Several of the Marie-Curie sponsored PhD students (Maria Adobes Vidal and Roy Meyler) currently studying for PhDs in WEIG, recently attended 3-day event in Venice to present their work to industrial and and academic collaborators in an international setting. The event provided a variety of workshops and networking events to assist the students with their professional development. Representatives from industrial sponsors included AstraZeneca and Pfizer.

The 2014 Chemistry PG Symposium was held on 28th May 2014 and featured 45 talks by final year PhD students in the department and 37 posters. There was an excellent attendance at all three of the lively sessions.

Congratulations to Changhui Chen (second from left) for the best talk award and Tania Read (fifth from left) for winning the poster prize! Photo by Ken Westwood.

The Warwick Electrochemistry and Interfaces group has recently worked with President Kennedy School and Community College, Coventry to provide students with a unique opportunity to gain hands on experience with advanced electrochemical techniques and projects.

Warwick welcomed four exceptional students - William Blundell, Michael Tognetti, Brinder Purewal and Leigh Randle, who are studying AS level Chemistry, accompanied by their science teachers, Emma Turner and Ed Ratcliffe-Law. The students travelled to the University of Warwick for two hours a week for 6 weeks, and worked on defined projects alongside PhD students and postdoctoral fellows using advanced scientific equipment to conduct mini-projects in fundamental electrochemistry, nanoscale electrochemistry, pharmaceutical crystal dissolution and electrochemical analysis of dental enamel processes. Various electrochemical techniques were used, alongside specialist techniques such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy (SECM) and Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy (SICM).

In the final week, the students presented their projects and fielded questions to a seminar audience of over 30 people, and showed a remarkable understanding of their work and fields of study.

Many thanks to Emma Turner, Ed Ratcliffe-Law, Patrick Unwin, Nick Barker, Barak Aaronson, Maria Adobes Vidal, Pollyana Souza Castro, Rob Lazenby, Sze-yin Tan, Josh Byers and Alexander Parker for making this happen, and to William, Michael, Brinder and Leigh for their hard work and enthusiasm!

WEIG hope to conduct more of these activities in the future to provide opportunities for the wider community to get involved in the physical and analytical sciences and spread our enthusiam for electrochemistry.

PhD students Sophie Kinnear and Jenny Webb appeared in Parliament, on Monday 17th March, as part of SET (Science, Engineering and Technology) for Britain, with the aim of promoting the research of early-career scientists. Both Sophie and Jenny presented their ongoing research to a panel of academics and Members of Parliament, which was followed by a reception and prize-giving in the House of Commons Terrace Marquee.

SET for Britain is a national poster competition run by the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee together with the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Institute of Physics, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Society of Biology with the aim to encourage, support and promote early-stage and early-career research scientists.

Congratulations to Zoë Ayres, Faduma Maddar and Koulia Dalmira who recently recieved their MSc in Analytical Science: Methods and Instrumental Technique.

As part of their MSc year Zoë, Faduma and Koulia carried out individual research projects in the group. Zoë and Faduma both enjoyed their time in the group so much that since completing their course last summer they have carried on with their research, working with the group in pursuit of a PhD. We wish the girls all the best in their future endeavours and are delighted to welcome Zoë and Faduma as valued members of the Warwick Electrochemisty Team!