Emily grew up in Essex and obtained her MChem from the University of York. Her 4th and final year was spent on placement as a process chemist at AstraZeneca, where she worked in the Continuous Processing group. Emily’s final year project focused on the use of boronic acid catalysts in flow, and the application of flow chemistry for greener and more sustainable routes to APIs. Emily joined the Ingleson group and the EaSI-CDT program at the University of Edinburgh in 2019, and is interested in the use of NHC-boranes for metal-free C-H borylations.

Daniel grew up in Dundee before moving across to the other side of the river to study in St Andrews for his MChem with Medicinal Chemistry. For his 4th year masters project he worked with Dr Euan Kay, investigating gold nanoparticles for sensing applications, and then for his 5th year masters project with Dr Allan Watson, looking at expanding the chemoselectivity profile of ynamine substrates. Daniel is returning to St Andrews (as 5 years in the town was just not enough and he wanted to make it a total of almost 9 years) to carry out his PhD research under the supervision of Professor Nicholas Westwood, to study biopolymers derived from lignin for materials applications. In his spare time Daniel enjoys playing badminton, cooking, and socialising with friends over coffee or drinks.

Aisling grew up on the west coast of Ireland and graduated with an MSci Medicinal Chemistry from Queens University Belfast in 2019. Her Master’s project was supervised by Dr Panagiotis Manesiotis and looked at the use of Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for the selective capture and separation of bile acids from crude bile. Aisling undertook a summer research placement with Queen’s University Ionic Liquids Laboratories (QUILL) and Chevron investigating the use of ionic liquids for the removal of sulfate from seawater. For her PhD, Aisling will be working under the supervision of Dr Ferry Melchels developing polymer-bound catalysts for targeted chemotherapeutics in the Institute of Biological Chemistry, Bioengineering and Biophysics (IB3) at Heriot-Watt University. Outside of Chemistry, Aisling enjoys walks by the sea, cooking and Netflix.

Luke grew up in Suffolk and obtained his MChem from the University of Bath which included an industrial placement at Sanofi developing and implementing PAT systems. Under the supervision of Dr Matthew Jones, his final year project was studying Aluminium (III) initiators for producing the biopolymer polylactic acid. In 2019, he began his Royal Society funded PhD in the Thomas group at the University of Edinburgh working on catalytic borylation reactions. Outside of work he enjoys a variety of sports, hiking and photography.

Eva graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. She has joined the University of Edinburgh and the School of Chemistry to work with Amanda Jarvis on artificial metalloenzymes as a part of her project for MSc in Biochemistry. Her research during the MSc focused on the incorporation of unnatural amino acids that can bind metals into the protein scaffold and screening for the biocatalytic activities of these novel artificial metalloenzymes. For her PhD project, Eva will continue to work with Amanda Jarvis at the University of Edinburgh, School of Chemistry and artificial metalloenzymes.

Matthew grew up in Newcastle before completing his MChem at Heriot-Watt University, graduating with the William H Perkin prize for organic chemistry. During his exchange year at the University of New South Wales, he carried out a research project under Prof Martina Stenzel at the Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design, developing a RAFT synthesis of fucose-based glycopolymers. He then carried out an Royal Society of Chemistry funded summer placement in the lab of Dr Ai-Lan Lee working on palladium (II)-catalysed dehydrogenation/conjugate addition reactions as well as a summer placement working for Dr Ruaraidh McIntosh on early transition metal polymerisation catalysts. Under the supervision of Dr Ai-Lan Lee, he undertook his final year project on the metal-, photocatalyst- and light-free Minisci-type acylation and carbamoylation of heterocycles. Matthew will carry out his PhD under the supervision of Prof Andy Smith, working on Lewis-base catalysed enantioselective reactions. Outside of chemistry, Matthew enjoys surfing, climbing and cricket.

Tom is from York and obtained his MChem from Newcastle University in 2018. Following an interest in asymmetric catalysis he spent his fourth year conducting research as part of the Hall group in asymmetric induction and stereocontrol of fluorescent BODIPY dyes for his masters thesis. After graduating he spent a year working as a research associate for Biome Bioplastics, seconded to the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence at the University of York, developing the synthesis of bio-derivable polymers from novel bio-based monomers, later scaling these polymerizations from grams to kilograms. Tom joined the EaSI-CAT CDT in September 2019 and his PhD in the Zysman-Colman group will focus on the synthesis and design of photoactive supramolecular cages and their use as photoredox catalysts. When not in the lab Tom enjoys baking, playing guitar, and gaming.

Reece grew up in London and completed his MChem at the University of Southampton. Reece’s third-year project was supervised by Prof. Richard Whitby synthesising small ‘Push-Pull’ molecules for the use in opto-electric devices. Reece also completed an EPSRC funded summer project, with Prof. Whitby, to continue the synthesis of ‘Push-Pull’ molecules. His final year project was supervised by Prof. David Harrowven investigating reactive intermediates generated via photo-flow methods and their viability to form benzocyclobutenes, macrocyclic structures, and organic peroxides. For his PhD project, he will be investigating the catalytic enantioselective hydrofluorination of unreacted alkenes supervised by Dr. Craig Johnston. Outside of chemistry, Reece enjoys cooking, archery and walks in nature.

Matthew grew up near Stirling and completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Oxford. For his masters project he worked on nucleophilic ring-opening of aziridinium ions under the supervision of Professor Steve Davies, and demonstrated the utility of this methodology in an asymmetric synthesis of the ADHD drug molecule Ritalin. Matthew has now begun a PhD investigating fluoroboration in the Ingleson group at the University of Edinburgh. Outside the lab Matthew enjoys cycling and running, and going on outdoors adventures with friends.

Blair grew up in Glasgow and received his MChem in Chemistry from Heriot-Watt University in 2019. His final year project was completed under the supervision of Dr Filipe Vilela in the VilelaLAB, investigating polymer supported and novel BODIPY/isoindigo photosensitisers for the generation of reactive singlet oxygen in continuous flow systems. For his PhD project, Blair will be under the supervision of Dr Jan-Willem Bos at Heriot-Watt University, looking at the refinement of new copper doped thermoelectric materials and development of hybrid organic nanoplatelet thermoelectric materials. Outside of Chemistry, he likes both watch and play rugby, playing video games and watching crime series such as Peaky Blinders.