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Do you want to stretch, bend, and distort molecules at your will?
Then why not join us? 
Just click 
here 

PostDoc

Robert Nixon

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Robert graduated from the University of Manchester in 2016 (MChem). Robert joined us for a PhD in September 2016 to work on the development of mechanocatalysts. After successfully defending his thesis in June 2020, Dr Nixon decided to stay with us for a postdoc.

Publications
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Nat. Chem. 2020, 12, 826-831.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 3033-3036.
Nature 2024, 628, 320-325.
Nat. Chem. 2024, 16, 1366–1372.

Awards
Talk Prize at CheM62 meeting 2018 in Liverpool
Department of Chemistry Outstanding Achievement Award 2020
Faculty of Science and Engineering Best Outstanding Output 2024
Supramolecular Chemistry Poster Prize at MASC 2024

Xuan Yang

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Xuan graduated from Nankai University (Nankai, China) in 2016. He then moved to Germany and obtained his PhD in 2020 under the supervision of Prof. Michael Mastalerz at the ​Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg. Xuan joined us in May 2022 as a Newton International Fellow.

Mengjiao Wu

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Mengjiao graduated from the Jiangxi Normal University (BSc) and Tianjin University (MSc). She obtained her PhD in 2021 under the direction of Prof. Yulan Chen at Tianjin University, where she developed new mechanochromic polymers. She joined us in March 2023 as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow (UKRI guarantee).

Publication
​Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2025. DOI: 10.1002/anie.202501499.

Tomás Nicolas Garcia

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Tomás graduated from the University of Murcia in 2017 (MSc). He obtained his PhD in 2023 under the direction of Prof. Emilio Pérez at the Autonomous University of Madrid, where he worked on the single-molecule manipulation of molecular machines. He joined us in July 2023.

Lei Chen

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Lei graduated from the East China University of Science and Technology in 2010 (B.S.) and Fudan University in 2013 (M.S.). After working in industry for a few years, Lei joined us in September 2019, on a UoM-CSC scholarship, to work on the mechanochemistry of mechanical bonds. After completing his PhD, Lei decided to stay with us for a postdoc.

Publications
Nature 2024, 628, 320-325.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 16381–16384.
Chem. Sci. 2025, 16, 7104-7105.
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2025, e202511039.
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2025, e202512698.

Award
RSC Manchester and District Section Travel Bursary 2024
Polymer Chemistry & RSC Applied Polymers poster prize, RAPS 2024
Department of Chemistry Outstanding Achievement Award 2024
Highly Commended for the MASC PhD Thesis Award 2024

Danny Treacher

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Danny graduated from Lancaster University in 2020 (MChem) and joined us in September 2020 for a PhD to work on mechanocatalysis. After completing his PhD, Danny decided to stay with us for a postdoc.

PhD students

James Ormson

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James graduated from Queen’s University Belfast in 2021 (MSci) and joined us in September of the same year. James works on the mechanochemistry of catenanes.

Publication

Chapter 1 in Mechanically Interlocked Materials; Wiley 2024, 1–28.

Award
Best Organic Talk, UoM Chemistry Postgraduate Conference 2024

Alice Weng Ieong

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Alice graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2019 (BSc) and from the University of Manchester in 2021 (MPhil). She then enrolled in the third cohort of iCAT CDT and initially joined the group for her lab rotation and decided to stay with us for her PhD (April 2022). Alice works ​on the development of mechanocatalysts.

Publication
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145, 20782-29785.

Qianqian Cheng

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Qianqian graduated from the University of Manchester in 2022 (MChem) and after a successful final year project in the group, she decided to stay with us for a PhD. Qianqian works on new retrocycloaddition mechanophores.

Publication
Chem. Sci. 2024, 15, 13181–13184

Award
Best Organic Talk, UoM Chemistry Postgraduate Conference 2025

Oswald Philipsen

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Oswald graduated from the University of Amsterdam in 2021 (MChem). He then worked in the pharmaceutical industry before joining us in September 2024 on a Dean’s Doctoral Scholarship. Oswald works on force-controlled release systems.

Ronak Singha

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Ronak graduated from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Bhopal in 2024 (BSc and MSc). He joined us in September 2024 to work on force-controlled release systems.

PGT Student/Summer Students

Dominic Sullivan

Dominic joined us for his PGT project in June 2024.

Haina Wang

Haina (UoM) is back in the group as a SEI Summer Intern.

Siyu Du

Siyu is joining us from Imperial College for a summer internship.

Former members

Postdocs
Paramita Das GCRF Visiting Fellow (07/2019-06/2020)
Min Zhang Newton International Fellow (01/2018-02/2020)
Rafael Sandoval PDRA (01/2018-01/2020)

PhD
Danny Treacher PhD student (10/2020-01/2025)
Lei Chen PhD student (10/2019-09/2023)
Kamil Suwada PhD student (10/2019-06/2023)
Thomas Carr PhD student (10/2017-06/2021)
Robert Nixon PhD student (10/2016-06/2020)
Richard Stevenson PhD student (04/2016-12/2019)

PGT/MChem/rotation students
​Sevval Onal MChem student (10/2024-05/2025)
Yucong Lei PGT student (04-09/2024)
Mor Tsfania MChem student (10/2023-05/2024)
George Gibson MChem student (10/2023-05/2024)
​Propali Bhattacharjee PGT student (04-09/2023)
Robbie Clark iCAT CDT rotation student (04-06/2023)
​​Kiril Atanasov MChem student (10/2022-05/2023)
​​Rosa Lawrence MChem student (10/2022-05/2023)
​Sabah Moman PGT student (04-09/2022)
Qianqian Cheng MChem student (10/2021-05/2022)
Hei Lok Herman Lo MChem student (10/2021-05/2022)
Antonia Reeves MSc student (10/202o-09/2021)
Guanhao Wang PGT student (04-09/2021)
Likchun Wu MChem student (10/202o-04/2021)
Benjamin Enright MChem student (10/202o-04/2021)
Wen-Chiao Lin PGT student (04-09/2020)
Elliott Nunn MChem student (10/2019-04/2020)
Sarah Kaye MChem student (10/2019-04/2020)
Jacob Kenyon iCAT CDT rotation student (10-12/2019)
Shannon Vassell MChem student (10/2018-04/2019)
Maurice Hewins MChem student (10/2018-04/2019)
Evelyn Sigley MSc student (10/2017-09/2018)
Samuel Haycocks MChem student (10/2017-04/2018)
Lewis Harrison MChem student (10/2017-04/2018)
Laurence Morris-Moody MChem student (10/2016-04/2017)
Jack Rowson MChem student (10/2016-04/2017)

Summer students/visiting scientists
Owen Veck Summer student (06-08/2024)
Haina Wang Summer student (06-08/2024 and 06-08/2025)
Mor Tsfania Summer student (07-08/2023)
Ben Redfearn Summer student (07-08/2023)
Sebastien Renson Visiting student (02-05/2023)
Nerea Alvarez Llorente Visiting PhD student (09-12/2022)
Chaofan Yin Summer student (06-07/2022)
Norapat Siripornpitak Summer student (07-08/2019)
Olga Shvetsova  Summer student (13/06-12/07/2019)
Camille Gosée Visiting student (02/2019)
Julien De Winter Visiting scientist (06-07/2018)
Byron Gamble Summer student (06-07/2018)
Felix Gutorovas Summer student (06-07/2018)
Simon Box Erasmus student (02-05/2018)
Sharon Hubert Erasmus student (02-05/2018)
Sana Anwar Summer student (08/2017)
Lewis Harrison Summer student (07-08/2016)
​​Mark Smith Summer student (07-08/2016)