At my Royal Society Induction, I had the great pleasure to see a talk by Prof. Ottoline Leyser on the UK research culture.  Ottoline discussed the findings from the 2014 Nuffield Research culture report, which is very worthy of a read.

The two findings that caught my interest most were:
“Attempts to assess the societal and/or economic impact of research are welcomed by some, but others believe this is creating a culture of short-termism and is pushing aside interest in curiosity-driven research, as well as resulting in researchers exaggerating the potential application of research in grant proposals”

“The perception that publishing in high impact factor journals is the most important element in assessments for funding, jobs and promotions is creating a strong pressure on scientists to publish in these journals. This is believed to be resulting in important research not being published, disincentives for multidisciplinary research, authorship issues, and a lack of recognition for non-article research outputs. The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is thought to be a key driver of the pressure to publish in high impact journals.”

Our paper “Measuring correlated electronic and vibrational spectral dynamics using line shapes in two-dimensional electronic-vibrational spectroscopy” has featured in the 2015 most-read list of the Journal of Chemical Physics.

I was invited to speak at the EPSRC NSCCS Molpro Workshop, illustrating how Molpro can be used to calculate specific molecular properties and understand experimental results. The case studies presented concentrate on phenol and thiophenol in the gas phase using an array of multireference ab initio methods. The slides can be found here.

PhD Studentships
A funded 3.5 year PhD studentship is available in my group at the University of Bristol in the School of Chemistry. The PhD project will focus on unravelling the primary photoprotection pathways of DNA. The studentship pays an annual tax-free stipend of £14,057.

To apply for this position, in the first instance, please contact me via email at tom.oliver@bristol.ac.uk. Formal application forms can be found here.

Postdoctoral Positions
I welcome applications from highly motivated postdoctoral researchers to work in my research group. Please contact me for more details of potential projects via email. Funding can be sought from any of the following sources:

Marie Curie Fellowships
Leverhulme Fellowships
Newton International Fellowship
EPSRC Postdoctoral Fellowships
Ramsay Memorial Fellowship
Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851

I was fortunate to co-chair a brainstorming session with Dr. Carmen Galan, in the Bristol Chemical Synthesis Centre for Doctoral Training last Friday. The aim of the project is to synthesise specific DNA duplexes and hairpin structures, with functional linker groups, to investigate the initial stages of UV photo-protection using cutting edge ultrafast spectroscopies. The presentation can be found here.

The Journal of Chemical Physics has highlighted our recent theory paper that demonstrated how 2D electronic-vibrational spectroscopy can connect directly the site and excitonic bases of molecular aggregates. The paper is available to download and read for free.

My paper “Exploring Autoionization and Photo-Induced Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer Pathways of Phenol in Aqueous Solution” has been accepted for publication in J. Phys. Chem. Lett.. The excited states dynamics of phenol in water were investigated using transient absorption spectroscopy. Solvated electrons and phenoxyl radicals were observed upon 200 nm and 267 nm excitation, but with formation timescales that varied by more than 4 orders of magnitude. The paper has appeared as a Just Accepted Article in JPCL, and can be read, here.

Our theory paper that derives the electronic-vibrational response functions to model energy transfer in a molecular dimer, and proposes a method to extract both excitonic and site populations from 2D electronic-vibrational spectra has been published in the Journal of Chemical Physics. The paper can be read online for free, here.

The Royal Society have issued a press release announcing this year’s Royal Society University Research Fellows, for which I am one of the 38 recipients. The fellowship is very prestigious, and the competition is across all scientific disciplines, with a success rate of 8% this year. I take up my post at the University of Bristol, in the School of Chemistry on 1st October.

From the press release: “The University Research Fellowship scheme aims to provide outstanding scientists, who have the potential to become leaders in their chosen fields, with the opportunity to build an independent research career. The scheme is extremely competitive and URFs are expected to be strong candidates for permanent posts in universities at the end of their fellowships.”

You can view the full statement here.

My paper detailing the role of conical intersections in the model carotenoid, β-apo-8′-carotenal in solution, has appeared in print in the Biman Bagchi Festschrift, available here.