Johnson Matthey Poster Competition: June 2021
The Department of Chemistry’s annual Poster competition for PhD students took place on Wednesday 9 June, and this year was held online for the first time.
The competition, which is kindly sponsored by Johnson Matthey, requires participants to display a poster about their research, and this is then scored by a panel of judges who consider Poster Presentation, Scientific Content, and Student Discussion.
“The event usually takes place in a busy room, with lots of poster boards and the buzz of conversation,” said Rachel Crooks, event organiser in the Department of Chemistry. "Having had to cancel the event in 2020, this year we moved it online and used the power of Zoom and breakout rooms to allow participants to share their work, and for discussions to take place in a safe and Covid-secure manner. Overall the event went very well, with only minor technical hitches - what Zoom event would be complete without at least a couple!”
Twenty-four posters were on display and both judges and members of the Department were able to move between rooms to talk to participants and enjoy an opportunity to talk science and share work. After the viewing, we were delighted to welcome guest speaker, Dr Mike Bainbridge from Johnson Matthey who talked about his career path, and current work at Johnson Matthey, particularly related to technologies for hydrogen production. The event ended with the announcing of our winning poster participants who each win £300 to spend on items related to their research.
Gayathri Athavan (Professor Ian Fairlamb and Professor Robin Perutz)
Understanding the Role of Ag(I) Salts in the Pd–catalysed C–H Activation of Fluorinated Aromatics
Rosalind Booth (Professor Anne-Kathrin Duhme-Klair, Professor Keith Wilson and Professor Gideon Grogan)
Optimising Artificial Enzymes by Altering the Nature of the Active Metal Complex
Jonathan Churchill (Professor Peter O’Brien, Dr Victor Chechik and Dr Alison Parkin)
Synthesis of Sterically Hindered Tertiary Amines by Electrochemically Generated α-Amino Radicals
James Race (Professor Andrew Weller)
Rhodium Complexes of Ortho-aryl substituted DPEphos ligands; Understanding Anagostic Interactions and Agostic Bonds
Rhianna Rowland (Professor Gideon Davies)
Insect-Baculoviral Production of Human β-Glucocerebrosidase Enables Atomic Resolution Analysis
We would like to thank all participants, judges and attendees for making the event a success in this revised format, and Johnson Matthey for their support and sponsorship.