Postdoctoral Researchers:

 Jamie Jordan-Hore (2010-2012) Jamie joined the Lee Group after an MSci (Hons) from University of Birmingham and a PhD from University of Cambridge. At Heriot-Watt, he worked on developing Pd(II) catalysed reactions using ligandless, cationic Pd(II) catalysts. 

 Graeme Barker (2013-2016) Graeme grew up in Kirkcaldy, graduating with MChem (Hons) with Medicinal Chemistry and Industrial placement from the University of St Andrews in 2007. He then moved to the University of York to complete PhD studies working with Prof. Peter O’Brien from 2007-2011. Subsequently, he carried out research as an RA at the University of Sheffield with Prof. Iain Coldham from 2011-2013 before joining the Lee Group to work on developing gold-catalysed reactions. Graeme is now an Assistant Professor at Heriot-Watt University.

 Vincent Gauchot (2015-2017) Vincent was born in France and graduated with a M.Sc. from the Université-de-Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in 2009. He then moved to Montreal, QC, to carry out his Ph.D. studies with Prof. Andreea R. Schmitzer from 2009-2014. Moving back to Europe, he worked as a RA at the University of Edinburgh with Dr Mike Shaver from 2014-2015, and was a Leverhulme Trust funded post-doctoral research associate working on gold and photoredox catalysis in the Lee Group. Vincent now works at Almac. 

 Marcos Veguillas (2017-2018) Marcos was born and raised in Madrid where he got his Ph.D. from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid working with Professor Carmen Carreño. He moved to Manchester to carry out his post-doctoral studies working on asymmetric catalysis with Dr. Beatriz Maciá at Manchester Metropolitan University. He joined Heriot-Watt as a Leverhulme Trust funded research associate at Heriot Watt University working on dual catalysis. Marcos is now a research fellow at the University of Nottingham. 

Postgraduates:

Max Hadfield (2007-2010) Max worked on developing gold(I)-catalysed reactions with cyclopropenes and allenes throughout his PhD and worked for Analytix Ltd. upon graduation. Max now works for ThermoFisher. 

 Pauline Glen (2008-2012) Pauline worked on synthesis of a C1-symmetric Box macrocycle and studies toward active template synthesis of mechanically planar chiral rotaxanes. Upon graduation, she joined Johnson Matthey. 

 James O’Neill (2008-2012) James worked on the rotaxane project as well as the synthesis of gold(III) oxo complexes. James now works at Charles River Laboratories. 

 Paul Young (2010-2014) Paul worked on the development of gold-catalysed reactions and mechanisms of gold-catalysed reactions. He is currently working at MacFarlan Smith (Johnson Matthey). 

Sarah Walker (2011-2015) Sarah worked on developing Pd(II)-catalysed reactions. Upon graduating, Sarah joined the University of Edinburgh as a postdoctoral research associate and is currently a Teaching Associate at Strathclyde University. 

 Stacey Webster (2013-2016) Stacey worked on the development of gold and indium catalysed reactions. Upon graduation, Stacey joined the REACH centre. 

 Dan Sutherland (2015-2018) Dan worked on developing gold- and photoredox-catalysed reactions, as well as radical reactions. After graduating, Dan travelled the world before settling in New Zealand and starting a new job with Waters.       

Claire Lamb (2015-2019)  Claire was a PhD student on the CRITICAT CDT programme working on palladium-catalysed desymmetrisation reactions. While in the Lee Group, Claire was the official Lee Group social secretary, photographer and baker and also the co-president of PPICS. Claire works at MacFarlan Smith (Johnson Matthey). 

Euan McLean (2016-2021) Euan was a PhD student on the CRITICAT CDT programme working on dual photoredox catalysis, gold catalysis and metal-free radical reactions. After graduating, Euan joined University of Glasgow as a postdoctoral research associate. Euan’s work

Chris Thomson (2018-2023) was a CRITICAT CDT PhD student under the joint supervision of Dr Filipe Vilela and Dr Ai-Lan Lee, to develop photocatalytic reactions in flow as well as expanding the tool kit of automated flow synthesis: . After graduating, Chris joined University of Edinburgh as a postdoctoral research associate. 

Undergraduates:

Thank you to all our previous undergraduate project students who have mainly gone on to pursue PhDs, a career in the pharmaceutical industry, scientific publishing or teaching.

Jürgen Bauer (2008) Juergen was an Erasmus exchange student from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg. Michael Mathieson (2008-2009) Michael completed his MChem final year project in the group and graduated in 2009. Kristina MacLeod (2008-2009) After a year in industry (Pfizer), Kristina carried out a short MChem mini-project with us and graduated in 2009. Antti Rautio (2008-2009), Ian Jarvie (2008-2009) and Ashley Watson (2008-2009, joint supervision with Prof. Stuart Macgregor) completed their BSc (Hons) projects and graduated in 2009. Ross McLaren (2009-2010) Ross completed his MChem final year project in the group on gold catalysis and graduated in 2010. Mark Lauchlan (2009-2010) carried out a BSc(Hons) project within the group. Ursula Paul (2010) Ursula was an Erasmus exchange student from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg. Amelie Heuer-Jungemann (2010) was a summer project student on a Nuffield Undergraduate Bursary. She graduated in 2011. Arthur Hawkins and Gordon Lister (2010-2011) carried out BSc(Hons) projects within the group. Lynn Arrowsmith (2010-2011) Lynn completed her MChem final year project in the group and graduated in 2011. James Sanderson (2011) was a summer project student on a Nuffield Undergraduate Bursary and graduated in 2014. Richard Mudd (2011-2012) Richard completed his MChem final year project in the group on gold catalysis and graduated in 2012. Steven Levey (2011-2012) Steven completed his MChem final year project in the group on palladium catalysis and graduated in 2012. Nina Schopf (2012) Nina was an Erasmus exchange student from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg.Lisa Patrick (2012) Lisa was a summer project student on a Nuffield Undergraduate Bursary. Riccardo Serreli (2012) carried out a short summer project with us in 2012 and graduated in 2013. Julian Böhnke (2012-2013) Julian was an Erasmus exchange student from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg on a 6 month internship. He worked on Pd(II) catalysis. Paul Nikodemiak (2013) Paul was an Erasmus exchange student from University of Marburg on a short BSc research project. Sam Green (2012-2013) Sam completed her MChem final year project in the group on gold catalysis and graduated in 2013 with a William H. Perkin Prize. Eloi Coutant (2013) Eloi is from Paris and studied Chemistry in the National Graduate School of Engineering Chemistry of Lille (ENSCL, French “Grande école”), finishing his Masters degree with a full-time 6 month Erasmus exchange placement in the Lee Group. Lorena Herkert (2013) Lorena was an Erasmus exchange student from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, working on a gold-catalysis project for 4 months. Nick Beattie (2013) Nick carried out a short summer research project in the Lee Group working on developing Pd(II)-catalysed reactions. Rachel Curley (2013-2014) Rachel carried out a short MChem mini-project in the group after returning from her placement at Johnson Matthey and graduated in 2014 with a William H. Perkin Prize. Claire Lamb (2013-2014) Claire carried out her MChem final year project in the group on Pd(II)-catalysis and baked a lot of cakes. Matthew Andrews (2014) Matt carried out a summer project in the group on an RSC Undergraduate Bursary. Louise Schaefer (2014-2015) Louise carried out her MChem final year project in the group on Au and In catalysis. Kathryn MacIntosh (2015) Kathryn was a summer project student in the group, funded by the RSC Undergraduate Bursary. She worked on palladium catalysis. Ivanda Bicane (2015) Ivanda was a summer project student in the group on an ICS Travelling Bursary. She worked on gold catalysis. Conor Fletcher (2015-2016) Conor was a BSc project student in the group working on gold-catalysed iododeboronations. Reda Ghezzal (2015-2016) Reda carried out his final year MChem Chemistry with Pharmaceutical Chemistry project in the Lee Group, working on palladium catalysis. He joined Heriot-Watt from a partner institution in France (IUT Chemistry in Grenoble) as a direct entry student into Year 3. Euan McLean (2015-2016) carried out his final year MChem Chemistry with Pharmaceutical Chemistry project in the Lee Group, working on gold catalysis and graduated in 2016 with the Isobel Inglis Prize. Gemma McMurdo (2016) Gemma carried out a summer research project on Pd catalysis.  Luke Kinsman (2016-2017) Luke carried out a short MChem mini-project on asymmetric gold catalysis in the group after returning from his placement at Johnson Matthey. Ben Jones (2016-2017) Ben carried out a short MChem mini-project on dual gold and photoredox catalysis in the group after returning from his placement at Roche. Bryan Nderitu (2016-2017) Bryan carried out his final year MChem Chemistry with Pharmaceutical Chemistry project in the Lee Group, working on one-pot palladium catalysis and graduated in 2017. Wiebke Daul (2017) Wiebke worked on Pd catalysis as an Erasmus exchange student from Wurzburg. Conor Oates (2017-2018) carried out his final year MChem Chemistry with Pharmaceutical Chemistry project in the Lee Group, working on C-H alkylations of quinones and graduated in 2018 with the Isobel Inglis Prize. Lennart Hase (2017-2018) carried out his final year MChem Chemistry project in the Lee Group, working on Pd-catalysis and graduated in 2018. Calvin Lai (2017-2018) Calvin was a BSc project student in the group working on gold-catalysis. Sebastian Brunen (2018) carried out a short 6 week project in the group as an Erasmus exchange student from Marburg. Matthew Westwood (2018-2019) carried out a summer research project on Pd-catalysis funded by the RSC Undergraduate Research Bursary and also carried out his MChem in Chemistry final year project in the Lee Group on radical chemistry, and graduated in 2019 with the William H. Perkin Prize. Francesca Cutolo carried out a short MChem project on gold catalysis after returning from her placement at Johnson Matthey Edinburgh. She graduated with an MChem in Chemistry with Industrial Experience in 2019. Stuart Steer carried out a short MChem project on palladium catalysis after returning from his placement at Johnson Matthey Edinburgh. Stuart graduated with an MChem in Chemistry with Industrial Experience in 2019. Nemrud Demirel (2019) carried out a short 6 week project with us as an Erasmus exchange student from Philipps-Universität Marburg. Orla Cassidy (2019-2020)carried out a short MChem project on gold catalysis after returning from her placement in USA. She graduated with an MChem in Chemistry with Year in North America in 2020 with the Trikamadas Mangla Prize. Olly Wright (2019-2020) did his MChem project on sustainable radical reactions and graduated with MChem in Chemistry in 2020 with the AWE Prize. Ben Donkin (2019-2020) carried out his MChem project on Minisci reactions and graduated with MChem in Chemistry with Pharmaceutical Chemistry in 2020 with the Perkin Prize. Rebecca Blakeman (2020-2021) carried out a BSc literature review project on radical trifluoromethylation reactions. Ellen Barlow (2020-2021) carried out a BSc literature research project on radical fluorination reactions. Anamarija Pišpek (2020-2021) carried out an MChem project on gold-catalysis, jointly supervised with Prof. Stuart Macgregor. Ana graduated in 2021 with the Trikamdas Mangla Prize. Julie Macleod (2021-2022) carried out her placement at Johnson Matthey and followed by a short final year research project in the Lee Group on C-H functionalisations. She graduated with MChem in Chemistry with Industrial Experience and the AWE Prize. Katie Scott (2021-2022) did her final year MChem research project on developing a new photocatalytic reaction. She graduated with MChem in Chemistry and AWE Prize. Nathalie Oliveira (2022) worked on gold catalysis as an Erasmus project student. Elena Rongione (2022) carried out a summer project on photocatalytic reactions on an ICS Summer Bursary. Lennox Stewart (2022) carried out a summer project on an ICS Travel Bursary, working on Minisci reactions. Heather McKee (2022-2023) did her final year MChem research project in the Lee Group on light-mediated C-H amidations. She graduated with MChem in Chemistry with the Trikamdas Mangla Prize and CRL Prize for best MChem Project. Le Mi (Miles) (2022-2023) carried out his final year MChem research project on Giese reactions and graduated with MChem in Chemistry and AWE Prize. Eva Pogacar (2023) carried out a summer research project with us on Giese reactions on an RSC Undergraduate Bursary. Tabea Batch (2023) carried out a summer research project with us on an ICS Travel Bursary, working on light-mediated C-H amidations.

Old Group Photos