People
Dr Timothy Easun
Royal Society University Research Fellow & Associate Professor
Tim moved institutions in 2022 to join the growing, vibrant academic community of the School of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham. Before this, he was appointed as a Cardiff University Research Fellow in 2015 and very shortly afterwards was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship to study flow confined on the nanoscale within metal-organic frameworks. His interests are all linked by a desire to understand and control the dynamic processes that happen on the nanoscale in the synthesis and properties of MOFs. The materials made within the group may have applications in water purification and at Cardiff Tim was an active part of the Cardiff University Water Research Institute. He is very enthusiastic about public engagement, believing that a love of science should be shared as widely as possible!
Prior to starting his own research group, Tim worked as Senior Research Officer for Prof. Martin Schröder (Nottingham) running a group of >30 researchers in the field of MOFs; was an Inorganic Teaching Fellow; developed solid-state spectroscopic characterisation methods to support the emerging field of photocrystallography as a PDRA for Prof. Mike George (Nottingham), and completed his PhD in the group of Prof. Mike Ward (Sheffield) on using solvatochromism to control the of direction of photoinduced energy and electron transfer in multinuclear complexes.
Tim's university webpage can be found here
Group members:
Present group members:
Dr Joel Cornelio
PDRA
Joel works on photoresponsive MOF materials. His project is funded by a Royal Society grant.
Joel undertook his PhD at Massey University under the supervision of Prof. Shane Telfer, and studied MOFs containing one metal and three organic components. He investigated a new method of generating white light and investigated photoinduced energy and electron transfer processes in his MOFs on ultrafast timescales.
Dominic Ward
PhD student
Dom is making new modifiers for photoresponsive frameworks and testing how modification affects MOF properties and function, with particular interest in water purification.
Dom graduated his undergraduate BSc degree from the University of Central Lancashire.
Daniel Cerasale
PhD student
Dan is working on making linkers for new photoresponsive frameworks. He uses these linkers to make light-responsive porous materials that we study using photophysical and photochemical methods to better understand both framework and guest behaviour in MOFs.
Dan graduated with a MSci degree from the University of Nottingham.
Past group members:
Nimai Mehta
PhD student
Nimai worked on the challenges of growing polymers in metal-organic frameworks. His PhD project was jointly supervised by Dr Alison Paul, his lead-supervisor.
Nimai graduated with a M.S. in Nano Engineering from University of California, San Diego.
Dr Luke Kidwell
Former PhD student
Luke made new linkers for photoresponsive frameworks, and studyied the separation and flow of guests through MOFs using microwave methods.
Luke graduated from the University of Southampton after completing his Masters' research project in the group of Darren Bradshaw. He successfully completed his PhD at Cardiff in 2021.
Dr Adam Nevin
Former PDRA
Adam worked on water desalination using photoresponsive materials. His project was funded by a Royal Society Challenge Grant.
Adam received his PhD on studies of new metal-organic frameworks from the University of Nottingham in 2015, from the group of Prof. Martin Schroder.
Dr Corey Jones
Former PhD Student
Corey made new linkers for photoresponsive frameworks and studying the formation processes of MOFs. She used a combination of traditional characterisation techniques and in-situ NMR and SAXS methods to investigate the early stages of solvothermal syntheses.
Winner of the Tocris Prize for best performance in the MChem degree, Corey graduated from Cardiff University in 2015 and joined the Easun group as one of the first PhD students in the group. She successfully completed her PhD in 2019.
Dr Alex Tansell
Former PhD Student
Alex made and modified a range of MOFs to make them open and close their porosity using light. He also used synchrotron IR microspectroscopy to study the binding and dynamic behaviour of guests in framework single crystals.
Alex graduated from Leeds University and joined the Easun group in 2015 as one of the first PhD students in the group. He successfully completed his PhD in 2019.
James Hancock
Former MPhil student
Jamie also worked on water desalination using photoresponsive materials. His project was funded by a Royal Society Grant.
Jamie graduated from the University of Sheffield after completing his undergraduate research project in the group of Dr Anthony Haynes. He completed his MPhil from Cardiff University in 2020.
