News Archive (2015-17)

RSC Successful Scale-Up of Catalytic Processes conference, Stockton-on-Tees

November 2017

Ivalina attended the Successful Scale-Up of Catalytic Processes one day symposium organised by the RSC Applied Catalysis Group and presented a poster entitled “Operando Infrared Microspectroscopy at Work: Effects of Crystal Size on Formation of the Hydrocarbon Pool in the Methanol-to-Hydrocarbons Process”. Ivalina won a poster prize for her contribution.

EuroMOF conference 2017, Delft

October-November 2017

Ram and Angelica attended the the 2nd European MOF conference in Delft and presented posters entitled “Modulator-controlled synthesis and characterisation of STA-26, an interpenetrated Zirconium MOF with the-i topology” and “Synchrotron IR Microspectroscopic Measurement of Adsorption and Diffusion of CO2 in ZIFs”, respectively. Angelica also won a poster price for her contribution.

New PhD student, Elliott Bruce

October 2017

Elliott Bruce has joined the Wright group as a PhD student. Elliott previously carried out his 4th Year Masters Research project in the group and has now returned to continue working in the field of zeolites.

Universities of Scotland Inorganic Chemistry Conference (USIC) 2017

August 2017

Ram and Abigail presented posters at the USIC, St Andrews, 2017. Also, Alice Bumstead (4th year project student and summer project student in the Wright group) won the top prize for her presentation on zirconium MOFs. Congratulations Alice!

University of St Andrews graduation 2017

June 2017

Dr David Price and Dr Amanda Anderson received their doctoral degrees on Wednesday 21st June 2017. Congratulations to both!

More viva success for David Price!

May 2017

Another PhD viva completed. This time it is David. We wish you all the success for your future. Well done!

Viva success for Amanda Anderson!

April 2017

Congratulations to Amanda Anderson, who has now completed her PhD studies in the Wright group. We wish Amanda much success for the future and the next steps in her career path.

New Group member

March 2017

Ivalina Minova is the 2nd CDT student to join the Wright group and has begun her PhD research in the field of zeolites. Welcome!

CRITICAT CDT 2ND Annual Catalytic Conference

March 2017

The 2nd CRITICAT conference took place at St Andrews, 20th-21st March 2017, and Ram and Ivalina (both CRITICAT students) presented their work. Ram’s talk entitled “Synthesis of Phosphine-functionalised MOFs by Post-synthetic Modification and their Application in Catalysis” covered his PhD work and Ivalina co-presented her 1st year mini-project “Catalytic Conversion of Biomass Derived Oils (BDO) in Fast Pyrolysis Reactor” from Prof. John Irvine’s group. Both gave good presentations and we look forward to welcoming Ivalina to the Wright group this spring.

Voice of the future 2017, House of Commons

March 2017

Angelica attended the Voice of the Future 2017 at Portcullis House, Westminster, on March 15th as a representative of the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI). The event is an opportunity for young scientists to ask questions of leading figures dealing with science in parliament or government. Panellists this year included Chi Onwurah (Shadow Minister for Industrial Strategy, Science and Innovation), Jo Johnston (Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation) and Sir Mark Walport (Government Chief Scientific Adviser) as well as members of the parliament and scientific committee.

Welcome to the Group, Veselina!

December 2016

Veselina Georgieva has joined the group as a new Post-doctoral researcher in the field of zeolites.

New undergraduate research project students

September 2016

The Wright Group welcomes 4 new project students: Katie Beadle, Andrew Boyes, Charlotte Pleass and Alice Bumstead who shall be learning all there is to know about porous materials!

Welcome back, Magdalena!

September 2016

Magdalena has rejoined the group (and the world of zeolites and MOFs) after working for GSK (Montrose). Read her profile to see what projects she shall be investigating.

Congratulations and Good Luck to Dr Alex Greenaway

February 2016

Many congratulations to Dr Alex Greenaway (previous post-doc) who has recently taken up a position at the Research Complex at Harwell (RCaH), Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxford. We hope we will see Alex during future trips to the Diamond Light Source.

Postgraduate Symposium 2015

December 2015

Congratulations to Amanda who was awarded a poster prize for her work on “Immobilization of Nanoparticles in MOFs for Tandem Catalysis” at the University of St Andrews, School of Chemistry, Postgraduate Symposium Day 2015.

St Andrews Advanced Materials Conferences (January 12-13TH 2016)

November 2015

The St Andrews Advanced Materials conference will take place from January 12-13th 2016 and will include talks covering Chemistry, Physics and Earth Sciences from many leading scientists. Professor Paul Wright is one such scientist, more details and registration can be found at  http://www.eventsforce.net/advancedmaterials

Professor Wright gets a further mention in Chemistry World Magazine

October 2015

Professor Wright is again mentioned in a feature article on zeolites in the RSC Chemistry World magazine. Link to magazine page: http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2015/10/zeolite-design-industrial-catalyst

Welcome to new members of the Wright group

September 2015

With the new 2015/2016 academic year already started (time is flying) we would like to welcome our new PhD student, Abigail Watts, and two undergraduate research project students, Alexandra Stainthorpe and Elliott Bruce.

Congratulations and good luck to Dr Magdalena Lozinska and Alessandro Turrina

August 2015

Congratulations to Dr Magdalena Lozinska (previous post-doc and PhD student) and Alessandro Turrina (previous PhD student) who have recently taken up positions at GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson Matthey, respectively. We wish them both much success in their future careers.

Professor Wright gets a mention in Chemistry World Magazine

July 2015

In addition to the recent Nature article (Nature, 2015, 524, 74-78, doi:10.1038/nature14575) from Dr Alex Greenaway and Professor Wright, a feature in the RSC Chemistry World magazine has been published regarding this work on zeolites. Link to magazine page: http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2015/07/tailored-zeolite-synthesis-takes-big-step-forward.

Paper published in Nature

Congratulations to Dr Alex Greenaway and Professor Wright on their recent publication in Nature (Nature, 2015, 524, 74-78, doi:10.1038/nature14575) in collaboration with Stockholm University, POSTECH (South Korea) and the University of Portsmouth.

International Symposium on Relations between Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Catalysis (ISHHC)

12 – 15th July 2015, Utrecht, Netherlands

Congratulations to Amanda, who was awarded one of only two poster prizes out of 213 entries for her research work at the International Symposium on Relations between Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Catalysis in Utrecht. Wonderful news!

Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) Scholarship

July 2015

Congratulations to Angelica for being awarded a prestigious SCI Scholarship to support her PhD research. In addition to the scholarship, she will benefit from publishing opportunities, access to a high-calibre network to help launch her career, and opportunities to present her work and raise her profile within the scientific community. Great news!

New group website

June 2015

Welcome to our new website. For all information regarding the Wright group at the University of St Andrews take a browse.