People

Dr Stephanie Urwin

Many years ago Stephanie completed her MChem at Newcastle University, including a research stay with Prof. Rory Waterman at the University of Vermont. After completing her PhD with Dr Michael Cowley at the University of Edinburgh, she transitioned into industrial research, before joining the University of Oxford last year. Her work currently focuses on heavy cyanide analogues. Day to day she can be found signing lots of COSHH forms, forgetting to do the base bath and complaining about broken glassware.

Dr Lilian Szych

Lilian completed her PhD with Prof. Axel Schulz in Rostock, investigating reactive pnictogen compounds. She joined the group as a postdoc in 2022 to investigate heavier element double bonds and their application in small-molecule activation. Outside of the lab she enjoys sports, travelling and photography.

Jack Howley

Jack is a fourth year DPhil student with the OxICFM CDT. Jack completed his MChem with Dr Michael Cowley at the University of Edinburgh, investigating frustrated Lewis pairs in small molecule activation. Jack’s current work explores bench stable phosphorus precursors to fluorescent indium phosphide quantum dots.

Eric Yang

Eric is a fourth year DPhil student with the OxICFM CDT. He completed his MSci at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Prof. Dominic Wright, researching supramolecular chemistry using main group elements. His current research is on the synthesis of cyaphide containing molecules and solids. We have reason to believe that he is responsible for the strange music that keeps playing in the lab.

Aaron King

Aaron is a third year DPhil student on the OxICFM-CDT program. He received his MSci from the University of Bristol, where he completed a final year project in the group of Prof. John Bower looking at aza-Heck cascade reactions. Aaron's current project involves exploring the chemistry of geometrically constrained phosphorous compounds with the goal of developing single-site main-group photocatalysts for HX-splitting.

Matt Reveley

Matt is a second year DPhil student. At the University of Sussex, he completed his MChem research project under the supervision of Dr Ian Crossley, investigating the synthesis and reactivity of transition metal cypahide complexes. Matt’s work explores the reactivity of heavier element double bonds in catalysis. Outside of the lab, he enjoys composing Galant music, playing the piano, and going to the gym.

Chenyang Hu

Chenyang is a first year DPhil student in the group. Chenyang completed his undergraduate study at Nanjing University and UC Berkeley, working on organic synthesis. After that he spent a year at SUSTech with Dr. Liu Leo Liu investigating carbene chemistry and DFT calculations. Outside of the lab he enjoys watching football games and play some video games.

Alex Mapp

Although he disagrees, Alex is a second year DPhil student on the OxICFM program. He completed his MChem at the University of Manchester under the supervision of Dr Darren Willcox, where he worked on the synthesis of phosphine-borane Z-type ligands. His current project is on the synthesis of phosphorus-containing interlocked molecules, with the aim of using them in frustrated Lewis pair chemistry for small molecule activation. Alex loves UK garage music and has recently discovered the magic of Scatman John and Bomfunk MC.

Doruk Ergocmen

Doruk is a DPhil student from Jesus College. He did his undergraduate studies at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara and received his MSc degrees on material science from University of Montpellier and LMU Munich, working on plasmonic semiconductor nanoparticles. As a former Lindau Young Scholar, Doruk maintains an interest in teaching and science policy as well.