Our GRT encompasses many of the great research challenges facing the world today, ranging from energy, transport and manufacturing through to advanced materials and quantum technologies. My role is to oversee and coordinate the University’s research efforts in these priority areas, encouraging and enabling efforts to make step-changes in the research delivered here at Nottingham.

My own research fits nicely in the theme of Advanced Molecular Materials but also has relevance to some of the other research areas, notably Energy. However, I also have an interest in quantum technologies and this enables me to have insight into the wider themes across the GRT.

Our research is based upon trying to make new functional materials from molecules by making the molecules do all the work. We use self-assembly, which basically means designing molecules that will interact with one another to give products that combine these building blocks in a well-defined arrangement. Another way of looking at self-assembly is to say that we take a pile of bricks, throw them up in the air and when they land we have made a house! It is not that simple but the basic premise is correct. Using this approach we can make materials that combine the properties of different components or potentially make materials whose properties are greater than the sum of its parts. This allows us to target materials with new optical, electronic or magnetic properties.

Achieving highly complex systems from simple components is an idea that has always attracted me. I suspect it is partly that the structures that we produce can be extremely beautiful, aesthetically and from a scientific standpoint. Typically self-assembly is controlled by the balance between very subtle factors so understanding this is highly demanding. It also means that we have to work with scientists across other disciplines, and this can be very rewarding.

In the shorter term a lot of what we do is fairly fundamental; however, we do work on new materials which are relevant to industry. For example we research dye molecules which have application in photovoltaic devices but also in organic electronics. Our understanding of how to control the arrangement of molecules can lead to improved performance in real-world devices.

The greatest moment is difficult to put your finger on but seeing research results for the first time, before they are released to the wider scientific community, is always an exciting moment. As a chemist there are always exciting times when your research team is the first to make a particular molecule. There is something intrinsically exciting about seeing something for the first time which nobody has ever seen before.

A specific case was the time that I first saw images of a self-assembled system of molecules that had been designed and made in my research group, in collaboration with Professor Peter Beton from the School of Physics. It was exciting that we had successfully hit on a system that would make a real mark on the scientific community – that study was publicised around the world, and is now included in undergraduate textbooks – but we saw it before anyone else knew.

Aim for what you really want to do not what someone else tells you to do. I have been told that I should focus on something relatively straightforward rather than going for the big idea. That may be the prudent approach but you will never do anything that will make people sit up and take notice.

A very exciting problem for self-assembly is the limitation on the number of components that can be assembled at once. If you consider that nature uses self-assembly to create complex structures then you get some idea of the challenge. DNA is a self-assembled material and is based on four building blocks, although DNA is amazing its function is to carry information.

In contrast peptides, which perform function in nature, have 20 different components. If I say that the number of synthetic components that can currently be combined in a well-defined manner by chemists is just five it is gives some idea of the scale of the challenge.

One of the best features of Nottingham, alongside its excellent research facilities, is the great strength and breadth of research interests. If I need to find an expert in an area of science or engineering which is unfamiliar to me it is not hard to find someone in a nearby building. This simple fact makes it possible for me to pursue whatever research direction fascinates me.

To put it simply Transformative Technologies means technologies that change people’s lives for the better. I am yet to meet a researcher who didn’t want to make a significant improvement to understanding and to apply this to improve the world we live in.