mentored anybody in an official capacity, so it was quite a novel experience, if not a little scary!

Has being a mentor reminded you of being an early-career scientist?

When I first started at the College in 1997, there weren’t any official schemes like the JRF scheme, but I will always remember the people who were there to support me at the time. In years to come, if Silvia can look back to this period of her career with fondness, I will know I have done a good job!

How important is the JRF scheme in your view?

It’s brilliant that Imperial has started to do this. The scheme gives young researchers an opportunity to become independent and helps the College identify excellent people to work here. This is more important these days, as there are fewer opportunities and academic positions compared to when I started, even though there are a lot of excellent people around.

— Emily Govan, International Office

Tags: Chemistry, Junior Research Fellowship Scheme
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Imperial ranked in world top three for materials science

29 March 2011

Imperial is one of the top three institutions in the world for materials science research, according to a global review of the most prominent researchers in the field.

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Tags: Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Natural Sciences, News, Physics
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Atom-thick sheets hold the key to new technologies

7 March 2011

Scientists from the Departments of Materials and Chemistry have developed a new technique for splitting ‘layered materials’ into atom-sized nanosheets, which could lead to advances in energy storage technologies and electronic devices, according to research published on 4 February in the journal Science.

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Tags: Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Materials
Posted in Research | 1 Comment »

Your genome in minutes

26 January 2011

Imperial scientists from the Department of Chemistry are developing technology that could sequence a person’s genome in mere minutes, at a fraction of the cost of current commercial techniques.

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Tags: Chemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences
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