Dr Anna Regoutz

Winner: 2020 Joseph Black Award

University College London

For outstanding contributions to the development and application of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy in the area of electronic materials and devices.

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Thallium is my favourite element. Its toxicity has hindered our understanding of it, making it in my mind an interesting missing puzzle piece to explore.
Dr Anna Regoutz

Understanding materials is an essential step in the discovery and development of new technologies. It is crucial to gain an in-depth knowledge of the structure and chemistry of a material in order to understand how and why it behaves in certain ways.

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is an important analytical technique that can be used to study solids, liquids and gases and their chemistry and electronic structure. Discoveries made using this technique have enabled Dr Regoutz and her team to uncover new material properties and have informed material choices for many applications. The group continue to work on developing and applying spectroscopic techniques to further their understanding of electronic materials and devices, which are crucial for many aspects of daily life.

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Dr Anna Regoutz is a lecturer in Materials Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at UCL. She is a CAMS-UK Fellow and holds a Visiting Scientist position at Diamond Light Source. Her enthusiasm for chemistry was sparked in school through the mentorship of Dr Helga Voglhuber at BG/BRG Lerchenfeld, Klagenfurt, Austria, which culminated in the award of the Agnes-Ruis-Special Prize for the Best Experimental Thesis. After completing her BSc (2009) and Dipl. Ing. (2010) at the Graz University of Technology, Austria, she moved to the University of Oxford (Trinity College) where she completed a D.Phil. in Inorganic Chemistry under the supervision of Professor Russell Egdell.

After two post-doctoral positions at the University of Southampton and Imperial College London, Dr Regoutz was awarded an Imperial College Research Fellowship, which she held between 2017 and 2019 before joining UCL. She is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC), the Institute of Physics (MInstP), the Materials Research Society, and of the Society of Austrian Chemists GÖCH. She currently serves as treasurer of the Solid State Chemistry Group committee of the RSC and as an ordinary member of the Dielectrics and Electrostatics Group committee of the IoP. She is a co-director for the Centre for Doctoral Training in the Advanced Characterisation of Materials, a joint venture between UCL, Imperial and Trinity College Dublin. In 2018 she was awarded the Student Academic Choice Award for Best Teaching for Undergraduates at Imperial and in 2019 the element Praseodymium in the Periodic Table of Chemists by the IUPAC.

Q+A

How did you first become interested in chemistry?

Full credit has to go to my chemistry teacher in secondary school, Professor Helga Voglhuber. Her enthusiasm for chemistry inspired me to focus on the subject over many others I was interested in at the time. She was and is an outstanding role model to me and her support and encouragement to take up chemical research inspired me to choose chemistry at university.

What motivates you?

There are two main drivers that motivate me on a daily basis. Firstly, the joy of discovery. The feeling you get when you manage to make a material or when you are able to measure an elusive chemical state for the first time. Secondly, working with my group and collaborators. I am incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by inspiring students and colleagues who motivate me to do better as a teacher, supervisor and scientist. 

What is your favourite element?

Thallium. Not a conventional choice I guess due to its toxicity, but I got fascinated by it during my DPhil. I like to explore the periodic table systematically, choosing groups of elements and their compounds to characterise and understand. Thallium is located close to a number of technologically relevant elements in the periodic table (indium, gallium, lead, bismuth), but its toxicity has hindered our understanding of it making it in my mind an interesting missing puzzle piece to explore.

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