RSC Meet the Editors - IISER Kolkata, India

Professor Achalkumar Ammathnadu Sudhakar is working as a full professor at the Department of Chemistry, IIT Guwahati from 2019, where he leads the Soft Matter Research Group. He is also associated with the Centre for Sustainable Polymers at IIT Guwahati. He received his PhD from Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS) Bengaluru. Achalkumar worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Molecular Nano Sciences, University of Leeds, UK (2007 to 2009) and at RIKEN Advanced Science Institute, Wakoshi, Japan (2009 to 2011), before joining IIT Guwahati. He has been the recipient of Indian Liquid Crystal Society Silver Medal 2019 for his research achievements. His research interests fall in the broad area of liquid crystals, supramolecular chemistry, functional polymers, organogels and self-assembled organic semiconductors. He is the life member of Indian Liquid Crystal Society, Chemical Research Society and Society for Polymer Science in India.

Professor Eva Hemmer is an Associate Professor of Materials Chemistry at the University of Ottawa. She received her PhD (2008) in materials science from Saarland University, Germany. After a postdoctoral experience at Tokyo University of Science, Japan, with Prof. K. Soga (2009-2012), she moved to Canada to become a joint Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellow with Profs. F. Vetrone and F. Légaré at Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS-EMT, Montreal, 2012-2015). In the winter of 2016, Eva came to Ottawa where her research team focused on new designs of upconverting and near-infrared-emitting rare-earth-based nanoparticles for bioimaging, optoelectronic, and optomagnetic applications, accompanied by chemically controlled synthesis via microwave-assisted routes, surface chemistry, and understanding of structure-property relationships. She received the 2021 Jubilee Global Diversity Award of the American Ceramic Society (Engineering Ceramics Division) and the 2021 Early-career Achievement Award in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology by NanoOntario.

Professor Chengzhong (Michael) Yu is a chemist and materials scientist working at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland. He has a joint appointment at East China Normal University. His current research interests include nanostructured and nanoporous materials and their applications in drug delivery, sustainability and energy storage applications. He has published over 400 peer-reviewed journal articles, which have been cited over 36,400 times and resulted in an H-index of 103 (Google Scholar). He has received several awards including the Le Févre Memorial Prize from the Australian Academy of Science

Professor Sayan Bhattacharyya is a Professor of Chemical Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata. He received his bachelor’s at Calcutta University, and his PhD degree at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, before he carried out his postdoctoral work in the US. He joined the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata, India in April 2010, and has moved from Assistant Professor to Professor of Chemical Sciences. His research focus is the design and synthesis of nanoscale functional materials, elucidation of their fundamental electronic, optical and other physical properties, and the development of processes that lead to specific alternative energy solutions.

Dr Heather Montgomery is Managing Editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry’s journals Nanoscale Horizons and Nanoscale within the wider materials & nano journals portfolio. She has been with the Royal Society of Chemistry since 2010 working on a variety of RSC journals including Energy & Environmental Science, PCCP, Chemicals Society Reviews, Chemical Communications and Faraday Discussions. Prior to this she studied chemistry at the Queen’s University of Belfast, UK from where she obtained a PhD in inorganic chemistry.

Lijina is an Assistant Editorial Development Manager at the Royal Society of Chemistry. As part of her role, she works across various disciplines and societies of chemical sciences and support the journals. Lijina completed her integrated PhD in chemistry from the Indian institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram and subsequently she joined RSC.