To celebrate the growth and development of the RSC Applied Polymers community and to highlight the remarkable authors who continue to contribute their high quality work to the journal, we would like to share the opinions and insights of these authors through this introductory blog post. Once dubbed #RSCAppliedfirst50, our blog posts aim to give a voice to the authors behind the research and hope that their insights might shed light upon growing challenges and progress in polymer science and its applications.
In this edition, we hear from Robert Woodward as they discuss their current research, potential steps for the future, and the challenges of balancing research with academic responsibilities.
An interview with Robert Woodward
Where do you see your own research going in future?
Our research aims to translate fundamental advancements in porous polymer networks into practical, sustainable solutions for pressing environmental challenges. In late 2024, we were awarded the Cluster of Excellence in Circular Bioengineering, in which Austria has committed to the development of circular materials. As such, in the shorter term our work on hypercrosslinked polymers will focus on greener synthesis pathways, environmentally relevant applications, and the development of materials engineered for lifecycle circularity. In the longer term, we would like to see our research converging with device-level innovation to develop solutions for the generation of water from air, CO₂ capture, wastewater purification, etc., bridging frontline materials chemistry with real-world deployment. Becoming engineers to some extent.
What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?
What I find most exciting at present is the convergence of design principles when designing high-performance adsorbents. Our work in RSC Applied Polymers on hypercrosslinked polymers for oil adsorption demonstrates that porosity can, to some extent, override surface chemistry to govern uptake capacity, opening new avenues for tuning materials beyond traditional metrics. Simultaneous projects in my group on atmospheric water harvesting or volatile organic compound capture using hypercrosslinked polymers have also shown that subtle manipulation of network chemistry and pore architectures can lead to dramatic improvements in sorbent performance. This has led us to believe that common performance markers, such as apparent surface area and single component isotherms, are not always reliable indicators of broader performance and has led us to reassess materials we may have previously overlooked. I won’t say much more on that…
In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in your field of research?
The field of porous materials in general sits at the intersection of academic research and societal need, and I think the most important questions are those that can build bridges between the two. How can we ensure performance across scales? Does sustainable synthesis allow for high-performance networks? Can we embed these materials into deployable systems? Ultimately, the utility of porous polymers will be judged by their performance in devices like water harvesters, filters, and reactors in challenging real-world conditions. Addressing material challenges in scalability, robustness and regenerability, and cost is vital for translation.
What do you find most challenging about your research?
What I find most challenging about my research is not the science itself, but the responsibility that comes with leading a team. As a group leader, the success of our work depends largely on the people in the laboratory, and my role is to support them and foster an environment in which they can do their best work. That brings additional challenges that are less visible in publications, I suppose. These include removing administrative obstacles, helping to guide their research, designing projects that align well with individual skills, and making sure progress is steady enough that students and postdocs can advance on time. Balancing that managerial responsibility with the research is challenging, and at times a little daunting.
Ultimately, my group are the ones generating the data, overcoming experimental setbacks, and pushing ideas forward at the bench. I’m lucky to have an outstanding team around me, and I’m very proud of them.
Robert Woodward (centre) and their research group
Discover Robert Woodward and co-authors’ recent publication in RSC Applied Polymers
Hypercrosslinked polymers for oil adsorption: the influence of porosity and fluorine incorporation
Le Tang, Paul Schweng, Joseph J. Dale and Robert T. Woodward
RSC Appl. Polym., 2025, 3, 1315-1324. DOI: 10.1039/D5LP00081E
This article is part of our Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation collection – explore the full collection here!
RSC Applied Polymers is a leading international journal for the application of polymers, including experimental and computational studies on both natural and synthetic systems. In this journal, you can discover cross-disciplinary scientific research that leverages polymeric materials in a range of applications. This includes high impact advances made possible with polymers across materials, biology, energy applications and beyond.