PhD students
Kevin Bucher
Kevin hails from Minnesota, USA where he received his BA with a double major in chemistry and French from the University of Minnesota’s Liberal Arts college in Morris, MN. While at Morris, Kevin was awarded undergraduate research funding under the supervision of Dr. Kara Nell and made silica functionalized sorbents to test their efficacy on trapping nitrates commonly found in agricultural run-off water.
After graduating, Kevin spent a year as an English language teaching assistant in France where he met his, now, partner. After his contract ended, he moved to the UK and attended the University of York to do an MSc in Green Chemistry. His master’s research project focused on inducing Giese-type reactions using visible-light heterogeneous semiconductor photoredox catalysis under the supervision of Dr. Richard Douthwaite and Dr. Victor Chechik. After his MSc, Kevin moved to Edinburgh and began working for Almac Sciences Scotland where he manufactured peptides for Phase I and II clinic trials for patient-specific cancer vaccines.
Kevin is currently pursuing his PhD in iron and photoredox dual catalysis for sustainable cross-coupling reactions under the supervision of Dr. Julien Doulcet. While not in the lab, you can find Kevin sharing fun Minnesota facts to his collegues (or to anyone who will listen really), walking along the beach or canal where he lives, or wearing tropical shirts on fancy-shirt Fridays (something that he invented).
Priscilla Ogunmola
Priscilla Ogunmola received her MSci degree in pharmaceutical chemistry from the university of Huddersfield in 2019. During her undergraduate degree she enjoyed a year industrial experience performing the synthesis of drug compounds for neurodegenerative diseases at LDDN, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Massachussets. In 2019, Priscilla started a PhD at Lancaster University under the supervision of Prof. Joe Sweeney and Dr Julien Doulcet.
Noah Wright
Noah Wright was born in Bolton, England. He received BSc in Chemistry from Keele University and progressed to conduct Lancaster University where he received his MRes, under the guidance of Prof. Joe Sweeney, synthesising a library of novel bioactive chiral pyrrolidines for partner company Apex Molecular. He is currently pursuing his PhD at Lancaster University under the supervision of Dr Julien Doulcet where he is developing Frustrated Lewis pair borane catalysts for hydrogenations in both batch and flow chemistry.
Matt Callaway
Matt Callaway received master’s degree in chemistry for drug discovery from the University of Bath in 2020. During this, he received industry experience at MedPharm Ltd, performing research in pharmaceutical formulation development and analysis. For his dissertation, he used deep eutectic solvents made from renewable feedstocks to make drug delivering nanoparticle formulations. He is currently pursuing a PhD at Lancaster University under the supervision of Dr Julien Doulcet. His research (in collaboration with Kerax via the Centre for Global Eco-Innovation) is focused on the synthesis and application of novel surfactant compounds made from renewable feedstocks.
Josh Robinson
Josh Robinson received his BSc from Kingston University, London in 2018 where he worked on analysing pyrolysis oils for his final year project under the guidance of Prof. Adam Le Gresley. He progressed on to complete his MSc by Research at Lancaster University in 2019 under the supervision of Prof. Joe Sweeney where he worked on developing a method to purify wax derived from plastic waste in partnership with Kerax Limited. He is currently pursuing a PhD at Lancaster University with Dr Julien Doulcet where his research is focused on the synthesis of 3-substituted pyrrolidines via a reductive Heck pathway.
Adam Rowling
Originally from the town of Pershore in Worcestershire UK, Adam Rowling received his integrated MSc degree in Natural Sciences in 2021 from Lancaster University. It included a group project on the simulation of microporous triazine frameworks, and an extended project on the synthesis and analysis of conjugated microporous polymers under the supervision of Dr Abbie Trewin and Prof. Joe Sweeney. He is continuing his studies at Lancaster University with a PhD started in October 2021 under the guidance of Dr. Abbie Trewin, Dr. Julien Doulcet, and Dr Nuria Tapia Ruiz. The project centres on a novel family of microporous carbon called OSPC, which has shown promise as an alternative electrode material to graphite.
Outside of formal education, he completed a Faraday Institute summer internship in 2020 on the simulation of the battery performance of OSPC and his work was highly commended at the Institute conference in the same year. He also completed a departmental internship in 2021 as a continuation of his MSc project. He is interested in high performance computing and is an avid ballroom dancer. He aspires to a career in research within either an academic or industrial setting, investigating the potential for microporous materials in energy storage.
Master students
Steven Nicholson
Steven Nicholson received master’s degree in chemistry from Lancaster University in 2022. As part of this degree, he carried out research into the development of ion pair binding supramolecular species for the potential application to treatment of cystic fibrosis. He is currently pursuing a MSc by research under the supervision of Dr Julien Doulcet in partnership with Equestrian Surfaces. The aim of this project is to develop an effective and scalable method towards the separation and recycling of all year round horse track surfaces.
Doulcet Research Group 