Pat was invited to give the “Lavoisier Lectures 2013” at the Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7, from the 25^th to 29^th November. The three-lecture series focused on "New Views of Interfacial Processes":

1. The Long and Winding Road to Nanoscale Electrochemical Imaging

2. Beyond Received Wisdom: New Models for Electrochemistry at Carbon Electrodes

3. An Electrochemist's View of Crystal Growth and Dissolution Processes

These lectures outlined new paradigms in imaging, fundamental electrochemistry and crystal science. Pat was made to feel 'at home' during a very enjoyable week in Paris, and had the opportunity to meet with the many excellent electrochemistry groups, researchers and PhD students at Paris-Diderot, including Dr Anisha Patel, a recent graduate now working with Prof. Frederic Kanoufi.

During Pat’s trip to Paris (Lavoisier Lectures 2013), new students, Faduma, Sze, Pollyana and Maria had a 2-day 'Masterclass' on scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) and intermittent contact (IC)-SECM techniques from Rob L. We look forward to them pushing the boundaries in the exciting world of SECM!

Left to right: Sze, Pollyana, Rob, Faduma, Maria.

Congratulations to Süheda Isikli, who was awarded “cum laude” at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, for her PhD at IMDEA Energy Institute, and in collaboration with Warwick Electrochemistry. Pat sat on the panel for Süheda’s viva On Thursday 31^st October, when Süheda gave a talk titled “Quinone-based organic redox compounds for electrochemical energy storage devices.”

Süheda spent the summer of 2012 working with Robert Lazenby in the Warwick Electrochemistry Group, learning the scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) technique and using ultramicroelectrodes of different materials to study the electrochemistry of quinones. Süheda is now working for the Solvay group in Brussels.

On Wednesday the 28^th of August 2013 members of the Electrochemistry and Interfaces group took part in the Massey Ferguson Runners Club (MFRC) corporate 5 mile race held at the War Memorial Park, Coventry. The team, named ‘SECCM best?’, was made up of three of the fastest runners from the Two Castles Run 2013 (Pat Unwin, Barak Aaronson and Aleix Guell) as well as Dr Andrew Marsh, Associate Professor in Warwick Chemistry. ‘SECCM best?’ were actually second best (!), although beaten by ‘Aston Martin 1’ (who else?) a team consisting of professional club runners. Well done to the ‘SECCM best?’ team - we look forward to your next competition.

Last week the Electrochemistry and Interfaces group said their goodbyes to Stanley Lai who has been a Research Fellow in the group for ~3 years. Stanley will be starting a tenure track position as an Assistant Professor at the University of Twente working with Serge Lemay. To mark the end of his time at Warwick, Stanley organised a lovely dinner out for the whole group at a local gastro-pub (see photos below) followed by a traditional trip to the pub. His research in our group was on electrocatalysis and scanning probe techniques and generated many high impact publications. Just before Stanley left this is what he had to say about his time here in Warwick:

“The research in the Warwick Electrochemistry group is very varied and supported by excellent facilities. This mix has been really great for me to learn a lot about different fields of research and many (novel) techniques. Furthermore, I feel lucky to have worked and interacted with such a varied group of people and characters. There, I would like to thank all the people in the Warwick Electrochemistry group (and especially Pat and Julie) for creating such friendly and open atmosphere, which have made me feel welcome from the very first day.”