Postdoctoral Researchers

Dr Daniel J. Scott                                                                                                  Daniel-S-150x

Daniel joined the group in October 2012 after graduating from Cambridge, where he studied tetrazole-directed C-H activation as part of the Ley group. He completed his PhD in the group, where he worked on FLPs based on boron and tin, and followed this with a postdoctoral position in the group, working on N2 reduction by iron. Dan left the group in 2018, moving to Regensburg to take up a position with Dr Robert Wolf.

Dr Robert T. Cooper        Coops                                                                                                     

Robert joined the group in 2016 as a postdoctoral researcher. He completed his DPhil under the supervision of Prof. Dermot O’Hare in Oxford, investigating group 4 η8-permethylpentalene complexes and their subsequent activation of small molecules. A two year industrially funded postdoc followed, working on heterogeneous α-olefin polymerisation catalysis and solid state supports. Whilst in the group, Robert was a member of Team Tin, working on the catalytic reduction of carbon dioxide.

NP 150pxDr Nicholas Phillips                                                                                                                    

Nick was the Ashley group's first postdoctoral researcher.  He completed his PhD in Oxford where he researched metal-NHC complexes in E-H activation under Prof. Simon Aldridge, and after his stint in the group went on to postdoc in the US before returning to Imperial to work in the Crimmin group.

Postgraduate Students

Roland Turnell-Ritson

Roland joined the group in 2016, having completed his MSci at the University of Cambridge. During his Part III project, he investigated the synthesis of arene-functionalised ruthenium piano stool compounds for use as selective anti-cancer agents. He now works on Sn(II) and Ge(II) compounds as Lewis acids for H2 activation. When not in the lab, Roland plays an excessive amount of ultimate frisbee.

Joshua Sapsford

Josh joined the group in 2015 for his MSci project to develop novel Sn(IV) Lewis acids for the catalytic direct hydrogenation of carbon dioxide. He has stayed with the group for his PhD, during which he continued to investigate these catalysts for moisture tolerant hydrogenations of imines, carbonyls and esters. In his spare time Josh likes to frequent the pub, watch films, and perfect his world-famous ‘Approach’.

Nathan Allcock

Nathan began his PhD in October 2016 under joint supervision of Dr Andrew Ashley, Dr Matthew Fuchter and Dr Christopher Tighe. I completed my MChem degree at the University of York, spending my final year at Victrex plc developing synthetic routes to producing poly(aryletherketones). I enjoy going to the gym, swimming and attempting to play the guitar in my spare time.

Laurence R. DoyleLaurence-D-150x                                                                                                                         

Laurence joined the group in 2011 after receiving an MChem Chemistry degree from the University of Oxford. His work at Imperial focused on iron-mediated dinitrogen fixation to ammonia.  Having completed his PhD, Laurence continued his work in the group as a PDRA, before moving on to the Liddle group in Manchester.

Sarah J. GatesSarah-G-150x                                                                                                                           

Sarah is from Northern Ireland. She completed her undergaduate studies at Imperial College. Her MSci project was based on the synthesis of monomeric imide and phosphinidene complexes for C-H and C-F activation, under the supervision of Dr Mark Crimmin. Sarah started her PhD in November 2012 under the joint supervision of Dr Andrew Ashley and Dr Silvia Díez-González, investigating new homogeneous catalysts for selective conversion of Syngas to ethylene. Upon finishing her PhD, she went on to do an internship in Science Policy at the Royal Society before starting work in the Cabinet Office.

Tom-H-150xThomas J. Herrington                                                                                                

Tom completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Oxford before moving to Imperial College to become the initial PhD of the Ashley research group; he has since moved on to work at BP. Tom's work centred on the catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide to hydrocarbon fuels. He left the group in 2014 to work at BP.

Florian-L-150xFlorian Langmann                                                                                                                   

Florian worked on boron catalysts for direct amide bond formation, under the joint supervision of Dr James Bull. He did his Masters in Oxford under the supervision of Dr Michael Willis.

Peter J. Hill                                                img_0451                                                            

Pete completed his Masters degree at Oxford investigating frustrated Lewis pair compounds based on Zintl ions and worked on the homogeneous reduction of CO and N2 during his time in the group. He left in 2017 to work as a researcher for Shell.                                                    

crawford_newAndrew Crawford                                                                                                                   

Andrew did his MSci degree at Cambridge, and completed a final year project on bimetallic nanoparticles as catalysts for ammonia-borane hydrolysis. He worked on homogeneous ammonium production from iron-dinitrogen complexes, and left in 2017 to join the Royal Society.

 

Adam Piascik                                                                                                        

Adam began his PhD with the group in October 2015 after graduating from the University of Oxford, where he studied Mn(III)-induced cyclizations for his Part II project with Prof. Jonathan Burton. His work within the group focused on the activation and reduction of dinitrogen using molecular Fe complexes. He left the group in 2019 to join AVAMAE.

Dan Mercea

Dan started his PhD in the group in 2015 under the joint supervision of Dr Matthew Fuchter, after having completed his undergraduate studies at Oxford. For his Part II, project he worked on the synthesis of a fragment of Stambomycin D in Dr Edward Anderson's group. In his spare time, Dan likes to make an attempt at sporting activities and cooking.

MRes Students

Victor Lee

Oliver Newman

Ben Lancaster

Yara Van-Ingen

Wanli Ma

Nerissa Schuit

Undergraduate Students

Dex Oseman (BSc)

Ethan Vicars (MSci)

Leonardo de Moura Vaca (BSc)

Koichi Kanaboshi (MSci)

Boru (Oscar) Chen (BSc)

Fraser Read (MSci)

Ruohao Li (MSci)                                                                                                         

Stella Lee (BSc)                                                                                                                 

Harry Wilkinson (MSci)                                                                                               

Wei-Lun Toh (BSc)     

Dong-Hun Hyon (BSc)                                                                                                      

Jenny Zhang (BSc)                                                                                                         

Dante Preda (MSci)                                                                                                           

Arron Deacy (MSci)                                                                                                         

Pip Hellier (MSci)                                                                                                             

Duncan Fraser (MSci)                                                                                                     

Caroline Wood (MSci)