Despina obtained her undergraduate degree in Chemistry with a specialisation in Food and Environmental Chemistry, from the University of Cyprus in her home country in 2017. She then continued her studies in the UK by doing an MSc in Analytical Science and Instrumentation at the University of Warwick. She was introduced into the polymer world shortly after that, by choosing a research project in the Haddleton group to analyse novel personal care materials in collaboration with Unilever.

In November 2018, she was employed by the Polymer Research Technology Platform (RTP) as a research technician, where she had to provide technical and analytical support for the GPC/SEC and thermal analysis labs.

Despina was awarded the EU Chancellor’s Scholarship in 2019 and as a PhD student in the Haddleton group worked on functionalising polymers prepared via Cu(0)-mediated RDRP using ‘click’ chemistry and investigating their self-assembly.

She has now started her postdoc funded by Unilever and the University of Warwick.

Publications

1. Post-polymerisation modification of poly (3-hydroxybutyrate)(PHB) using thiol–ene and phosphine addition

Lucas Al-Shok, James S. Town, Despina Coursari, Paul Wilson, David M. Haddleton, Polym. Chem., 2023, 14 (22), 2734-2741

2. Functional pH-responsive polymers containing dynamic enaminone linkages for the release of active organic aminesLink opens in a new window

Spyridon Efstathiou, Congkai Ma, Despina Coursari, Georgios Patias, Lucas Al-Shok, Ahmed M. Eissa, David M. Haddleton, Polym. Chem., 2022, 13, 2362-2374

3. Self-healing and mechanical performance of dynamic glycol chitosan hydrogel nanocompositesLink opens in a new window

Spyridon Efstathiou, Alan M. Wemyss, Georgios Patias, Lucas Al-Shok, Maria Grypioti, Despina Coursari, Congkai Ma, Christophe J. Atkins, Ataulla Shegiwal, Chaoying Wan, David M. Haddleton, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2021, 9, 809-823

Email: Despina dot Coursari dot 2 at warwick dot ac dot uk