Polymer Chemistry Blog

Do you know an early-career researcher who deserves recognition for their contribution to the polymer chemistry field?

Polymer Chemistry is pleased to announce that nominations are now being accepted for its 2025 Lectureship award and will close on 31 January 2025. This annual award was established in 2015 to honour an early-stage career scientist who has made a significant contribution to the polymer field.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the lectureship, candidates should meet the following criteria:

• Be an independent researcher – PhD students and postdoctoral research associates are not eligible
• Be actively pursuing research within the polymer chemistry field, and have made a significant contribution to the field
• Be at an early stage of their independent career (this should typically be within 12 years of attaining their doctorate or equivalent degree, but appropriate consideration will be given to those who have taken a career break, work in systems where their time period to independence may vary or who followed an alternative study path)
• Have a publication as a corresponding author in Polymer Chemistry within the 3 years prior to the nomination deadline

How to nominate

Nominations must be made via email to polymers-rsc@rsc.org, and include the following:

• The name, affiliation and contact details of the nominee, nominator and referee
• An up-to-date CV of the nominee (1 – 3 A4 page maximum length)
• A letter of recommendation from the nominator (500 words maximum length). The relationship between nominator and nominee should be stated in the letter.
• A supporting letter of recommendation from a referee (500 words maximum length). This could be from the nominee’s academic mentor, PhD supervisor or postdoc for instance. The relationship between referee and nominee should be stated in the letter.
• The nominator must confirm that to the best of their knowledge, their nominee’s professional standing is as such that there is no confirmed or potential impediment to them receiving the Lectureship

Please note:

• Self-nomination is not permitted
• The nominee must be aware that they have been nominated for this lectureship
• Previous winners and current Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board members are not eligible
• As part of the Royal Society of Chemistry, we have a responsibility to promote inclusivity and accessibility in order to improve diversity. Where possible, we encourage each nominator to consider nominating candidates of all genders, races, and backgrounds. Please see the RSC’s approach to Inclusion and Diversity.

 Selection

• All eligible nominated candidates will be assessed by a judging panel made up of the Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board, any Editorial Board members with a conflict of interest will be ineligible for the judging panel.
• The judging panel will consider the following core criteria:
  • Excellence in research, as evidenced in reference to originality and impact
  • Quality of publications, patents or software
  • Innovation
  • Professional standing
  • Independence
  • Collaborations and teamwork
  • Evidence of promising potential
  • Other indicators of esteem indicated by the nominator
• In any instance where multiple nominees are judged to be equally meritorious in relation to these core criteria, the judging panel will use information provided on the nominee’s broader contribution to the chemistry community as an additional criterion. Examples of this could include: involvement with RSC community activities, teaching or demonstrating, effective mentorship, service on boards, committees or panels, leadership in the scientific community, peer reviewing, promotion of diversity and inclusion, advocacy for chemistry, public engagement and outreach.

Haritz Sardon, 2024 Lectureship winner

Previous winners

2024 – Haritz Sardon, University of Basque Country, Spain

2023 – Miao Hong, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, China

2022 – Dominik Konkolewicz, Miami University, USA

2021 – Brett Fors, Cornell University, USA

2020 – Rachel O’Reilly, University of Birmingham, UK

2019 – Frederik Wurm, University of Twente, Netherlands

2018 – Cyrille Boyer, University of New South Wales, Australia

2017 – Julien Nicolas, Université Paris Sud, France

2016 – Feihe Huang, Zhejiang University, China

2015 – Richard Hoogenboom, Ghent University, Belgium

Nominations deadline: 31 January 2025

We are delighted to announce Professor Haritz Sardon (University of the Basque Country) as the recipient of the 2024 Polymer Chemistry lectureship!

This award, now in its tenth year, honours an early-career researcher who has made significant contribution to the polymer field. The recipient is selected by the Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board from a list of candidates nominated by the community.

Haritz Sardon is an Associate Professor at the University of the Basque Country since 2021 and Group leader at POLYMAT. He graduated from the University of the Basque Country in 2011 with honours before joining the group of Dr Hedrick at IBM Almaden Research Centre as a Postdoc in 2012, where he spent 2 years. In 2014 he returned to Spain with a Spanish Ministry grant and joined POLYMAT as a group leader. Haritz Sardon has participated in 145 peer-reviewed publications, with more than 70 as corresponding author. The impact of his work can be measured by his increasing number of citations, near 2000 in 2023. He has been awarded with several awards including the ACS Macomolecules Young Investigator Award, Excellence of Young Researcher in Chemistry Award by the Spanish Royal Society (2021) and the Excellence of Young Researcher in Polymers Award by the Grupo Español de Polímeros (2020). His overall research aims to prepare new functional polymeric materials using sustainable polymerization processes. Specifically, his investigations involve the use of green polymerization processes such as monomers from plastic recycling, reagents from renewable sources or the use of less hazardous organocatalysts.

To learn more about Professor Sardon’s research, have a look at his most recent publication in Polymer Chemistry  “Upcycling of BPA-PC into trimethylene carbonate by solvent assisted organocatalysed depolymerisation“, which is free to access until 15^th June 2024, and featured in our Hot articles and Plastic Conversion collections. You can also check out articles from our previous lectureship winners in our lectureship winners collection.

‘What I really like about Polymer Chemistry is that the articles are professionally handled by well-known experts in my field.’

Read our interview with Professor Sardon below:

How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?

My scientific path always has been aligned with topics related with sustainability. As a PhD student I was working in trying to develop polyurethanes that are more sustainable. To do so my PhD project was focused on the preparation of polyurethane dispersions trying to find alternatives to traditional tin based catalysts. At that time in 2009 I managed to publish my first first author article (Prog. Org. Coat., 2009, 3, 291-295) where we showed that zirconium based catalysts could be used as sustainable alternatives for the production of waterborne polyurethanes. My group has been intensively working on alternative benign catalysts for the production of polymers. One of the most interesting catalysts that we have recently discovered is taurine (Adv. Sci., 2024, 10.1002/advs.202308956). The unique zwitterionic structure of taurine, where the negatively charged sulfonic acid group and the protonated amine group are separated by two methylene groups, not only provides high thermal stability but also leads to a dual activation mechanism that allows the polymerization of different monomers at elevated temperatures. More importantly it shows a lack of toxicity which is an important feature of this naturally occurring catalyst.  

What excites you most about your area of research and what has been the most exciting moment of your career so far?

One of the most exciting moments of our group was when Dr. Coralie Jehanno (a former PhD student from our group) showed me that she was able to selectively depolymerize bisphenol A polycarbonate (BPA-PC) in the presence of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) (Angew. Chem., 2021, 12, 6710-6717).  She developed a thermally stable catalyst that was able to depolymerize plastics in a selective fashion. This is one of the areas of research that excites me more in how to design strategies to solve the plastic problem issue. Indeed, we launched a start-up called POLYEY (https://www.polykey.eu/) with some of those ideas.

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in your field of research?

In the field of chemical recycling of plastic there are still many open questions to be answered. The most important question to be answered in my opinion is how to translate all the fascinating research that is performed into society. Every day we see manuscripts coming related with plastic recycling but still the chemical recycling processes are not implemented at industrial scales. If we want to increase the circularity of plastics we must increase the plastic-to-plastic chemical recycling approaches, developing approaches that could industrially be implemented. To do so we need a stronger academic-industrial collaboration effort and incentives for companies implementing circularity into their products. 

How do you feel about Polymer Chemistry as a place to publish research on this topic?

Polymer Chemistry is one of the leading polymer journals and one of the preferred places to publish the work of our group as shown by the more than 20 articles that we have already published. What I really like about Polymer Chemistry is that the articles are professionally handled by well-known experts in my field. I can easily identify the editor that is handling my work and I am convinced that she/he will treat my manuscript in a professional manner. Moreover, I also like that the article is usually evaluated at least by two expert reviewers that provide constructive comments to the work.

Which of your Polymer Chemistry publications are you most proud of and why?

One of my first articles as corresponding author, which I am really proud of, was published in Polymer Chemistry and was related with the preparation of non-isocyanate polyurethanes (Polym. Chem., 2016, 7, 2105-2111). In this article we manage to develop for the first time N-substituted 8-membered cyclic carbonate. This N-substituted 8 membered cyclic carbonate appeared to be much more reactive than the smaller 5- and 6-membered cyclic carbonates and allowed us to prepare high molecular weight polyurethanes even at room temperature. This work started to give us some recognition in the field of non-isocyanate polyurethanes one of the most intense areas of research of my group.

In which upcoming conferences or events (online or in person) may our readers meet you?

In 2024 I will assist with several conferences. I will be in the POLYCHAR 2024 (May 27-31 in Madrid, Spain), The polymers for Sustainable Future (June 24-28 Prague, Czech Republic) Gordon Research Conference in AM (Aug 11-16, Rhode Island, USA) International Symposium on Ionic Polymerization (Sep 1-5, Mainz, Germany) and the Spanish National Polymer Conference (Sep 16-19, Madrid, Spain). Hope to see you there.  

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with early career scientists?

For me science has always been really complex and at the same time fascinating. One of the things that I have done during the years is to foster collaboration with people around the world and to try to develop ideas together with another scientist. I have to say that scientists in general are really open minded and willing to collaborate with other people. For me the most important career-related advice is that if you feel that your research will advance much faster collaborating with somebody, just contact her/him to collaborate. You do not have anything so you cannot loss anything, but you have many things to win. I have collaborated with people in all the stages of my scientific career and this has helped me a lot during those years.

How do you spend your spare time?

I just came back from a vacational trip with my family in Tenerife. I have two small kids (5 and 2 years old) so you can imagine how my wife and I spend much of our spare time. However, when I have the opportunity I also practice one of my preferred hobbies which is swimming. And now that the summer is arriving I will take the opportunity to swim a little bit on the beach in the beautiful San Sebastian. Another passion of me and my family is to travel and to visit different places around the world.

We would like to thank everybody who nominated a candidate for the 2024 Polymer Chemistry Lectureship. The Editorial Board had a very difficult task in choosing a winner from the many excellent and worthy candidates.

Please join us in congratulating Professor Sardon on winning this award!

Do you know an early-career researcher who deserves recognition for their contribution to the polymer chemistry field?

Polymer Chemistry is pleased to announce that nominations are now being accepted for its 2024 Lectureship award and will close on 31 January 2024. This annual award was established in 2015 to honour an early-stage career scientist who has made a significant contribution to the polymer field.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the lectureship, candidates should meet the following criteria:

• Be an independent researcher – PhD students and postdoctoral research associates are not eligible
• Be actively pursuing research within the polymer chemistry field, and have made a significant contribution to the field
• Be at an early stage of their independent career (this should typically be within 12 years of attaining their doctorate or equivalent degree, but appropriate consideration will be given to those who have taken a career break, work in systems where their time period to independence may vary or who followed an alternative study path)
• Have a publication as a corresponding author in Polymer Chemistry within the 3 years prior to the nomination deadline

How to nominate

Nominations must be made via email to polymers-rsc@rsc.org, and include the following:

• The name, affiliation and contact details of the nominee, nominator and referee
• An up-to-date CV of the nominee (1 – 3 A4 page maximum length)
• A letter of recommendation from the nominator (500 words maximum length). The relationship between nominator and nominee should be stated in the letter.
• A supporting letter of recommendation from a referee (500 words maximum length). This could be from the nominee’s academic mentor, PhD supervisor or postdoc for instance. The relationship between referee and nominee should be stated in the letter.
• The nominator must confirm that to the best of their knowledge, their nominee’s professional standing is as such that there is no confirmed or potential impediment to them receiving the Lectureship

Please note:

• Self-nomination is not permitted
• The nominee must be aware that he/she has been nominated for this lectureship
• Previous winners and current Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board members are not eligible
• As part of the Royal Society of Chemistry, we have a responsibility to promote inclusivity and accessibility in order to improve diversity. Where possible, we encourage each nominator to consider nominating candidates of all genders, races, and backgrounds. Please see the RSC’s approach to Inclusion and Diversity.

Selection

• All eligible nominated candidates will be assessed by a judging panel made up of the Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board, any Editorial Board members with a conflict of interest will be ineligible for the judging panel.
• The judging panel will consider the following core criteria:
  • Excellence in research, as evidenced in reference to originality and impact
  • Quality of publications, patents or software
  • Innovation
  • Professional standing
  • Independence
  • Collaborations and teamwork
  • Evidence of promising potential
  • Other indicators of esteem indicated by the nominator
• In any instance where multiple nominees are judged to be equally meritorious in relation to these core criteria, the judging panel will use information provided on the nominee’s broader contribution to the chemistry community as an additional criterion. Examples of this could include: involvement with RSC community activities, teaching or demonstrating, effective mentorship, service on boards, committees or panels, leadership in the scientific community, peer reviewing, promotion of diversity and inclusion, advocacy for chemistry, public engagement and outreach.

Previous winners

2023 – Miao Hong, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, China

2022 – Dominik Konkolewicz, Miami University, USA

2021 – Brett Fors, Cornell University, USA

2020 – Rachel O’Reilly, University of Birmingham, UK

2019 – Frederik Wurm, University of Twente, Netherlands

2018 – Cyrille Boyer, University of New South Wales, Australia

2017 – Julien Nicolas, Université Paris Sud, France

2016 – Feihe Huang, Zhejiang University, China

2015 – Richard Hoogenboom, Ghent University, Belgium

Nominations deadline: 31 January 2024

We are delighted to announce Professor Miao Hong (Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences) as the recipient of the 2023 Polymer Chemistry lectureship.

This award, now in its ninth year, honours an early-career researcher who has made significant contribution to the polymer field. The recipient is selected by the Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board from a list of candidates nominated by the community.

‘What impressed me most about Polymer Chemistry is that the manuscripts are being professionally handled with high efficiency.’

Miao Hong received her Ph.D. degree in 2013 under the supervision of Professor Yuesheng Li from the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. After a four-year postdoctoral stint at Colorado State University with Professor Eugene Y.-X. Chen, she joined Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2017 as a Full Professor of Chemistry. Research in the Hong group is centred on polymer science, catalytic chemistry, green and sustainable chemistry, and with one of the main interests being the development of novel catalysts and new methodologies for the production of sustainable polymers with controlled structures from renewable feedstocks.

To learn more about Professor Hong’s research, have a look at her most recent publication in Polymer Chemistry ‘Insights into the interaction between bis(aryloxide)alkylaluminium and N-heterocyclic carbene: from an abnormal Lewis adduct to a frustrated Lewis pair for efficient polymerizations of biomass-derived acrylic monomers‘

This is free to access until 30th September 2023, and featured in our most recent Pioneering Investigators collection. You can also check out articles from our previous lectureship winners in our lectureship winners collection.

Read our interview with Professor Hong below:

How has your research evolved from your first article to you most recent article?

The research in my group is centered on the development of novel catalysts and new methodologies for the production of sustainable polymers with controlled structures from renewable feedstocks. One of major challenges encountered in this area is the conventional catalytic systems, which can effectively polymerize petrochemical monomers, are generally inert/sluggish or uncontrolled toward the polymerization of biomass-derived monomers due to their unique heteroatom-rich structure natures. Take β-angelica lactone as an example, a key downstream chemical of levulinic acid which is available in a total yield of more than 80% from cellulose and classified as one of top biomass-derived compounds best suited to replace petroleum-derived chemicals. However, its polymerization is inaccessible by traditional polymerization methods, such as group transfer, coordination-addition, and radical polymerizations.

The first “real” article in my group, accomplished by my first Ph.D. student, is the achievement of the first polymerization of β-angelica lactone through developing a new cooperative Lewis pair catalyst. Accordingly, a heat- and solvent-resistant acrylic bioplastic is effectively synthesized. This work was published in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (2020, 59, 2664) and designed as a Hot Paper. On the basis of this work, we further optimized the catalyst structure and established a new and stable Frustrated Lewis pair in our very recently work (Polym. Chem. 2023, 14, 3286 – 3293), which is not only efficient for β-angelica lactone polymerization, but also can mediate fast and controlled polymerizations of methyl crotonate and (E,E)-methyl sorbate, thus establishing a general catalyst for the polymerizations of inert biomass-derived acrylic monomers. Overall, the striking findings from our group and the other groups (e.g. Chen, Zhang, Takasu) shed light on the great potential of cooperative Lewis pair catalysts for efficient polymerizations of challenging biomass-derived monomers.

What excites you most about your area of research and what has been the most exciting moment of your career so far?

The most exciting moment of my research career so far should be the successful chemical synthesis of high-molecular-weight biomaterial poly(4-hydroxybutyrate) for the first time via ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of γ-butyrolactone (Nat. Chem. 2016, 8, 42), a biomass-derived lactone monomer commonly referred as “non-polymerizable” in the textbooks and literatures due to low ring strain energy, when I was a Postdoc in Prof. Eugene Y.-X. Chen’ group at Colorado State University. However, such ROP requires extremely low reaction temperature, which severely hampers the possibly industrial applicability of the resultant polymer.

Recently, my group established a new polymerization strategy, termed isomerization-driven ROP (iROP). Different from conventionally ring strain-driven ROP, such polymerization is thermodynamically driven by S/O isomerization, thus rendering non-strained five-membered rings highly polymerizable for the first time at industrially relevant temperature of 80-100 °C. I am quite excited about iROP, because it is a simple and powerful strategy which not only can circumvent the unfavorable thermodynamics of ROPs of ‘non-stained’ five-membered lactones, and also presents a fascinating opportunity to convert these abundant, but underexploited renewable feedstocks (e.g. γ-butyrolactone, γ-valerolactone, peach lactone, dihydrojasmone lactone, whiskey lactone) into new sustainable polymers with their key physical properties comparing well to representative commodity polyolefin plastics (Nat. Chem. 2022, 14, 294; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023, 62, e202217812).

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in your field of research?

One of the most important questions in the field of sustainable polymers should be how to reshape the current petroleum-based polymer industry with sustainable polymers.  That is how to bring the beautiful synthetic schemes and intriguing physical properties of sustainable polymers developed in academia into industrial processes and cost-effective polymeric products. To address this question, cross-disciplinary research (such as polymer chemistry, physics, processing, engineering, and even information technology and artificial intelligence) is highly desirable, and the collaboration between both polymer industry and academic researchers is also essential.

How do you feel about Polymer Chemistry as a place to publish research on this topic?

What impressed me most about Polymer Chemistry is that the manuscripts are being professionally handled with high efficiency. Take our recent research article published by Polymer Chemistry as an example. The manuscript was submitted on 17th May 2023, the peer review of which only took two weeks, and accepted fast on13th June 2023.

In which upcoming conferences or events (online or in person) may our readers meet you?

The conferences on my schedule are the National Polymer Academic Paper Conference (Oct. 13-17, 2023, Wuhan, China) and IUPAC MACRO 2024 (July 1-4, 2024, Warwick University, United Kingdom).

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with early career scientists?

You always can find ideas/answers in the literatures when you face the scientific questions.

How do you spend your spare time?

Try my best to accompany my family in my spare time. I always feel frustrated to balance work and life.

We would like to thank everybody who nominated a candidate for the 2023 Polymer Chemistry Lectureship. The Editorial Board had a very difficult task in choosing a winner from the many excellent and worthy candidates.

Please join us in congratulating Professor Hong on winning this award!

Do you know an early-career researcher who deserves recognition for their contribution to the polymer chemistry field?

Polymer Chemistry is pleased to announce that nominations are now being accepted for its 2023 Lectureship award and will close on 28 February 2023. This annual award was established in 2015 to honour an early-stage career scientist who has made a significant contribution to the polymer field.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the lectureship, candidates should meet the following criteria:

• Be an independent researcher, PhD students postdoctoral research associates are not eligible
• Be actively pursuing research within the polymer chemistry field, and have made a significant contribution to the field
• Be at an early stage of their independent career (this should typically be within 12 years of attaining their doctorate or equivalent degree, but appropriate consideration will be given to those who have taken a career break, work in systems where their time period to independence may vary or who followed an alternative study path)

How to nominate

Nominations must be made via email to polymers-rsc@rsc.org, and include the following:

• The name, affiliation and contact details of the nominee, nominator and referee
• An up-to-date CV of the nominee (1 – 3 A4 page maximum length)
• A letter of recommendation from the nominator (500 words maximum length)
• A supporting letter of recommendation from a referee (500 words maximum length). This could be from the nominee’s postdoc, PhD supervisor or academic mentor for instance
• The nominator must confirm that to the best of their knowledge, their nominee’s professional standing is as such that there is no confirmed or potential impediment to them receiving the Lectureship

Please note:

• Self-nomination is not permitted
• The nominee must be aware that he/she has been nominated for this lectureship
• Previous winners and current Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board members are not eligible
• As part of the Royal Society of Chemistry, we have a responsibility to promote inclusivity and accessibility in order to improve diversity. Where possible, we encourage each nominator to consider nominating candidates of all genders, races, and backgrounds. Please see the RSC’s approach to Inclusion and Diversity.

Selection

• All eligible nominated candidates will be assessed by a judging panel made up of the Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board, any Editorial Board members with a conflict of interest will be ineligible for the judging panel.
• The judging panel will consider the following core criteria:
  • Excellence in research, as evidenced in reference to originality and impact
  • Quality of publications, patents or software
  • Innovation
  • Professional standing
  • Independence
  • Collaborations and teamwork
  • Evidence of promising potential
  • Other indicators of esteem indicated by the nominator
• In any instance where multiple nominees are judged to be equally meritorious in relation to these core criteria, the judging panel will use information provided on the nominee’s broader contribution to the chemistry community as an additional criterion. Examples of this could include: involvement with RSC community activities, teaching or demonstrating, effective mentorship, service on boards, committees or panels, leadership in the scientific community, peer reviewing, promotion of diversity and inclusion, advocacy for chemistry, public engagement and outreach.

Previous winners

2021 – Dominik Konkolewicz, Miami University, USA

2021 – Brett Fors, Cornell University, USA

2020 – Rachel O’Reilly, University of Birmingham, UK

2019 – Frederik Wurm, University of Twente, The Netherlands

2018 – Cyrille Boyer, University of New South Wales, Australia

2017 – Julien Nicolas, Université Paris Sud, France

2016 – Feihe Huang, Zhejiang University, China

2015 – Richard Hoogenboom, Ghent University, Belgium

Nominations deadline: 28 February 2023

The RSC Desktop Seminar Lectureship series provides an exciting opportunity for exceptional scientists to share their award-winning research virtually and for you to ask questions. Each session will either feature talks from a journal board member and a recent Lectureship winner, or by two recent Lectureship winners, spanning many topic areas and regions around the world. Further information about upcoming sessions is available here.

As part of the series, Polymer Chemistry will host a session featuring talks from 2021 Lectureship winner Prof. Brett Fors and Associate Editor Prof. Emily Pentzer.

Polymer Chemistry Lectureship

Wednesday 27 July 2022, 21:00 – 22:30 BST | 16:00 – 17:30 EDT

 Register for free here

Please visit rsc.li/lectureship-series for the latest updates and registration links. If you think these events would interest someone you know, please do share this message. We hope you can join us at the Polymer Chemistry Lectureship webinar or at another upcoming event. In the event that you are interested in any of the webinars but cannot make the date, register online before the scheduled event and you will be sent a link to the recording afterwards.

We are delighted to announce Dominik Konkolewicz (Miami University) as the recipient of the 2022 Polymer Chemistry lectureship.

This award, now in its eighth year, honours an early-career researcher who has made significant contribution to the polymer field. The recipient is selected by the Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board from a list of candidates nominated by the community.

‘I think the fantastic thing about Polymer Chemistry is that the journal has a clear focus on the development and evaluation of polymers, while still covering a wide range of topics ranging from fundamental kinetic analysis and mechanistic work through to 3D printing and bio-applications of polymers.’

Dominik Konkolewicz earned a Bachelors of Science degree at the University of Sydney (Australia) in 2006, majoring in Chemistry and Mathematics. He continued at the University of Sydney to complete his PhD (2011) working with Dr. Sébastien Perrier on polymerization kinetics and branched polymer synthesis. He went on to complete postdoctoral research at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh (USA), working with Dr. Krzysztof Matyjaszewski on mechanisms of complex reactions and applications of precisely defined polymers. In 2014, Dominik joined the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Miami University in Oxford OH (USA) as an Assistant Professor, with promotion to Associate Professor in 2019. He will start as full professor in Fall 2022. The Konkolewicz group explores a wide range of topics in Polymer Chemistry, including radical polymerization mechanisms, dynamically bonded polymer materials, light driven reactions, bioconjugates, and polymer based self-assembly. Dominik has published over 130 research articles in polymer chemistry and polymer science, with a particular focus on developing fundamental science to facilitate the design of functional materials. Dominik can be found on Twitter @PolyKonkol and the Konkolewicz group can be found on Twitter @konkolgroup.

Check out Dominik’s recent publication in Polymer Chemistry, ‘A general model for the ideal chain length distributions of polymers made with reversible deactivation’.

This is free to read until 21st July 2022, along with his other publications in our lectureship winners collection. You can find articles from all our previous lectureship winners in the collection too.

Read our interview with Dominik below:

How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?

My first article in Polymer Chemistry, published as a PhD student, focused on modelling complex polymers. Since then, our group has maintained its core of developing fundamental mechanistic chemistry, while expanding into a wide range of topics such as responsive polymers and biomaterials.

What excites you most about your area of research and what has been the most exciting moment of your career so far?

Things that excite me at the moment is the development of basic polymer science that can be connected to ongoing challenges in our fields. Thinking how we use basic science to contribute towards solutions in sustainability and efficiency is really an important area. The most exciting moments in my career are the growth of my students and trainees. Seeing early career scientists and students move towards their long-term career goals and their ability to contribute to ongoing problems is very rewarding.

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in your field of research?

Current and important questions in the field include: how can basic concepts in mechanistic polymer science be translated to next generation materials; and how can we effectively discuss science with the community broadly. We need a balance of fundamental science, but also applying what we know already to current challenges.

How do you feel about Polymer Chemistry as a place to publish research on this topic?

I really value Polymer Chemistry as a forum to publish work across the topics of mechanism and kinetics, polymer-based materials synthesis and analysis of structure property relationships across a range of polymer-based materials. I think the fantastic thing about Polymer Chemistry is that the journal has a clear focus on the development and evaluation of polymers, while still covering a wide range of topics ranging from fundamental kinetic analysis and mechanistic work through to 3D printing and bio-applications of polymers.

Which of your Polymer Chemistry publications are you most proud of and why?

Clearly this is a really difficult question, because I am very proud of all our group’s publications in Polymer Chemistry. However, if I had to choose one it would be B. Zhang, Z. A. Digby, J. A. Flum, E. M. Foster, J. L. Sparks, D. Konkolewicz, ‘Self-Healing, Malleable and Creep Limiting Materials using both Supramolecular and Reversible Covalent Linkages’, Polymer Chemistry 2015, 6, 7368-7372, DOI: 10.1039/C5PY01214G. This is our first publication on dynamically bonded materials and mechanical testing. I am exceptionally proud of how our team members gained new skills in dynamic chemistry and materials characterization in such a short time, and used these skills to combine two dynamic chemistries to give responsive and stable materials.

In which upcoming conferences or events (online or in person) may our readers meet you?

COVID-19 has really negatively impacted our ability to plan for future travel, but I am planning to attend the Fall 2022 ACS meeting in person, as well as a couple of meetings in 2023 such as the 2023 Polymers Gordon Research Conference.

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with early career scientists?

The advice I would share is don’t be shy about reaching out to trusted individuals (such as colleagues or former advisors) for feedback. Since everyone brings something unique and valuable to the chemistry community, believe in your skills and the importance of your contributions.

How do you spend your spare time?

In my time away from the lab, I enjoy spending time with my family and our cats, cooking and baking new recipes, and running or cycling outdoors.

We would like to thank everybody who nominated a candidate for the 2022 Polymer Chemistry Lectureship. The Editorial Board had a very difficult task in choosing a winner from the many excellent and worthy candidates.

Please join us in congratulating Dominik on winning this award!

Do you know an early-career researcher who deserves recognition for their contribution to the polymer chemistry field?

Polymer Chemistry is pleased to announce that nominations are now being accepted for its 2022 Lectureship award and will close on 28 February 2022. This annual award was established in 2015 to honour an early-stage career scientist who has made a significant contribution to the polymer field.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the lectureship, candidates should meet the following criteria:

• Be an independent researcher, PhD students postdoctoral research associates are not eligible
• Be actively pursuing research within the polymer chemistry field, and have made a significant contribution to the field
• Be at an early stage of their independent career (this should typically be within 12 years of attaining their doctorate or equivalent degree, but appropriate consideration will be given to those who have taken a career break, work in systems where their time period to independence may vary or who followed an alternative study path)

How to nominate

Nominations must be made via email to polymers-rsc@rsc.org, and include the following:

• The name, affiliation and contact details of the nominee, nominator and referee
• An up-to-date CV of the nominee (1 – 3 A4 page maximum length)
• A letter of recommendation from the nominator (500 words maximum length)
• A supporting letter of recommendation from a referee (500 words maximum length). This could be from the nominee’s postdoc, PhD supervisor or academic mentor for instance
• The nominator must confirm that to the best of their knowledge, their nominee’s professional standing is as such that there is no confirmed or potential impediment to them receiving the Lectureship

Please note:

• Self-nomination is not permitted
• The nominee must be aware that he/she has been nominated for this lectureship
• Previous winners and current Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board members are not eligible
• As part of the Royal Society of Chemistry, we have a responsibility to promote inclusivity and accessibility in order to improve diversity. Where possible, we encourage each nominator to consider nominating candidates of all genders, races, and backgrounds. Please see the RSC’s approach to Inclusion and Diversity.

Selection

• All eligible nominated candidates will be assessed by a judging panel made up of the Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board, any Editorial Board members with a conflict of interest will be ineligible for the judging panel.
• The judging panel will consider the following core criteria:
  • Excellence in research, as evidenced in reference to originality and impact
  • Quality of publications, patents or software
  • Innovation
  • Professional standing
  • Independence
  • Collaborations and teamwork
  • Evidence of promising potential
  • Other indicators of esteem indicated by the nominator
• In any instance where multiple nominees are judged to be equally meritorious in relation to these core criteria, the judging panel will use information provided on the nominee’s broader contribution to the chemistry community as an additional criterion. Examples of this could include: involvement with RSC community activities, teaching or demonstrating, effective mentorship, service on boards, committees or panels, leadership in the scientific community, peer reviewing, promotion of diversity and inclusion, advocacy for chemistry, public engagement and outreach.

Previous winners

2021 – Brett Fors, Cornell University, USA

2020 – Rachel O’Reilly, University of Birmingham, UK

2019 – Frederik Wurm, University of Twente, The Netherlands

2018 – Cyrille Boyer, University of New South Wales, Australia

2017 – Julien Nicolas, Université Paris Sud, France

2016 – Feihe Huang, Zhejiang University, China

2015 – Richard Hoogenboom, Ghent University, Belgium

Nominations deadline: 28 February 2022

It is with great pleasure that we announce Brett Fors (Cornell University) as the recipient of the 2021 Polymer Chemistry lectureship.

This award, now in its seventh year, honours an early-career researcher who has made significant contribution to the polymers field. The recipient is selected by the Polymer Chemistry Science Editorial Board from a list of candidates nominated by the community.

Brett P. Fors was born in Montana and carried out his undergraduate studies in chemistry at Montana State University (2006). He went on to do his Ph.D. (2011) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Professor Stephen L. Buchwald. After his doctoral studies he became an Elings Fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara working with Professor Craig J. Hawker.  In of 2014 he joined the faculty at Cornell University and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. His group’s research focuses on the development and application of new synthetic methods for polymer science. He and his group can be found on Twitter @brett_fors and @forsgroup.

Polymer Chemistry Editor-in-Chief, Christopher Barner-Kowollik, says that Prof. Fors is a leader in the development of advanced (photochemical) synthetic methods, fusing elegant new concepts of organic chemistry with advanced polymer materials design. His research is seminal and inspiring to our community. I am delighted that the 2021 Polymer Chemistry Lectureship is awarded to Brett, a true ambassador of polymer science excellence.

Read Brett’s latest article in Polymer Chemistry “Achieving molecular weight distribution shape control and broad dispersities using RAFT polymerizations” and all of his other publications in Polymer Chemistry for FREE until 1 August. These and articles from our previous lectureship winners can be found in our lectureship winners collection.

How has your research evolved from your first article to the most recent article?

Our research program has evolved to a point that I would not have imagined when our group was getting started–this is a result of having very talented co-workers and collaborators that have taken our research in directions that I could not have predicted.

What excites you most about your area of research and what has been the most exciting moment of your career so far?

Results that change our understanding of a system are especially exciting to me. The most exciting moments of my career have been seeing my students develop and succeed as scientists.

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in your field of research?

In my opinion the most important questions being asked in a field are not obvious.  I strongly believe that continuing to encourage high quality basic research in the area of polymer chemistry is what is important.  However, if I was to pick one area that I believe will have an impact on society it would be developing sustainable polymer systems.

How do you feel about Polymer Chemistry as a place to publish research on this topic?

Polymer Chemistry is an excellent platform to publish high quality studies and is one of my favorite journals to read and keep up with the current field of polymer science.

Which of your Polymer Chemistry publications are you most proud of and why?

I cannot choose – I am very proud of all of the work and creativity that my co-workers put into all of our Polymer Chemistry publications.

In which upcoming conference or events (online or in person) may our readers meet you?

With Covid I am currently unsure as conferences are continually being moved but I will definitely be at Pacifichem.

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with early career scientists?

My one piece of advice is to work in an area that you are passionate about and don’t forget to enjoy the process of research.

How do you spend your spare time?

I spend my free time with my wife and two kids!

We would like to thank everybody who nominated a candidate for the 2021 Polymer Chemistry Lectureship. The Editorial Board had a very difficult task in choosing a winner from the many excellent and worthy candidates.

Please join us in congratulating Brett on winning this award!

Do you know an early-career researcher who deserves recognition for their contribution to the polymer chemistry field?

Now is your chance to put them forward for the accolade they deserve!

Polymer Chemistry is pleased to announce that nominations are now being accepted for its 2021 Lectureship award. This annual award was established in 2015 to honour an early-stage career scientist who has made a significant contribution to the polymer field.

The recipient of the award will be asked to present a lecture at an international conference in 2021, where they will also be presented with the award. The Polymer Chemistry Editorial Office will provide £1000 financial support to the recipient for travel and accommodation costs.

The recipient will also be asked to contribute a research article to the journal and will have their work showcased free of charge on the front cover of the issue in which their article is published. The article would be subject to the normal peer review standards of the journal.

Previous winners

2020 – Rachel O’Reilly, University of Birmingham, UK

2019 – Frederik Wurm, University of Twente, The Netherlands

2018 – Cyrille Boyer, University of New South Wales, Australia

2017 – Julien Nicolas, Université Paris Sud, France

2016 – Feihe Huang, Zhejiang University, China

2015 – Richard Hoogenboom, Ghent University, Belgium

Eligibility

To be eligible for the lectureship, candidates should meet the following criteria:

• Be an independent researcher, having completed PhD and postdoctoral studies
• Be actively pursuing research within the polymer chemistry field, and have made a significant contribution to the field
• Be at an early stage of their independent career (this should typically be within 12 years of attaining their doctorate or equivalent degree, but appropriate consideration will be given to those who work in systems where their time period to independence may vary, or who have taken a career break, for example for childcare leave or who followed an alternative study path)

Although the Polymer Chemistry Lectureship doesn’t explicitly reward support of or contributions to the journal, candidates with a history of publishing or reviewing for the journal would be more likely to be considered favourably.

Selection

• All eligible nominated candidates will be assessed by a shortlisting panel, made up of members of the Polymer Chemistry Advisory Board and a previous lectureship winner.
• The shortlisting panel will consider the nomination form and letter of recommendation, as well as the three recent research articles highlighted in the nomination form for consideration.
• Shortlisted candidates will be further assessed by the Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board, and a winner will be selected based on an anonymous poll.
• Selection is not based simply on quantitative measures. Consideration will be given to all information provided in the letter of recommendation and nomination form, including research achievements and originality, contributions to the polymer community, innovation, collaborations and teamwork, publication history, and engagement with Polymer Chemistry.

Nominations

Nominations must be made via email to polymers-rsc@rsc.org, and include the following:

• A brief letter of recommendation (1 page maximum length)
• A complete nomination form (includes list of the candidate’s relevant publications or recent work, 3 research articles to be considered during the shortlisting process, candidate’s scientific CV, and full contact details)

Please note:

• Nominations from students and self-nomination is not permitted.
• The nominee must be aware that he/she has been nominated for this lectureship.
• As part of the Royal Society of Chemistry, we have a responsibility to promote inclusivity and accessibility in order to improve diversity. Where possible, we encourage each nominator to consider nominating candidates of all genders, races, and backgrounds. Please see the RSC’s approach to Inclusion and Diversity.
• Candidates outside of the stated eligibility criteria may still be considered.

Nominations deadline: 10th January 2021

Download nomination form here