The Group - 2018/2019
Current Group Members
Postdoctoral Research Fellows
Philip Cobb
Philip was awarded his MSci (Hons) in 2014 from Nottingham University. His final year honours project was with Dr Jonathan McMaster on organosulfur chemistry. He joined the group as a PhD student in 2014 working on uranyl chemistry and is now a PDRA working on actinide-ligand multiple bonds.
Dr Laurence Doyle
Laurence received his MChem from the University of Oxford in 2011, working with Prof. Jose Goicoechea on transition metal complexes with reduced hetero-aromatic ligands. In 2015, he graduated from Imperial College London with a PhD in iron-mediated dinitrogen fixation under the supervision of Dr Andrew E. Ashley, and continued this research as a PDRA. He joined the Liddle group in 2016 and is currently investigating small molecule activation.
Dr Michal Dutkiewicz
Michal completed his PhD in 2016 at the European Commission, DG Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC) for Nuclear Safety and Security, Advanced Nuclear Knowledge in Karlsruhe, Germany, under the joint supervision of Prof. Roberto Caciuffo (Actinide Research, ITU) and Prof. Polly L. Arnold (University of Edinburgh). He joined the group in 2017 as a postdoctoral fellow and his current research interests lie in the explorative chemistry of transuranic elements.
Dr Shu-Xian Hu
Shu-Xian received her BSc in 2006 and MChem in 2009 from Beijing Normal University, working with Prof. Yu Jiang-Guo on theoretical investigations of silicon monoxide nanoparticles. In 2013, she graduated from Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry with a PhD under the supervision of Prof. Eddy Y. Zeng, and continued her research as a visiting scholar in Prof. Laura Gagliardi’s group in University of Minnesota and as a PDRA in Prof. Jun Li’s group in Tsinghua University. She joined the Liddle group in 2018 on a CSC grant and is working on uranium carbene chemistry.
Dr Erli Lu
Erli was awarded his BSc in 2006 from Tianjin Polytechnic University. His PhD on rare earth imido chemistry was supervised by Prof. Yaofeng Chen at the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (Organometallic Division) and was awarded in 2011. He joined the group in 2012 initially on a Marie Curie IIF PDRA grant and is investigating actinide carbene chemistry.
John Seed
John was awarded his MChem (Hons) in 2014 from the University of Sheffield. His final year project was working on high energy density materials under the supervision of Dr Peter Portius. In 2015, he joined the Liddle group as a PhD student working on f-block and rare-earth mesoionic carbene chemistry. He is now a PDRA working on actinide carbene chemistry.
Dr Helen Sharpe
Helen was awarded her MSci (Hons) in 2013 from the University of Nottingham. Her final year research project was with Dr Deborah Kays. In 2017 she obtained her PhD working in the same group investigating the synthesis, reactivity and catalytic activity of low coordinate transition metal complexes bearing meta-terphenyl ligands. She then joined the group in June 2017 working on actinide-ligand multiple bonding.
Dr Lisa Vondung
Lisa received her MSc in Chemistry in 2014 from Philipps-University Marburg, Germany. Her final year project was on thallium containing chalcogenidometallates in the group of Prof. Stefanie Dehnen. In 2017 she was awarded her PhD from the same university for work on boron based pincer complexes with iron under the supervision of Dr Robert Langer, this was followed by work in the same group on bonding analysis in transition metal complexes. In 2018 she joined the Liddle group on a Leopoldina fellowship and is working on nitrogen activation.
Dr Ashley Wooles
Ash was awarded his MChem (Hons) in 2008 from Bath University. His final year project was in the group of Dr Matthew Jones on heterogeneous catalysts for the ring opening polymerisation of lactide. He joined the group in 2008 as a PhD student investigating lanthanide-carbene chemistry. After graduating with a PhD in 2012 he has continued as a PDRA in the group investigating uranium-ligand multiple bonds.
PhD Students
Josef Boronski
Joe was awarded an MChem in 2017 from the University of York. His final year project involved the synthesis of new low-valent gallium compounds in the group of Dr John Slattery. He joined the group in 2017 and is investigating uranium-ligand multiple bonding.
Jonathan Cryer
Jonathan was awarded his MChem (Hons) in 2017 from the University of Manchester. His final year project was in the group of Dr Louise Natrajan on lanthanide complexes. He joined the group in 2017 as a joint PhD student in the NGN CDT working on actinyl cation-cation interactions.
Jingzhen Du
Jingzhen was awarded his BSc in 2013 from Shangqiu Normal University, after that he joined Liang Deng’s Group as a research assistant working on low-coordinate iron and cobalt imido chemistry at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry. He joined the group as a President's Doctoral Scheme PhD student in 2016 student investigating uranium nitride chemistry.
Georgina Hatton
Georgina was awarded her MChem in 2015 from University of East Anglia. Her final year project was with Prof. Gregory Wildgoose on novel borane-based frustrated Lewis pairs for the use as electrocatalysts. She joined the group as a PhD student in 2015 working on uranium-nitride chemistry and is currently writing-up.
Lewis Thomas Hargreaves
Lewis received his awarded his MChem (Hons) in 2016 from the University of Sheffield. His final year project involved working with Dr. Peter Portius on high nitrogen content ligands with main group centres. He joined the group in 2016 and is working on f-block single molecule magnets.
Rosie Magnall
Rosie was awarded her MSci (Hons) in 2015 from the University of Nottingham. Her final year honours project was in the Liddle group working on iron triamidoamine complexes. She re-joined the group in 2016 as a PhD student continuing to investigate iron and uranium triamide chemistry.
Joseph Ostrowski
Joe was awarded his MSci (Hons) in 2015 from the University of Nottingham. He did a summer project in the Liddle group before his final year, where he investigated metal-organic frameworks under Prof. Neil Champness. He joined the group in 2015 and is working on uranium aryloxide and metal-metal bond chemistry and is now writing-up.
Benjamin Reant
Ben was awarded his MChem in 2017 from the University of Manchester. His final year project was in the group of Dr David Mills working on low oxidation state lanthanide complexes. He joined the group as a PhD student in 2017 in a joint project with Dr David Mills on actinide-element multiple bonds.
Thomas Rookes
Tom was awarded his MChem from Bath University in 2014. His final year project was with Prof. Mike Whittlesey on carbene complexes. He joined the group in 2014 working on uranium triamidoamine chemistry and is currently waiting to have his viva voce having submitted his Thesis.
Richard Turnbull
Richard received his MChem in 2018 from Newcastle University. His final year project was with Dr Keith Izod working on the synthesis of hindered secondary phosphide complexes of the lanthanides. He joined the Liddle group in 2018 to investigate the actinide complexes of the heavier chalcogenides.MChem Project Students
Sophie Dewick
Sophie joined the group in 2018 as a MChem project student and is working on novel uranium ligand linkages.
Robert Jones
Rob joined the group in 2018 as a MChem project student, and is working on the synthesis of Uranium-Group 14 metal complexes.
Leah Webster
Leah joined the group in 2018 as a MChem project student and is working on actinide element multiple bonds.
Group and Centre for Radiochemistry Research Administrator
Aqsa Aziz
Aqsa joined The University of Manchester in 2010, working as part of the Maternal and Fetal Health research unit based in St Mary’s Hospital. She then moved to the Disability Support Office supporting Students and Staff and in 2017 moved to the general support team in the School of Chemistry. In 2018 Aqsa was appointed to the role of CRR administrator.
Group Alumni
Dr Alexander Ayres - PhD, now at Imaging Equipment Ltd.
Robert Bannister - MSci project student, PhD with Prof. Gill Reid, University of Southampton.
Francesca Barton - MChem project student, now a PhD student in Earth Sciences at the University of Manchester.
Kerry Burnett - MSci project student, now at Innospec Inc.
Filipa Carvalho - MSci project student, now in hospitality industry, London.
Dr Lucile Chatelain - PDRA, now a Maître de conférences at the University of Bretagne Occidentale (CNRS Lectureship).
Dr Peter Cleaves - PhD, now PDRA with Dr Stephen Mansell, Herriot Watt University.
Dr Oliver Cooper - PhD, now at Johnson Matthey.
Dr Andrew Cornish - PhD, now at Johnson Matthey.
Adam Eason - Summer student.
Aimee Garces - Summer student.
Dr Benedict Gardner - PhD, PDRA, now at Cambridge Display Technology Ltd.
William Golding - Summer student.
Dr Matthew Gregson - PhD, PDRA, now at Wood PLC.
Peter Haldane-Robbs - MSci project student, PhD at Bristol.
Dr James Hickson - MSci project student, PhD with Dr Joy Farnaby, Glasgow University.
Dr Mark Jackson - PhD (joint with Ross Denton, University of Nottingham), now at Infineum.
Lucy Jenkins - MSci project student, now Chavereys Accounting Trainee.
Dr Adam Kewley - Summer student, PhD with Prof. Andy Cooper, University of Liverpool.
Dr David King - PhD then PDRA, now at Rolls Royce Derby.
Pamela MacDuff - MSci project student, then PhD with Prof. Dominic Wright, University of Cambridge.
Dr George Marshall - MSci project student, PhD with Dr Jon McMaster, University of Nottingham, now a Business Science fellow at University of Nottingham.
Amy Middleton-Gear - MSci project student, now in RSC publishing.
Dr David Mills - PDRA, now a Senior Lecturer The University of Manchester.
Felix O'Donnell - MChem project student.
Dr Fabrizio Ortu - PDRA, now lecturer at the University of Leicester.
Thomas Pell - Summer student, Teacher in Greater Manchester area.
Laura Pitchford - Summer student, PhD with Prof. Neil Champness, University of Nottingham.
Kamila Polujanska - Summer student.
Dr Adi Nako - PDRA, now a teacher.
Dr Dipti Patel - PDRA, now a School Administrator in Nottingham.
Ana Maria Rubio Gaspar - Erasmus student.
Daniel Russell - MSci project student, now in drinks industry.
Dr Sarah Robinson - PhD, now at Astra Zeneca.
Dr Lyndsay Soutar - PhD, now at Mars.
Hanna Stafford - MChem project student.
Lindsay Steven - MSci project student, now Audit Assistant Manager at RSM Australia.
Dr John Stewart - PDRA, now in Chemical Regulatory Office.
Dr Craig Stoppiello - MSci project student, PhD with Prof. Andrei Khlobystov, University of Nottingham.
Tom Timmis - MChem project student.
Bridget Wallace - MSci project student, now in logistics sector.
Henry Walsgrove - Summer student, PhD University of British Columbia.
Karsten Wenzel - MSci project student.
Dr Elizabeth Wildman - PhD, PDRA, now at Mars.
Benedict Wilkinson - MChem project student, MSc in chemical engineering, University of Leeds.
Emanuele Zanda - Erasmus student.
Dr Markus Zegke - PDRA, now PDRA at University of Cologne.