Dr Alexander Baker

It will mean so much to those colleagues to be recognised, so take the time to nominate. Just being nominated was really encouraging for me as a young academic.

I was very fortunate in that my mother is a medical doctor. She would come home and tell me and my sister about all the patients she had helped that day using science. That for me was the spark of seeing science as a force for good in the world.

Later I had some excellent science teachers at school, called Mr Wringe, Mr Hudson and Dr Prendergast. In particular, Mr Wringe's passion for chemistry was infectious. In every lesson, he made chemistry come alive and showed the real-world applications. On top of that, seeing chemistry in the media explained by colleagues like Professor Andrea Sella really cemented my desire to do chemistry.

I believe that despite my research and the metrics that go along with it, the citations, publications and patents, my greatest legacy will be the students I teach. They will go on to do far greater things and help far more people than I ever could. That for me is why education matters and why I choose to be an educator and researcher.

I am motivated by a  desire to see everyone have access to a world-class education and to use that education to leave the world in a better state than when we started. It's so easy to overlook the power of a good education and the power education has to help people. 

Jump in! Chemistry is such a broad subject for both fundamental knowledge and applied science. I regularly talk with computational scientists designing AI models, physicists interrogating materials with electrons, biologists thinking about venom proteins, and engineers in sustainable development making diagnostics. There will be a niche or area you will find absolutely fascinating! 

Humanity faces many great challenges, from global warming to antimicrobial resistance. It will be chemists, as part of interdisciplinary teams, that discover solutions to these challenges on a molecular level.

More broadly for the wider public, the need to be chemistry-literate in a world of social media pipe-dreams and scare stories is really important. 

I recently gave a talk at the Royal Institution on the chemistry of Star Wars, which was a real highlight. To stand behind Faraday's desk and lecture in a theatre where so many greats of science have lectured was really incredible, especially when Boba Fett appeared.

Honestly, student feedback. It can be really tough to think you gave a great lecture or workshop, only to discover actually some students thought it was terrible. Over the years I have learnt to listen more to that difficult-to-take feedback and grow from it to make my teaching better.

Carbon – without it we would be nothing!