Members

Dr Charles Romain

CRCharles is a Lecturer in Chemistry at Imperial College London. He leads a research group interested in the development of sustainable polymers from renewable resources, designing new metal catalysts and improving material end-of-life.

Through his scientific journey as a researcher in chemistry, Charles has developed an interest and an expertise in research data management and FAIR data. He is curently co-leading the Research Data Strategy discusion group at DigiFAB which aim to identify, disseminate and implement good practices for data sharing and publication in chemistry.

 

Gavin Smith

PhD student since October 2021

Project co-supervision:

  • Prof. Tom Welton (Chemistry),
  • Prof. Tricia Hunt, (Victoria University of Wellington, NZ)
  • Dr. Charles Romain (Chemistry)

Gavin joined the Hunt, Welton and Romain groups at Imperial College London in Octobre 2021. He is studying the decomposition of chemical warfare agents using both experimental and computational methods, the aim being to accelerate breakdown or find new ways to remove these agents.

 

 

 

 

Marianna Diamantakis

PhD student since October 2023

Project co-supervision:

  • Dr. Charles Romain (Chemistry)
  • Dr. Jose Jimenez (Life Science),
  • Prof. Alex Porter (Materials),
  • Polymateria

Marianna is a PhD student part of the Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet Doctoral Training Partnership (SSCP DTP). She received her MChem degree from the University of Warwick, in which she did her final year project under supervision of Professor Martin Wills working on the asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of diketones. Her PhD project focuses on polymer design, working towards enhancing the biodegradation of polylactic acid.

Outside of the lab, Marianna loves to watch movies, travel, and explore new restaurants

 

Mrunal Tamhankar

PhD student since Oct 2023

Co-supervision:

  • Prof. Nick Long
  • Dr. Charles Romain

Mrunal is a first-year PhD student working on developing switchable catalysts for lactide polymerisation. This project is kindly supported by means of the Wilkinson Trust Scholarship and is co-supervised by Professor Nick Long.

She graduated from Imperial College London in 2023 with an MSci in Chemistry. Her research interests are centred around the application of catalysis to solving problems in sustainability. Outside of chemistry, she enjoys exploring new places, cooking and most of all, watching and playing tennis.

Hawra Bin Saad

PhD student since Oct 2023

Co-supervision:

  • Prof. George Britovsek
  • Dr. Charles Romain

Hawra is a a first-year PhD student developping new methodologies to access block copolymers and investigating their properties for various applications.

Jacky Zhang

 

MSc (Digitial Chemistry) student since October 2023

Co-supervision:

  • Dr. Charles Romain
  • Dr. Alex Ganose

Jacky is an MSc Digital Chemistry student at Imperial College London, driven by a passion for solving pollution problems through chemistry. He is currently working on a project employing machine learning techniques to discover new recyclable polymers

In his free time, Jacky enjoys playing sports and finding the perfect formula for the best bubble tea.

Helena Dziedzic

 

MRes student since October 2023

Co-supervision:

  • Dr. Mark Chadwick
  • Dr. Charles Romain

Helena is a joint MRes student between the groups led  by Mark Chadwin and Charles Romain. Her project is investigating the detoxification of chlorinated pollutants.

In her free time, she enjoys drawing, printmaking and relaxing with her two cats. Her favourite drink is fizzy water (she likes the static-y taste).

Past group members

2022-2023

  • Justin Koh - Exchange student from NTU, Singapore (now PhD student at UBC, CA)
  • Alicia Chin - MSci student
  • Hanxiao Pu - MSci student (now PhD student at UCL)

2021-2022

  • Hannah Wilding - MSc student (Digital Chemistry)

2020-2021

  • Sami Gesslbauer - PhD Student (viva in July 2021)

2019-2020

  • Dr Panagiotis Bexis - PDRA
  • Sami Gesslbauer - PhD student (3rd year)

2018-2019

  • Sami Gesslbauer - PhD Student (2nd year)
  • Chawin Chalisarapong - MSci student
  • Veronica Nacci - BSc student

2017-2018

  • Jameel Marafie - PhD student (viva in September 2018)
  • Sami Gesslbauer - PhD student (1st year)
  • Floriana Moruzzi - MSci student
  • Diana Piermarini - BSc student
  • Stanley Ng - BSc student

2016-2017

  • Jameel Marafie - PhD student (3rd year)
  • Yijun Chen - MRes student
  • Dr. Risto Savela - Visiting fellow from Abo University, Turku, Finland
  • Stephane Bernhard - Erasmus student from EPFL
  • Rebecca Murray-Watson - UROP student from Cambridge University