Virtual Webinar, registration by the teacher is required. For Sixth Form students only.
Polymers are all around us - in the food we eat, clothes we wear, and cars we drive. Hence, we are living in the age of polymers, and indeed polymers are the material of today's society. But polymers are a 20th century concept - the first synthetic polymer, Bakelite, was prepared in 1907. Following this discovery, the low cost, durability, safety, and scalability of polymers have led to their ever-expanding development and use throughout society. However, this rapid and uncontrolled growth in polymer production has led to a polymers problem in today's society. But why do we have a problem? Is there anything that we can do? In Prof O'Reilly's lecture she will share with you some approaches polymer scientists have taken, which are inspired by Nature, to solve these problems.
Rachel O'Reilly is currently a Professor of Chemistry and Head of School at the University of Birmingham. She was born and educated in Northern Ireland and got her first degree from the University of Cambridge in 1999 and went on to complete her PhD at Imperial College, London in 2003 with Professor Vernon Gibson. She then moved to the US to work with IBM and Washington University in St Louis. In 2006 she returned to the UK and took up a position at the University of Cambridge and then in 2009 she moved to the University of Warwick and in 2012 was promoted to full professor. She moved to Birmingham in 2018. Her group undertakes research in the area of catalysis, responsive polymers, nanostructure characterization and DNA nanomaterials. She has published over 200 papers to date and graduated over 30 PhD students.
Polymers are all around us - in the food we eat, clothes we wear, and cars we drive. Hence, we are living in the age of polymers, and indeed polymers are the material of today's society. But polymers are a 20th century concept - the first synthetic polymer, Bakelite, was prepared in 1907. Following this discovery, the low cost, durability, safety, and scalability of polymers have led to their ever-expanding development and use throughout society. However, this rapid and uncontrolled growth in polymer production has led to a polymers problem in today's society. But why do we have a problem? Is there anything that we can do? In Prof O'Reilly's lecture she will share with you some approaches polymer scientists have taken, which are inspired by Nature, to solve these problems.
Rachel O'Reilly is currently a Professor of Chemistry and Head of School at the University of Birmingham. She was born and educated in Northern Ireland and got her first degree from the University of Cambridge in 1999 and went on to complete her PhD at Imperial College, London in 2003 with Professor Vernon Gibson. She then moved to the US to work with IBM and Washington University in St Louis. In 2006 she returned to the UK and took up a position at the University of Cambridge and then in 2009 she moved to the University of Warwick and in 2012 was promoted to full professor. She moved to Birmingham in 2018. Her group undertakes research in the area of catalysis, responsive polymers, nanostructure characterization and DNA nanomaterials. She has published over 200 papers to date and graduated over 30 PhD students.
