General

Felix and Cian join the CCEM Team!

This summer we have the privilege of welcoming not one, but two PhD students to the CCEM group! Cian and Felix will be working with us over the summer as Research Assistants, and in September they will officially start as PhD students. Cian has recently finished his undergraduate degree in Chemistry with Molecular Modelling here in our very own Trinity College Dublin! He’ll be collaborating with Felix, who has just come over to Ireland from Germany after completing two undergraduate degrees and two masters degrees.

Cian and Felix will be focusing on the modelling and screening of novel catalysts for green hydrogen production. They will be doing this by developing machine learning approaches to the oxygen evolution reaction. Stay posted to see the amazing work they do!

Group Members

The New Year and Internships!

The CCEM group has hosted several visiting PhD, MSC and undergraduate students over the past 5 years, but we’ve never sent any of our members abroad. As of 2022 however, that’s all changed! Both Michael and Kevin have gone abroad to do their own separate internships.

Kevin recently visited the University of Iceland to study under Prof. Hannes Jónsson and learned how to include an applied electrochemical bias in his calculations. While Kevin’s visit only lasted a week, Michael has gone across the Atlantic Ocean to visit the SUNCAT Centre in Stanford University (California) for three months! He will be working with Dr. Michal Bajdich to research common descriptors between heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER).

While the guys have gone to very different climates, they’ve both gone to excellent research centres and are sure to learn a lot! Check back soon for updates on their research.

General

Welcome Manting to the CCEM Group!

It’s that time of year again where someone new joins our research group! Since 2017, the CCEM group has been steadily growing. As of then, we have had 6 full time positions and many undergraduate, masters and visiting PhD students. This year we are thrilled to announce that Manting Mu has now joined us as a PhD student!

Manting has been working with the CCEM Group since the summer of 2020 as an undergraduate student and has been awarded an IRC scholarship to continue her exciting work on C-H activation and C-C coupling reactions using DFT methods. We are delighted that we will be able to see all that she will accomplish over the next 4 years. Definitely check back in to see how her research develops.

Congratulations Manting!

General

Anna joins the CCEM Group!

The CCEM group has grown so quickly since 2017 when Eric joined. He was followed a year later by Michael, and then by Arantxa and Kevin in 2019. This September, we are delighted to announce and welcome Anna Ciotti as a new PhD student! Anna will be working on the rational design of electrocatalytic materials through DFT methods with the aim of activating small molecules to produce high value chemicals and fuels. This research will be funded by the prestigious AMBER Research Centre.

With 5 permanent members since 2017, and several visiting students and undergraduates, the group has never been more active. We’re all excited to see what Anna will accomplish over the next 4 years. Make sure to check back in for updates on her research!

Congratulations Anna!

General

Max Receives GEQO Best Young Scientist Award!

We have some fantastic news to share with you! Our very own Professor Max Garcia Melchor has recently been awarded the Best Young Scientist Award by the Organometallic Chemistry Group of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry! This prestigious award is one of three that the GEQO award every year.

This award targets young researchers who have made excellent contributions to the field of organometallic chemistry. Max has received this award for his work on the computational modelling of various types of metal catalysts. This news highlights the amazing work that the CCEM group has done in recent years, and sets a model for the work that we’ll continue to do.

Congratulations Max!

General

Welcome Panagiotis, Manting and Oscar!

As summer comes full swing into Ireland, the CCEM group doesn’t stop growing, and this summer will see the group at its largest yet! We are delighted to announce and welcome Panagiotis Mallis, Manting Mu, and Oscar Kelly to the group. Panagiotis, currently a student in Trinity College Dublin’s MSc in Energy Science, has joined us in order to conduct his MSc project on the elucidation of CO2 methanation processes.

Manting and Oscar are both 3rd year Chemistry undergraduates here in Trinity College Dublin. They have joined us for a summer internship and will be conducting some fascinating research involving C – H activation processes, and C – C coupling reactions respectively. If you want more details, check out the group members page!

Come back for updates on their amazing results!

General

Kevin becomes a new PhD student at the CCEM…

The CCEM has been growing faster and faster with each academic year. In 2017, Eric joined the group as the first PhD student, to work on heterogeneous catalysts for sustainable energy applications. A year later, Michael also joined us to carry out breathtaking studies on machine learning for the discovery of new and amazing catalysts. Arantxa joined us a month ago as a Postdoc, with a prestigious EDGE–Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship, to carry out amazing work on the field of heterogeneous catalysis. With 3 permanent positions in 2 years and many undergraduate and visiting PhD students, the group has never been more alive.
And this month, we are immensely proud to announce that Kevin Brennan, a former undergraduate student at the CCEM Group, has been awarded a Trinity Provost PhD award to continue the amazing work he started in his undergraduate! We are so happy we’ll be able to enjoy his amazing personality, hard work and professionalism not as an undergraduate student, but as a well-deserved PhD candidate. Many congratulations Kevin!

General

We have a new Postdoc at CCEM!

Last year, we had the privilege of hosting Arantxa, an amazing visiting PhD student for 6 months. She did an incredible job at the CCEM Group, and her personality and hard work did not went unnoticed. Because of this, we are immensely happy that Arantxa was awarded an EDGE–Marie Skłodowska-Curie Cofund Postdoctoral Fellowship hosted in our group and in the Amber centre, supervised by Prof. Max García-Melchor from the School of Chemistry and Prof. Mick Morris from the Amber Centre. Therefore, Arantxa will be staying with us for 2 more years! Be prepared to see what she will do in the upcoming months!

Congratulations, Arantxa!

General

Michael Craig awarded IRC PhD Scholarship

After doing an amazing job in his first year as a PhD student in the CCEM Group, Michael Craig was awarded a prestigious IRC PhD Scholarship to continue his PhD with us! This award is targeted to excellent researchers in multiple disciplines, providing outstanding students with the opportunity to direct their own research at the early-career stage. Considering that last year applications for this scholarship had a success rate of 18%, Michael has already shown incredible talent by winning this award and will surely exceed all expectations in the rest of his PhD. Keep tuned to know more about the incredible work that he will carry out in the upcoming months.

Congratulations, Michael!

Michael presenting in the XXXVII Biennial Meeting of the Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry, last year.
General

We welcome to our group Arantxa Davó!

Following the ever-growing trend of our group, we welcome Arantxa Davó, a visiting 3rd-year PhD student from the group of Prof. Agustín Bueno and Prof. Dolores Lozano (U. Alicante). Her research focuses on developing catalysts for sustainable energy and environmental protection. She has joined our group to complement her experimental research on preferential oxidation of CO with periodic-DFT calculations. We are delighted to have you in our group Arantxa!