Research Overview
Research Themes
My research focuses on the physical chemistry of soft matter. My training is as a physical polymer chemist, however soft matter also encompasses colloids, emulsions, nanoparticles and surfaces. By using kinetic and mechanistic knowledge as a guide, my group are creating new materials with specific properties in numerous applications. The research that we conduct has a multidisciplinary emphasis, where polymer synthesis, surface coating technologies and nanoscience meet to solve problems in chemistry, chemical engineering, biomedical engineering and materials science.
The three main themes of my research programs are as follows:
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Precision polymer and colloid engineering
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Designer thin films and surfaces
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Next-generation nanomaterials
I invite you to learn more about specific projects by clicking here.
These research themes are all inter-connected, and knowledge from one research theme regularly feeds advances in another. The commonality of our research approach focuses on developing and understanding knowledge in these systems to create new materials, to characterize them and to investigate their properties.
Competitive Grant Success and Research Funding
ARC Discovery Project Grants
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November 2013: Biomimetic Templating Radical Polymerization in Nanoreactors, DP140100292, AUD $360,000 (with Professor Per Zetterlund and Professor Rachel O'Reilly)
ARC Linkage Project Grants
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February 2017: A high speed, high fidelity 3D printer for Fabricating Microfluidic Devices, LP160101247, AUD $630,000 (with Professor Michael Breadmore, A/Prof Rosanne Guijt, Professor Brett Paull and Ms Celia Lin)
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June 2014: Polymer Nanoparticles with Gradient Morphology for Environmentally Friendly Aqueous Coatings Applications, LP140100119, AUD $330,913 (with Professor Per Zetterlund and Dr Richard Brinkhuis)
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June 2013: Micropatterned Polymer Film Coatings for the Capture of Water Directly from the Atmosphere, LP130100088, AUD $325,000 (with Dr Chiara Neto, A/Prof Andrew Minett and Professor Andrew Harris)
University Grants
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December 2015: Ring Opening Polymerization in Emulsion, Research Enhancement Grant Scheme, University of Tasmania, AUD $14,920 (1 year)
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December 2013: Hollow Graphene-Polymer Nanocapsules for Catalytic Applications, Faculty of Engineering Research Grant, The University of New South Wales, AUD $20,000 (1 year)
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November 2013: UNSW Major Research Equipment and Infrastructure Scheme, AUD $106,000
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November 2011: Novel Graphene-Based Polymer Nanocomposite Materials via Environmentally Benign Polymerization Techniques, UNSW Vice-Chancellors' Research Fellowship, AUD $30,000 (3 years)
