Career

Current Roles

Education & Qualifications

Supervision & Mentoring

• Aidan Matthews, PhD: Cage linker systems for charge transfer, room-temperature phosphorescence and TADF
• Will Tetlow, PhD (in the group since 2024): Solid-state synthesis of pure and doped BaS for optoelectronic applications
• Ruth Pollard, PhD completed (2021 to 2026): Through-space charge transfer in N-quinolyl systems. Now: Completed her PhD in 2026 and now lives in Canada.
• Oliver Rigby, Research Associate
• Chris Hogg, Research Assistant (May to August 2023)
• Nae Aota, Visiting PhD student from The University of Osaka (2026)
• Ash Carter, PhD (secondary supervisor) (2021 onwards): Primary supervisor Prof. Paul McGonigal. Polymeric fluorescence standards from medium-independent emitters.
• Erasmus Masters student (TU Eindhoven), Masters thesis (2013 to 2014): Magnetic field effects on pentacene-PbSe nanocrystal photovoltaics; first-class equivalent.
• Undergraduate and MSc project students, BSc, MPhys and MSc projects (2017 onwards): Typically six or seven per year at Northumbria, plus fourth-year projects at Durham.

Students' prizes and awards: Will Tetlow, Poster prize (2026); Aidan Matthews, Poster prize (2026); Aidan Matthews, GBSF travel grant (2026); Ruth Pollard, GBSF travel grant (2025); Ruth Pollard, RSC Researcher Collaborations Grant (2025); Ruth Pollard, Poster prize (2024).

Recognition & Memberships

Service to the Research Community

Leadership & service roles

• Nov 2023 to present Departmental Social Media Lead, Northumbria University
• Oct 2023 to present Energy Futures Network Lead, Northumbria University. Leading an inter-faculty community of around 60 academics; member of the University Interdisciplinary Research Themes committee.
• Sep 2022 to present First-Year Physics Tutor, Northumbria University
• Apr 2022 to present Departmental Induction Lead, Northumbria University
• Jun 2021 to Oct 2023 Energy Futures Bulletin co-editor, Northumbria University. Quarterly newsletter of the Energy Futures research theme, with Prof. Neil Beattie.
• Sep 2020 to Jun 2021 Vice-Chancellor's Fellows seminar chair and coffee mornings, Northumbria University
• Nov 2018 to present Hatfield College Advisory Board member, Durham University
• Apr 2018 to Dec 2019 Chair, Research Staff Consultative Committee, Durham University. Established the committee and a seed fund scheme for postdoctoral researchers.
• Jul 2016 to Dec 2019 Research Staff Association faculty representative, Durham University
• Jul 2015 to Dec 2019 Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee (research staff representative), Durham University

Outreach & Knowledge Exchange

• School outreach talks for Sixth Form students (2023 onwards)
• The Fever Tree: How Quinine Lit the Way Towards Modern Spectroscopy, Lit & Phil, Newcastle (public lecture) (2023)
• Nuffield Research Placement provider (2015 to 2020). My 2016 student won a national award at the Big Bang UK Young Scientists and Engineers Competition (2017).
• Thinking Outside the Box (college module), Hatfield College, Durham (2018)
• Physics post-offer open days, Durham University (2016 to 2018)
• Celebrate Science festival volunteer, Durham University (2015)
• 🤝 Quinine-based fluorescence standards with Starna Scientific Ltd (Durham University and EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account, 2019)
• 🤝 Springboard consortium with PRUUVE GmbH and HORIBA UK (British Council, 2025)
• 🤝 Pesticide and herbicide detection for the Brazilian agricultural industry (APHiD) (The Royal Society (International Science Partnership Fund, International Collaboration Awards), 2024)