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Chemistry Vas Stavros Group

Nat Rodrigues Lopes (VRF)

Portrait photo of Nat Rodrigues Lopes.I am currently associated with the Stravros group as an Honorary/Visiting Research Fellow, which allows me to carry on work on ultrafast laser spectroscopy following on from my PhD research. (Full academic thesis available at: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/114335/1/WRAP_Theses_Rodrigues_2018.pdf; Winner of the Warwick Faculty of Science, Engineering & Medicine Thesis Prize 2019).

My permanent position, however, as a Marie Curie Research Fellow at Lipotec, part of The Lubrizol Corporation, in Barcelona (Spain), where I am working on my proposed project 'Novel Photoprotective Cosmetics: From Fundamental Science to Product'.

As a scientist and researcher, I am fascinated by the interactions between light and matter, which is what has lead me to become an expert in state-of-the-art laser spectroscopy methods. For me, the most thrilling part of being a scientist is the cross-referencing of interdisciplinary sources to find the key questions that will lead to ground-breaking science. I am a 'big picture' scientist, who seeks to 'zoom-out' to see the wider implications of my research and then pursue transformative translational research.

In addition, I am a strong believer in the democratization of science. This implies a strong commitment to contributing to a diverse scientific community, but also to helping science overflow the boundaries of knowledge production centres into the wider society. I believe people should be able not only to access scientific information but also to navigate it and use it to make truly informed decisions.

I am, therefore, a keen communicator who is constantly seeking opportunities to talk about science to as wide an audience as possible, be that talking about spectroscopy or about the role of science in society. Perhaps as a result of my interest in science communication, I am also an award-winning teacher and writer.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6225-2487

ResearcherID: AAG-1464-2021

Publications

Please find the most up-to-date list on GoogleScholar by following this link.

  1. Temitope T. Abiola, Natércia d. N. Rodrigues, Casey Ho, Daniel J. L. Coxon, Michael D. Horbury, Josene M. Toldo, Mariana T. do Casal, Benjamin Rioux, Cédric Peyrot, Matthieu M. Mention, Patrick Balaguer, Mario Barbatti*, Florent Allais*, and Vasilios G. Stavros*, New Generation UV-A Filters: Understanding Their Photodynamics on a Human Skin Mimic, J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 12(1), 337-344 (2021).

  2. Emily L. Holt, Konstantina M. Krokidi, Matthew A. P. Turner, Piyush Mishra, Timothy S. Zwier, Natércia d. N. Rodrigues*, and Vasilios G. Stavros*, Insights into the photoprotection mechanism of the UV filter homosalate, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 22, 15509-15519 (2020).

  3. Shuming Bai, Vytautas Balevicius, Jr., Eric Bittner, Yuan-Chung Cheng, Majed Chergui, Jeffrey Cina, Natércia d. N. Rodrigues, Animesh Datta, Jahan Dawlaty, Amro Dodin, Benjamin Fingerhut, Graham Fleming, Naomi Ginsberg, Sharon Hammes-Schiffer, Vanessa Huxter, Bern Kohler, Yumin Lee, Graham Leggett, Andrew Marcus, Karen Morenz, Jennifer Ogilvie, Alexandra Olaya-Castro, Thomas A. A. Oliver, Minjung Son, Yin Song, and Vasilios Stavros., Energy and charge-transfer in natural photosynthesis: general discussion, Faraday Discuss., 216, 133-161 (2019).

  4. Michael Ashfold, Jon Bender, Eric Bittner, Jeffrey Cina, Carlos E. Crespo-Hernández, Natércia d. N. Rodrigues, Jahan Dawlaty, Ryan Dill, Amro Dodin, Marta Duchi, Laura Estergreen, Gregory Gate, James Gaynor, Naomi Ginsberg, Christopher Grieco, Sharon Hammes-Schiffer, Vanessa Huxter, Shawn Irgen-Gioro, Jimmy Joy, Bern Kohler, Nadia Korovina, Johannes Mahl, Andrew Marcus, Todd Martinez, Karen Morenz, Amanda Morris, Jennifer Ogilvie, Thomas A.A. Oliver, Tom Penfold, Petter Persson, Trevor Roberts, Benjamin Schwartz, Yin Song, Mark Thompson, Michael Wasielewski, Emily Weiss, and Kristopher Williams, Photovoltaics and bio-inspired light harvesting: general discussion, Faraday Discuss., 216, 269-300 (2019).

  5. Michael Ashfold, Shuming Bai, Stephen Bradforth, Pavel Chabera, Jeffrey Cina, Carlos E. Crespo-Hernández, Natércia d. N. Rodrigues, Marta Duchi, Graham Fleming, Christopher Grieco, Scott Habershon, Michael Haggmark, Sharon Hammes-Schiffer, Shou-Ting Hsieh, Bern Kohler, Heiko Lokstein, Andrew Marcus, Todd Martinez, Spiridoula Matsika, Thomas A. A. Oliver, Luis Ortiz-Rodríguez, Tomas Polivka, Minjung Son, Vasilios Stavros, Collin Steen, Matthew Turner, Peter Jomo Walla, and Jack Woolley, Photo-protection/photo-damage in natural systems: general discussion, Faraday Discuss., 216, 538-563 (2019).

  6. Jack M. Woolley, Konstantina M. Krokidi, Matthew A. P. Turner, Michael D. Horbury, Vasilios G. Stavros, and Natércia d. N. Rodrigues*, Highlights from Faraday Discussion on Ultrafast Photoinduced Energy and Charge Transfer, Ventura, CA, USA, April 2019, Chem. Commun., 55, 9232-9240 (2019).

  7. Natércia d. N. Rodrigues, Neil C. Cole-Filipiak, Karl N. Blodgett, Chamara Abeysekera, Timothy S. Zwier, and Vasilios G. Stavros*, Wavepacket insights into the photoprotection mechanism of the UV filter methyl anthranilate, Nature Comms., 9, 5188 (2018).

  8. Natércia d. N. Rodrigues, Neil C. Cole-Filipiak, Matthew A. P. Turner, Konstantina M. Krokidi, Georgia L. Thornton, Gareth W. Richings, Nicholas D. M. Hine, Vasilios G. Stavros*, Substituent position effects on sunscreen photodynamics: A closer look at methyl anthranilate, Chem. Phys., 515, 596-602 (2918).

  9. Natércia d. N. Rodrigues*, Vasilios G. Stavros*, From Fundamental Science to Product: A Bottom-up Approach to Sunscreen Development, Sci. Prog., 101(1), 8-31 (2018).

  10. Natércia d. N. Rodrigues, Neil C. Cole-Filipiak, Michael D. Horbury, Michael Staniforth, Tolga N. V. Karsili, Yoann Peperstraete, Vasilios G. Stavros*, Photophysics of the sunscreen ingredient menthyl anthranilate and its precursor methyl anthranilate: A bottom-up approach to photoprotection, J. Photochem. Photobiol. A: Chemistry, 353, 376-384 (2018).

  11. Michael D. Horbury, Lewis A. Baker, Natércia d. N. Rodrigues, Wen-Dong Quan, and Vasilios G. Stavros*, Photoisomerization of ethyl ferulate: A solution phase transient absorption study, Chem. Phys. Lett., 673, 62-67 (2017).

  12. Neil C. Cole-Filipiak, Michael Staniforth, Natércia d. N. Rodrigues, Yoann Peperstraete, and Vasilios G. Stavros*, Ultrafast Dissociation Dynamics of 2-Ethylpyrrole, J. Phys. Chem. A, 121, 969-976 (2017).

  13. Natércia d. N. Rodrigues, Michael Staniforth, Jamie D. Young, Yoann Peperstraete, Neil C. Cole-Filipiak, Joseph R. Gord, Patrick S. Walsh, Daniel M. Hewett, Timothy S. Zwier*, and Vasilios G. Stavros*, Towards elucidating the photochemistry of the sunscreen filter ethyl ferulate using time-resolved gas-phase spectroscopy, Faraday Discussions, 194, 709-729 (2016).

  14. Natércia d. N. Rodrigues, Michael Staniforth, and Vasilios G. Stavros*, Photophysics of sunscreen molecules in the gas-phase: a stepwise approach towards understanding and developing next-generation sunscreens, Proc. R. Soc. A, 472, 20160677 (2016).

  15. Jon Tandy, Cheng Feng, Adrian Boatwright, Gautam Sarma, Ahmed M. Sadoon, Andrew Shirley, Natércia d. N. Rodrigues, Ethan M. Cunningham, Shengfu Yang, and Andrew M. Ellis*, Communication: Infrared spectroscopy of salt-water complexes, J. Chem. Phys., 144(12), 121103 (2016).

  16. Yoann Peperstraete, Michael Staniforth, Lewis A. Baker, Natércia d. N. Rodrigues, Neil C. Cole-Filipiak, Wen-Dong Quan, and Vasilios G. Stavros*, Bottom-up excited state dynamics of two cinnamate-based sunscreen filter molecules, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 18, 28140-28149 (2016).

  17. C. A. Arrell*, J. Ojeda, M. Sabbar, W. A. Okell, T. Witting, T. Siegel, Z. Diveki, S. Hutchinson, L. Gallmann, U. Keller, F. van Mouri, R. T. Chapman, C. Cacho, Natércia d. N. Rodrigues, I. C.E. Turcu, J. W.G. Tisch, E. Springate, J. P. Marangos, and M. Chergui, A simple electron time-of-flight spectrometer for ultrafast vacuum ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy of liquid solutions, Rev. Sci. Inst., 85, 103117 (2014).

*Corresponding author(s)

Grants, Prizes and Awards

2019 – University of Warwick Science Faculty Thesis Prize

2019 – Warwick Institute of Advanced Studies Award: Grant in the value of £2953.20 for the purchase of equipment.

2018 – Warwick Award for Teaching Excellence for Postgraduates who Teach: WATE PGR Nominee 2016/2017, WATE PGR Winner 2017/2018

2018 – Postgraduate Award in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

2018 – Postgraduate Award in Transferable Skills in the Sciences

2017 – Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

2017 – Academic Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning: £3000 for developing an undergraduate experiment titled “photochemistry of sunscreen molecules”.

Institutional Responsibilities and Membership of Scientific Societies

2016 – present: Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC)

2021 – present: Member of the Institute of Physics (MInstP)

2021 – present: Ordinary member of the committee of the Spectroscopy and Dynamics Interest Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry

2021 – present: Co-opted ordinary member of the committee of the Molecular Physics Group of the Institute of Physics