The Team

Meet the team!

Here's the team, Christmas 2023!

Catherine Fung

Catherine was born and raised in Hong Kong before moving to Australia for high school and then completed undergraduate studies at the University of Adelaide. She then continued her DPhil under the supervision of Dr. Jason Connor and A/Prof. Rossen Sedev in University of South Australia investigating the static and dynamic behaviour of ionic liquid film under applied potential with surface forces apparatus. She joined Perkin's group in 2021 to study confined ionic liquids. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, hunting for nice food and travelling.

Tim Groves

Tim spent his childhood in Sheffield and came to Oxford for his undergraduate in 2015. He completed his part II in the Perkin group investigating the structure and forces present in thin films of water-in-salt electrolyte. He began his DPhil in 2019 and is interested in highly concentrated aqueous electrolytes. Outside of work, Tim enjoys baking and reading.

Shurui Miao

Shurui was born in China and moved to Australia at the start of high school. He completed his undergraduate (Hons. Class I) and graduate studies at the University of Sydney working with Prof. Gregory Warr. His PhD thesis focused on using x-ray and neutron scattering techniques to study ionic liquids. In 2022, he joined the Perkin Group. He is strongly interested in the self-assembly phenomenon and its role in nature. Outside work, he enjoys badminton, travel, and cooking. He believes the main difference between a chemistry lab and a kitchen is that one should not lick their spoon in a lab.

Kieran Agg

Originally from South Oxfordshire, Kieran holds BA and MSci degrees in Natural Sciences from Downing College, University of Cambridge. His Master’s project focussed on using attenuated total reflection (ATR) infrared spectroscopy to study lipid monolayers. He began his DPhil in 2021 as a recipient of a Clarendon Fund Scholarship and is interested in understanding how nature has evolved to survive and thrive in high salt environments. Away from work, Kieran enjoys running, cycling, and playing violin in orchestras.

Neave Taylor

Neave grew up in Sydney, Australia and moved to Oxford to join the Perkin group in 2023. Supported by the Birkett Scholarship in Physical Chemistry, she has begun her DPhil and plans to investigate concentrated electrolytes for energy storage devices. Outside of the lab, Neave enjoys drawing, reading and playing percussion

Daria Turculet

I was born in Romania and came to the UK in 2019 for my MChem course at the University of Oxford. My Part II (Master's) project was focused on studying dynamics of dissociative electron ionisation of molecules relevant to atmospheric chemistry. I joined the Perkin group in 2023 for a DPhil and I am interested in studying forces between surfaces in aqueous solutions relevant to biological systems. Apart from work, I enjoy climbing, swimming, cooking and watching movies with friends.

Sofia Olendraru

Sofia grew up in Bucharest and Paris before moving to Oxford in 2020 for her MChem undergraduate degree at Worcester College. Her Part II project in the Perkin group focuses on the effects of zwitterionic osmolytes on the stability of colloidal suspensions, to model the behaviour of proteins. Outside of labs, Sofia enjoys reading novels, playing ultimate frisbee, and advocating for period dignity.

Amaar Sardarwalla

Amaar grew up in London and started his undergraduate MChem course at Somerville College, Oxford in 2020. This year, his part II project will involve using NMR spectroscopy to study the diffusive behaviour of ions in structured ionic liquids. Outside of the lab, Amaar enjoys playing tennis, going on walks with friends and using his lab skills to create new cocktails

Alex Albright

Alex was born in London and grew up in Cambridgeshire. He started his undergraduate MChem course at New College, Oxford in 2020. Alex is completing his Part II project this year, focusing on using neutron diffraction to study self-assembly in ionic liquids. Away from work, Alex enjoys playing rugby and hockey.

Alumni:

Fellows and Postdoctoral Associates

Nitya Nand Gosvami (2010-2012) - Nitya is now Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi

Kevin Lovelock (2011-2012) - Kevin is now a Royal Society Research Fellow (URF) and Lecturer in Physical Chemistry at the University of Reading, UK

Nico E A Cousens (2012-2015) - Nico is now Patent Attorney with Kilburn & Strode LLP

Florian Hausen (2013-2015) - Florian is now Junior Professor at the Institute of Energy and Climate Research, Forschungszentrum Jülich

Marco Balabajew (2016-2018) - Marco is now working at Bertrandt on batteries for high voltage energy storage systems.

Romain Lhermerout (2016-2019) - Romain is now CNRS Researcher at the University of Grenoble

Carla S. Perez-Martinez (2016-2019) -- Carla is now UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at the London Centre for Nanotechnology, London, UK

James Hallett (2018-2021) -- James is now Lecturer in Physical Chemistry at the University of Reading, UK

DPhil Students

Alex Smith (2011-2015) - Alex is currently a Research Associate in the research group of Michal Borkovec at the University of Geneva.

Sam Coles (2013-2017) - Sam is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge working with Angelos Michaelides

Christian van Engers (2014-18) - Christian is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Prof. Joelle Frechette, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA

Eleanor Milnes-Smith (2014-19) - Ellie is currently working for the Open University's Student Association

Hannah Hayler (2018-2022) - Hannah is currently training to enter the legal profession

Astrid Southam (2017-2022) - Astrid is currently a postdoctoral research scientist at EMPA in Switzerland

Aurora Guerrini (2017-2022) - Aurora is currently training to enter the legal profession

Tim Groves (2019-2023) - Tim is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher in .... the Perkin group!

Part II, Masters and Rotation students

Georgina Fagbenro Masters student (2008-9)

Matt Heath- PhD Rotation Student (2009)

Edward Parsons- Masters Student (2010-2011)

Rosalie Shepherd- Part II (2013-14)

Eleanor Milnes-Smith - Part II (2013-14)

Sijie Liu - Part II (2016-17)

James Zhou - Part II (2016-17)

Christophe Diederichs - Part II (2017-18)

Natasha Smith - Part II (2017-18)

Tim Groves - Part II (2018-19)

Xiaoyue Wu - Part II (2018-19)

Luis Torquato - Part II (2019-20)

Alex Jackson - Part II (2020-21)

Daniel Percival - Part II (2020-21)

Joshua Bowesman-Jones (2021-22)

Ilaria Beechey-Newman (2021-22)

Rachel Pindar (2022-23)

Josie Wild (2022-23)

Visitors and summer students

Dayinta Perrier- Universiteit Utrecht, NL (2013)

Leah Kearney- NUI Galway, IRL (2013)

Liguo Qin 秦立果 (2013-2014)- visitor from Xi'an Jiaotong University, CHINA

Jean Monteiller (Spring-summer 2015) - visitor from École Normale Supérieure, Paris.

Belinda Ding- University of Oxford (2016)

Weichao Zheng (2017) - visitor from University of Calabria

Isabel Pantenburg (2017) - ERASMUS visitor from University of Bonn

Xiaoyue Wu - University of Oxford (2017)

Joseph Elliot - University of Oxford (2018)

Chuyan Tang - University of Oxford (2018)

Lauriane Pierrot Deseilligny (2022) - visitor from École Normale Supérieure, Lyon.