I studied Chemistry as an undergraduate at the University of Oxford from 1987 to 1991. I remained at Oxford to pursue a D.Phil in Physical Chemistry, working under the supervision of Professor P. A. Madden between 1991 and 1994. After completing my doctorate, I continued my research abroad as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung in Stuttgart, where I worked from 1994 to 1996.

I later returned to Oxford as a Royal Society Research Fellow in the Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, a position I held from 1996 to 2001. My career then took me to University College London, where I served first as a Royal Society Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry, and subsequently as a Reader in Physical and Computational Chemistry from 2004 to 2007.

Since 2007, I have continued my academic work back at Oxford, first as a Reader in Theoretical Chemistry and Tutorial Fellow in Physical Chemistry, then from 2014 onward as a Professor of Chemistry and Tutorial Fellow. I have also had the privilege of serving as Dean of College since 2017.

I cover all aspects of the Physical Chemistry component of Oxford’s four year MChem degree.

The primary focus of work in my group is on the construction, development and application of relatively simple potential models. The use of such models allows a wide range of systems, with potentially unique properties, to be accessed. For example, present research in progress includes the study of the formation of low-dimensional crystal structures, network-forming liquids and glasses, the extension of known phase diagrams, polyamorphism and nanoparticle self-assembly.