Group Members

Postdoctoral Research Associates
Caleb Jordan, 2023-
	Caleb joined the Oliver group as a postdoctoral research associate in spring 2023 as part of EPSRC programme grant Ultrafast Photochemical Dynamics in Complex Environments. His work will focus on the investigation of chromophore-environment interactions by multidimensional femtosecond laser spectroscopy. Previously, Caleb completed his PhD at Durham University under the supervision of Prof. Jan Verlet, using ultrafast electronic sum-frequency generation to probe excited state photodynamics at solution/air interfaces. He received his MSci in Natural Sciences from Durham University, also under the supervision of Prof. Jan Verlet, studying the hydrated electron by ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy.
Somnath Kashid, 2024-
	In January 2024, Somnath joined the Oliver group as a postdoctoral research associate working on the BBSRC sLoLa Circuits of Life grant. Somnath completed his PhD under the guidance of Dr. Sayan Bagchi at CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. During PhD he used ultrafast two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations to study hydrogen bond dynamics. After PhD he worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Arindam Chowdhury at IIT, Bombay, where he used single molecule florescence spectroscopy and FLIM to study Molybdenum disulfide plates.
PhD Students
Hilary McCarthy, 2019-
	Hilary is jointly supervised by Drs. Heather Whitney and Tom Oliver, as an EPSRC Bristol Centre for Functional Nanomaterials (BCFN) PhD student. Hilary’s research focusses on how dynamic photonic crystals found in iridescent brown algae (Cystoseira Tamariscafolia) might enhance photosynthetic light capture. She also plans to investigate the impact of carbon dot uptake on algal photosynthesis in collaboration with Prof. Carmen Galan. Hilary was awarded her MSci in Chemistry from the University of Bristol in 2018. During her integrated Masters and the first year of her BCFN CDT, she has worked in numerous groups across different parts of the University before joining the Oliver and Whitney groups in 2019.
Camilla Gajo, 2020-
	Camilla joined the Oliver group after completing a year in the Bristol Centre for Functional Nanomaterials as an MSc student, subsequent to graduating from Keele University in 2019 (BSc Physics with Mathematics). Camilla’s research will initially focus on the chromophore-environment interactions in bilin pigments using multidimensional ultrafast spectroscopy.
Olivia Hawkins, 2021-
	Olivia joined the Oliver group as an MSc by research student investigating the dynamics of diphenylhexatriene in solution. She started her PhD in Autumn 2021 as part of EPSRC programme grant Ultrafast Photochemical Dynamics in Complex Environments. Olivia, graduated from UCL in 2020 (BSc, Chemistry) and performed additional research with Neil Allan studying radiation damage of Li₂O.
Rokas Petrenas, 2021-
	Rokas graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2021 with a degree in Biochemistry. During his final year, he worked with Dr Chris Wood on the application of deep learning for protein design. In 2021, he joined the SWBio DTP PhD programme and is working on biosensing using α-helical barrels. His project is co-supervised by Dek Woolfson and Tom Oliver.
Meiyue Liu, 2023-
	Meiyue joined the Oliver group after completing an MChem at the University of St Andrews. For her final year project, she investigated the framework lability of zeolites using solid-state NMR in the Ashbrook group. She started her PhD in 2023 and has joined the BBSRC sLoLa Creating and Comprehending the Circuitry of Life grant.
Jacob Jones, 2023-
	Jacob graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a degree in Chemical Physics in 2023. His final year project was based at the Swiss free electron laser, as part of an exchange with EPFL, where he worked on the design and implementation of a prism compressor. He joined the Oliver group in September 2023 as part of EPSRC programme grant Ultrafast Photochemical Dynamics in Complex Environments.
Undergraduate project students
Charlotte Hackett 2023-2024

Anna Worsley 2023-2024