EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowships awarded

Claire Weston and James Bannock

Congratulations to soon to be Dr Claire Weston and Dr James Bannock on their recent EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship awards

The EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowships are intended to help universities attract and retain the very best newly qualified PhDs that received EPSRC studentship funding and help them to launch a career in research.  These highly prized fellowships were awarded to Claire and James after a rigorous selection process.

Claire Weston completed her Master’s degree at Manchester University before moving to Imperial College for her PhD under the supervision of Dr Matt Fuchter. As well as her own research area, she enjoys learning about other fields and is a webwriter for the RSC highlighting articles featured in their journal ‘Lab on a Chip’.

Claire’s work currently focuses on the discovery of novel photoswitchable molecules and their application to a range of different scientific areas: from medicine to materials. Her proposed Postdoctoral Prize research will be a continuation of the groundwork set out by her PhD, in particular pursuing the use of her photoswitches in the area of chemical biology.

‘I have really enjoyed my PhD here at Imperial, and am looking forward to further developing my research. The use of light to trigger changes in molecules is an exciting field and I am glad that I can continue to contribute’.

James Bannock was awarded his PhD, entitled: “Controlled synthesis of semiconducting polymers in droplet flow microreactors,” from Imperial College London in 2015 under the supervision of Professors John de Mello and Martin Heeney. James’ research is focused on the development and application of flow chemistry for electronic materials synthesis.  James’ EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship will aim to develop a self-optimising flow reactor for preparing semiconducting polymers with pre-defined material properties chosen by the user. The system is intended to provide a means of preparing high performance polymers optimised for organic photovoltaic devices.

“The EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship is an excellent opportunity for me to build upon my PhD to create an automated system for optimising semiconducting polymers in a flow environment.”