Congkai was born in China and she obtained her BSc in Chemical Engineering from Central South University in 2015, working on efficient fixation of CO₂ into cyclic carbonates catalyzed by superbase/saccharide. She received her master's degree supervised by Prof. Weiguo Cheng and Prof. Suojiang Zhang from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), where she worked on the highly efficient synthesis of poly(isosorbide carbonates) catalyzed by Ionic Liquids. Since October 2018, she started her Ph.D. at the University of Warwick under the supervision of Professor David Haddleton, focusing on AIE-active polymers synthesis and applications.

Research interests:

• Controlled/Living Radical Polymerizations (Cu-RDRP)
• AIE polymers
• Bioimaging

Publications:

1. Ma C, Han T, Kang M, et al. Aggregation-Induced Emission Active Polyacrylates via Cu-Mediated Reversible Deactivation Radical Polymerization with Bioimaging Applications[J]. ACS Macro Letters, 2020, 9: 769-775.
2. Efstathiou, S., Wemyss, A. M., Patias, G., Al-Shok, L., Grypioti, M., Coursari, D., Ma, C. ... & Haddleton, D. M. Self-healing and mechanical performance of dynamic glycol chitosan hydrogel nanocomposites. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 2021, 9(3), 809-823.
3. Ma C, Han T, Niu N, Lucas Al-Shok, Efstathiou S, Lester D, Huband S and Haddleton D Well-defined polyacrylamides with AIE properties via rapid Cu-mediated living radical polymerization in aqueous solution: thermoresponsive nanoparticles for bioimaging[J]. Polymer Chemistry, 2021, 13(1): 58-68.

Conferences:

• American Chemical Society’s (ACS’) Fall 2019 National Meeting & Exposition (San Diego)

Contact details:

Email: congkai.ma@warwick.ac.uk

Mailing Address:

Chemistry department, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK