About the Materials Chemistry Community

Our aims

To support and promote the study and dissemination of materials chemistry in all its forms
To promote excellence and sustainability in the field of materials chemistry
To support the next generation of scientists
To advocate for the field of materials chemistry to the scientific community, and society as a whole
To promote inclusion and diversity in its broadest possible sense across the materials chemistry community

Meet the members of the Council who are responsible for ensuring that the Community fulfils its purpose.

Professor Neil Roberston

President (2024 - 2027)

Neil is Chair of Molecular Materials in the School of Chemistry and is Dean of International Partnerships for Science & Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh and worked at FU Berlin, the University of Wales, and Imperial College London before returning to the University of Edinburgh. He leads research on new molecular and nanomaterials for solar photovoltaics, photocatalysis, and electrical energy storage materials and devices.

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Neil has collaborated nationally and internationally in energy areas, e.g., on two EPSRC Supergens on emerging photovoltaics, UK-India Excitonic PV Consortium, and the CAMREG energy materials centre.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He has previously served as an Elected Member of RSC Dalton Council, RSC Materials Chemistry Division Council and Associate Editor of the Journal of Materials Chemistry C.

He was the Energy Technology Partnership (Scotland) Theme Leader for Solar Energy (2012-2022) and Director of the Scottish Institute for Solar Energy Research (2012-2014). During the latter, he initiated a project to develop the first-ever Solar Vision for Scotland launched at the Scottish Parliament, involving industry, government, and academic inputs.

He has led extensive Public-Engagement in solar energy, including delivering around 30 public lectures, overseeing numerous workshops at science festivals, schools, and science centres, producing animations, podcasts, press releases and news articles. This was initiated by an EPSRC grant and later became part of RSC Learn Chemistry.

He is Dean of International Partnerships for Science and Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, developing research partnerships worldwide.

Professor Magda Titirici

Past President

Magda Titirici is currently Professor of Sustainable Energy Materials & Research Director in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College.

Following her Habilitation at the Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Magda Titirici joined Queen Mary University of London in 2013 and was promoted to Professor in 2014. She moved to Imperial College London in 2019.

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Research in the Titirici group focusses on the design and fundamental understanding of sustainable materials for applications in energy storage and conversion from batteries beyond Li-ion to electrocatalysis for clean fuels, chemicals and electricity.

Her research has been recognised by several important awards including the Rosenhein Medal and Price from IOM in 2016 and the RSC Corday-Morgan Prize in 2018. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a RAEng Chair in Emerging Technologies. Magda is an associate editor for J. Mater. Chem. A and Materials Advances with RSC and in the editorial board of several prestigious journals from Wiley, IoP and Elsevier. She is an advocate for equality, inclusion and diversity in STEM.

See more information on Titirici's group.

Professor Petra Szilágyi (PhD, FRSC, MWES, FHE)

Elected member (2022 - 2025)

Petra is a Professor of Porous Materials and Catalysis at the University of Oslow. She is interested in the Sustainable synthesis of metal-organic frameworks and their application of energy conversion and storage.

Petra Szilágyi

Dr Sharali Malik

Elected member (2022 - 2025)

Sharali Malik is currently a Staff Scientist at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany in the Institute of Quantum Materials and Technology (IQMT).

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Sharali graduated from King’s College London with a BSc in Chemistry and subsequently worked for the British Antarctic Survey as a Field Scientist on Signy Island, Antarctica. He did an MSc in Electrochemical Sciences at Southampton University and subsequently worked for Varta Ltd in battery research and development.

He holds a PhD in Chemistry from Kent University. He has held several post-doctoral positions in Norway at the Centre for Materials Research in Oslo, and in the UK, at Imperial College London. He has also worked in Field Operations for the Health and Safety Executive in the UK. In 2000, he was appointed as a Staff Scientist at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany in the Institute of Nanotechnology (INT), and in 2020, he joined the Institute of Quantum Materials and Technology (IQMT) at KIT.

Dr Maria Veronica Sofianos

Elected member (2023 - 2026)

Veronica is an Assistant Professor at University College Dublin. She is a Materials Scientist with a PhD in Chemistry. She was awarded a prestigious scholarship from the National Centre of Scientific Research “Demokritos” in Athens, Greece, to conduct a PhD on nanomaterials for photocatalytic air purification. Her PhD dissertation was awarded as “Best Thesis” for 2014 across the centre.

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Veronica was a casual academic for one semester at the University of Melbourne in Australia and then took up an academic research position at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. As a Research Fellow at Curtin she focused on the synthesis and characterisation of metal hydrides for hydrogen storage either for vehicular or high-temperature applications promoting green growth and the hydrogen economy. She is currently an appointed Ad Astra Fellow at the UCD School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering.

Her research is on the synthesis and characterisation of low-cost and highly-performing nanomaterials for either (i) energy storage or (ii) generation, including reactor design and process optimisation.

She is the chair of the EDI committee of the UCD School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, and a member of the UCD Gender Equality Action Group. She is an elected member of the RSC Republic of Ireland Local Section and a group member of the RSC Chemical Nanoscience and Nanotechnology interest group.

Dr Caroline Knapp

Elected member (2023 - 2026)

Caroline is an Associate Professor in Inorganic Chemistry at UCL. Prior to her current position, she held a Ramsay Memorial Fellowship alongside a visiting position at the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, funded by an Intermobility grant. She gained her MSci and PhD from UCL under the supervision of Prof. Claire J. Carmalt after which she worked as a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Phil P. Power FRS (UC Davis) and Dr Joachim Steinke (Imperial College London)

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Caroline’s research is primarily concerned with precursor design and the effect of such on the fabrication of various materials. She has experience in the synthesis, isolation and structural characterisation of highly air/moisture sensitive compounds and their subsequent use as precursors to materials, spanning from transparent conducting oxides, to photovoltaics, or metallic interconnects, as well as zeolite and metal-organic framework (MOF) synthesis and characterisation.

Her laboratory now carries out research designing and isolating precursors for the printing of metals and is expanding into the field of main-group organometallic synthesis with applications in photovoltaics, electrochemistry and catalysis.

Professor Clare Hoskins

Elected member (2024-2027)

Clare Hoskins is a Professor of Nanomedicine within the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, University of Strathclyde. She gained her undergraduate degree in Applied Chemistry and subsequent PhD in Pharmaceutics, from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. Following this she carried out a postdoc at the University of Dundee, before starting her independent academic career at the School of Pharmacy, Keele University.

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In 2019 Clare moved to the University of Strathclyde as part of their Global Talent Appointment Programme.

She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and also a Committee Member on the Chemical Nanosciences and Nanotechnology Interest Group. Her research focusses on the development of various nanotechnology platforms for drug delivery and theranostics, with a special focus on cancer nanomedicine.

Clare’s leadership and research have been recognised through various awards including Strathclyde Medals, Strathclyde Women in Leadership awards and the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences ‘Emerging Scientist’ sponsored by Pfizer. She is a keen advocate of equality, diversity and inclusion within the chemical and pharmaceutical sciences, and has contributed to various teams challenging bias within our discipline, as well as being a panel reviewer for Athena Swan.

Dr Shivani Pandya

Elected member (2024 - 2027)

Dr Shivani Pandya is an Assistant Professor in Applied Sciences at Parul University. She gained her Ph.D. from School of Nanosciences, Central University of Gujarat under the guidance of Prof. Man Singh.

She holds a Ph.D. in Nanomedicine and an M.Phil. in Nanoscience, with her research focusing on nanomaterial fabrication, solution chemistry, drug kinetics, and in vitro anticancer studies.

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With a rich background in chemistry and materials science, Shivani creates innovative materials aimed at Biomedical and environmental Sensing and Forensics. Dr Pandya is deeply committed to interdisciplinary collaborations, ensuring her research translates into practical, impactful solutions.

Her research is centered on the innovative applications of nanotechnology, particularly in the fields of nanomedicine and forensic science. Her work involves the fabrication and characterization of functional nanomaterials, exploring their potential in drug delivery systems, anticancer therapies, environmental sensing, and forensic investigations.

Dr Pandya's research extends to magnetic nanoparticles, metal-organic frameworks, and green synthesis methods, aiming to develop efficient and sustainable solutions for biomedical applications and environmental monitoring. Her dedication to advancing these fields is evidenced by her numerous publications, patents, and active mentorship of graduate students in cutting-edge research projects.

Dr Anna Regoutz

Appointed Member (2022 - 2025)

Anna Regoutz is an Associate Professor in Experimental Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Oxford, a CAMS-UK Fellow, and a Visiting Scientist at Diamond Light Source. She received her DPhil from the University of Oxford in 2014. She began her independent research career as an Imperial College Research Fellow in 2017 before moving to University College London in 2019.

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Anna's group is highly interdisciplinary covering the understanding, discovery, and targeted design of materials for the development of future electronic device generations. A major focus of her work is the development and application of soft and hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy in electronic materials and devices. She was awarded the Joseph Black Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2020 and the element Praseodymium on the Periodic Table of Younger Chemists by IUPAC in 2019.

More information on the group can be found on their website.

Dr Marie-Beatrice Madec

Appointed Member (2022 - 2025)

Marie-Beatrice Madec has more than 10 years’ experience in nanotechnologies and organic electronics material processing and has acquired experience through a varied and international background. She gained her PhD in Physical Chemistry in 2003 from the University of Bordeaux, working on charge injection in polymer-based light emitting diodes.

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Marie-Beatrice then moved to the United States and worked as a materials scientist in small entities spun off from the Universities of Florida and South Florida. She arrived in the UK in 2007 as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Manchester in Prof. Stephen Yeates group, where she worked on thin-film organic transistors and sensors.

S joined Solvay in 2010, initially as a Scientist working on OPVs. As part of the R&I corporate, she managed the open innovation and PV research program. In 2017 she joined the strategic innovation marketing team, working on long innovation and long-term research development for Solvay group. She was promoted to her current role as Innovation Valuation Assessment Director in 2021.

Professor Steve Eichhorn

Appointed Member (2023 - 2026)

Steve is Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Bristol. Following first degrees in Physics at Leeds University, and a Masters in Forestry and Paper Industries Technology at UMIST, he joined the University of Manchester, first as lecturer and then progressing to Reader in 2009, all in the department and School of Materials.

Professor Eichhorn then went to University of Exeter as a Chair in Materials Science in 2011, and moved in 2017 to become Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at University of Bristol. He holds an honorary appointment also in the School of Chemistry there.

His research focusses on the materials science of cellulosic materials, with applications ranging from composites, through biomaterials and functional materials such as batteries, supercapacitors.

He was the winner of the Rosenhain Medal and Prize from the IOM3, the Hayashi Jisuke Prize from the Japanese Cellulose Society, and the Swinburne Medal from the IOM3. He has acted as a Chair of the American Chemical Society’s Cellulose and Renewable Materials Division, and is also a Fellow of this Division and of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is an advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion in STEM.

Dr Ruth Pegington

Appointed member (2024 - 2027)

Ruth is a Senior Scientist at Cambridge Display Technology, Ltd and has over twenty years of experience in functional organic materials chemistry research.

She obtained her MChem degree from Lancaster University, followed by her PhD at the University of Sheffield with Dr Ahmed Iraqi on conjugated electroactive polymers for use in electronic devices.

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Ruth joined CDT in 2004, and since then has worked on several projects and has acquired a wealth of knowledge from across the materials chemistry sphere. Ruth has over 20 patents in polymer OLED technology and materials for electronics.

Her knowledge and experience also extends into scale up from laboratory to industrial scale, industrial biotechnology, technology scouting for novel applications and most recently has been working on helping to find and cultivate innovative and disruptive technologies for the future business of CDT and its parent Company, Sumitomo Chemical.

Ruth is also very active within the scientific and volunteering community, for instance, she is currently a UK STEM ambassador to improve access and diversity in science and to inspire the next generation of scientists.

Dr Andrew McCluskey

Interest group Appointed Member (2024 - 2025)

Andrew McCluskey is a lecturer at the University of Bristol. He studied and worked in Edinburgh, Connecticut, Bath, Oxford, and Copenhagen before joining Bristol in August 2023. He leads the SCAMs@bristol research group, which develops analysis methods for data from experiments and simulations.

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Dr Robert Dawson

Interest group Appointed Member (2022 - 2025)

Dr Robert Dawson is a Lecturer in Polymer Chemistry at the University of Sheffield. He is currently researching the porous polymer materials for applications in energy and sustainability. He completed his PhD with Prof. Andrew I. Cooper FRS in 2010 followed by a further two years as a PDRA in the group. In 2012 Rob was awarded a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship which he took in the group of Prof Arne Thomas at the Technische Universität Berlin.

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Rob returned to the UK in 2014 working with Prof Andrew Burrows in Bath before before being appointed as a Lecturer in Sheffield in 2015. Rob was a member and treasurer for the Recent Appointees in Polymer Science (RAPS) from 2016-2021 and since 2019 has been a committee member of the RSC Porous Materials Interest Group. Rob is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of the RSC and ACS.

Dr Alisyn Nedoma

Interest group Appointed Member 2022 - 2025

Dr Alisyn Nedoma is a Lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield. She joined the department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at The University of Sheffield as a lecturer in 2019. She started her career as an academic in 2016 at the University of Auckland, NZ, following a Junior Research Fellowship at Imperial College London.

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Alisyn completed her PhD at the University of California, Berkeley in 2010, and her B.S. from the University of Florida in 2004, both degrees in chemical engineering. Her core expertise is applied polymer physics, with active projects in energy materials and pharmaceuticals. She co-leads the £9.7 Mn Faraday Institution FutureCat consortium, developing the next generation of battery cathode materials.

Dr Julia Payne

Interest group Appointed Member (2023-2026)

Dr Payne is a Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of St Andrews. She was awarded her MChem in 2007 by the University of Warwick and her PhD in 2011 by Durham University (under the supervision of Dr Ivana Evans).

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In January 2019 Dr Payne took up a position as an independent Research Fellow in Energy Materials in the School of Chemistry at the University of St Andrews. Dr Payne’s research spans a broad range of energy materials and she is particularly interested in using in-situ and operando techniques to link structure with properties. She is currently the Secretary of the Solid-State Interest Group.

The story of the Materials Chemistry Community at the Royal Society of Chemistry begins in 1991 with the creation of the extremely successful Journal of Materials Chemistry. The great success of this new journal encouraged the RSC to organise the first Materials Chemistry Conference (now often referred to as the "MC" conference series), which was held in Aberdeen in 1993 and attracted approximately 300 delegates.

At around the same time the RSC formed the "Materials Chemistry Forum" (MCF), whose main role initially was to organise and manage the MC conference series. However, the MCF proved to be extremely popular with materials chemists, having grown to over 2000 members by 2007. This popularity was partly fuelled by the continued success of the MC conference series, for instance MC7 (Edinburgh) and MC8 (UCL) both attracted over 400 delegates and MC9 was a centrepiece of the 2009 IUPAC meeting.

In 2008 the Materials Chemistry Forum became the Materials Chemistry Division, sitting alongside the more traditional Analytical, Dalton, Faraday and Organic Divisions. The new Division had the goal of setting, driving, and delivering the strategy for materials chemistry within the RSC. The MCD continued its excellent performance, giving a voice to all members of the materials chemistry community, and launching new initiatives, such as the MCD Poster Symposium aimed at early career stage members.

In 2016 the RSC undertook a substantial governance review of its Boards and Committees, which recommended that to ensure the full potential of the Divisions is achieved, the role of the Divisions should be reviewed.

In 2020 the RSC commissioned a review of the Divisions, one of the key recommendations of which was that the Divisions be reorganised into Subject Communities. In July 2022, the Materials Chemistry Division (MCD) officially became the Materials Chemistry Community (MCC).