Group Biographies

BIOGRAPHIES OF THE CURRENT RESEARCH GROUP

Claire grew up on a farm in the Scottish Borders before completing her undergraduate degree at the University of St Andrews in 2016. During her honours years, Claire spent a year in Middlesbrough at DuPont Teijin Films developing routes to flame retardant poly(ethylene terephthalate) films. Her masters project saw her back in St Andrews and working under the supervision of Dr Petr Kilian looking into the effect of Lewis acidity on bonding interactions between novel peri-substituted (phosphino-stiborane) acenaphthenes. She has since moved to Durham to carry out a PhD within the Dyer group on a project entitled “Selective catalytic dimerization of olefins” in collaboration with Sasol UK. Claire is a keen volunteer and is continuing her background of outreach efforts at Durham.

Li Li grew up in Weihai, China. After finishing her undergraduate studies in Liaocheng University, she went to Nanjing University for her masters degree and PhD in physical chemistry. Her Masters research project involved the direct oxidation of propane to acrylic acid (AA) over the mixed metal oxide catalysts (MoVTeNbOx). Her PhD work was part of a joint project between Nanjing University and the Dutch DSM Company – “The catalytic and non-catalytic selective oxidation of cyclohexane to cyclohexanone/cyclohexanol over a variety of novel catalyst materials such as SBA-15-hosted Au nanoparticles, Co-modified SBA-15, and Co-modified Au/SBA-15.” During the course her Ph.D. program, Li Li was also a visiting scholar working with Prof. C.T. Au at the Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University. She took up her current post-doc position in the Chemistry Department, Durham University, in March 2011, focusing on heterogeneous biofuel catalysis. Li Li held the position of manager of the joint CSCP/Durham Chemistry Integrated Chemical Reaction Facility (ICRF) until 2017. Currently, she is working on a project sponsored by Sinopec. Outside of work Li Li likes playing badminton, swimming and dancing.

Eder Olivas moved to Durham from Chihuahua, Mexico to study his MSc by Research in Chemistry. He has an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the Chihuahua Institute of Technology. He has industry experience working for Essilor of America as an EH&S engineer at one of the optical laboratories located in Chihuahua, Mexico. Within the same corporation he did an engineering internship at Gentex Optics in Dudley, MA, USA. There, he was part of research projects such as an adhesive modification for attachment between a polyvinyl alcohol film and a monomer used for lenses casting and also the development of the first stages of a thermoforming process for a laminated film. Recently he worked for Kaman Aerospace as an EH&S engineer at the Chihuahua site. Eder is passionate about science, especially Chemistry and is pleased to be at Durham to study in fields of research in heterogeneous catalysis. Eder graduated in 2018 with an MSc and is now working towards his PhD, again in heterogeneous catalysis.

Originally from Penrith near the Lake District, Stephen has been at Durham University since 2011 when he began studying his M.Chem. degree. His final-year research project was investigating the “Scalable heterobifunctionalisation and fractionation of polyethylene glycols” under the supervision of Dr Simon Beaumont. Following graduation in 2015, Stephen undertook a Ph.D. research project in the Dyer Group, where he is currently exploring the synthesis and reactivity of niobium imido complexes and their applications to small molecule activation. In his spare time, Stephen is a keen musician – a classically-trained pianist (ABRSM Grade 8) and a choral singer in multiple choirs (including the University Choral Society).

Alana, hailing from Inverness, studied and completed a Masters in Chemistry at Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh), graduating in 2017. In her fifth year, her Masters project focused on 2-Phosphinophosphinine complexes of Group 6 Carbonyls under the tutelage of Dr Stephen Mansell. She synthesised and coordinated phosphinine ligands to metal centres, investigating in particular the structure and binding ability of the compounds. In 2017, she moved to Durham to work towards her PhD on a project in collaboration with Johnson Matthey, entitled “Sub-nano Base Metal Catalysts (SuBMiC) – Correlating Size and Electronic Effects on Catalytic Activity and Selectivity in Industrially-relevant Transformations”, under the supervision of Drs Phil Dyer and Simon Beaumont. When she has a spare moment, she loves reading fiction, drawing, knitting and watching anime.

Originally from Birmingham, Richard studied for his Masters in chemistry at the University of Nottingham and graduated in 2017. His final year project involved the synthesis of functionalised block copolymers for use as dispersants in medical devices under the supervision of Prof Derek Irvine. Richard then joined the SOFI CDT PhD programme based at Durham, Leeds and Edinburgh universities. Following the six month initial training period, he joined the Dyer group to carry out his research project entitled “PolyNanoCat-Tailored Polymers for Heterogeneous Transition Metal Catalyst Assembly” under the Supervision of Dr Phil Dyer, Dr Simon Beaumont and Prof. Lian Hutchings. In his spare time Richard likes to play games, and plays the euphonium.