Lydia Pearce carried out her master’s degree in Chemistry at the University of Reading, graduating in 2018. During that time, she worked with Professor Frantisek Hartl in collaboration with Professor Howard Colquhoun synthesising and studying novel Heterodi- and Trinuclear complexes containing a nitrogen-rich backbone as molecular wire candidates. Previously, she had a summer placement on the Seeds for the Future Programme 2017 for Huawei Technologies Co. in Beijing and Shenzhen which spiked her interest in the electronic application of chemical compounds. She is currently undertaking her PhD at the University of Sussex with Barny Greenland and Professor John Spencer investigating Supramolecular systems containing conjugated oligo(viologens) for electronic applications, following Long Chen's fantastic findings.
Current Group Members
Mary Wong -
I graduated in 1988 with my Bachelors Degree in Chemistry from the University of Sussex when the faculty was known as The School of Molecular Sciences (MOLS). I am delighted to have been accepted in 2018 as a PhD student looking at mechanomechanical synthesis for novel organic scaffolds as part of the INTERREG project. I have chosen to return to academia after a thirty year gap because I have an insatiable desire for finding answers. Now that I’m here, the process begins with asking the ‘right’ questions and each step forward is it’s own reward.
After graduating, I worked for the academic publishers, John Wiley & Sons in Chichester, as an Assistant Editor on Physical Sciences titles. There followed five happy years as an Information Officer working on the Substance Misuse Database reporting to the Department of Health. I also helped run a fanclub for a band from Wallasey, The Boo Radleys, with my husband during this time. After a hiatus resulting in two boys – now 15 and 20 – I spent thirteen years working at a local secondary school culminating as Senior Science Technician. Aside from preparing materials for class practicals, I was particularly interested in creating resources for teaching and explaining natural phenomena. These have included making emission spectra scarves and beaded laces, a felt cube ‘building block’ periodic table but the highlight was becoming a finalist in The Rolls-Royce Science Prize in 2010 with my project, ‘The Chemistry of the Planets’ which began as a crocheted set of size and mass relative planets which helped students visualise scale (see left!).
Hugo Emerit (MPhil) completed his undergraduate degree in chemistry at the University of Poitiers in France, where he’s originally from. Then he pursued in biochemistry at the University of Montpellier where he graduated his Master degree in 2018. During his last year’s internship, he discovered and started working in mechanochemistry with Dr Xavier Bantreil in Green Chemistry and Enabling Technologies team led by Dr Frédéric Lamaty. He is now a first-year PhD student part of a European project called LabFact funded by the INTERREG Programme, and based at the University of Sussex. He is working with Dr Barny Greenland and Dr Eddy Viseux, investigating the mechanosynthesis of electron acceptor compounds for electronic applications.
Rachel Lam Started her MPhil in the Greenland group funded by INTERREG in 2020 working on continuously sanitising surfaces (more to follow!)
PhD students