OUR TEAM

 
 

Xue Fang

Postdoctoral Researcher

Xue completed her MRes and PhD in Chemistry with Prof. Charl F. J. Faul and Dr Natalie Fey at the University of Bristol. Her research focused on developing quantitative solvent selection methodologies for porous organic polymers and supramolecular polymers to support data-driven experimental research. Currently, she is a PDRA with Dr Becky Greenaway at Imperial and the AIchemy Hub, working on generalisable automated chemistry research workflows using multi-fidelity machine learning and generative AI. Beyond science, Xue is also an art lover and an active gym runner.

 
 
 

mIGUEL yE

Research Technical Professional

Miguel is from Lisbon, Portugal. He completed his Pharmaceutical Chemistry BSc at University of Leicester and MSc Digital Chemistry with AI and Automation at Imperial. His masters project focused on prototyping and fabricating modules to expand the Opentrons robotic system to automate synthetic reactions under the supervision of Dr. Becky Greenway and Dr. David Miller's. Now Miguel is working with Greenaway group and AIchemy to curate a data base consisting of NMR, FT-IR and Mass-spec. During his free time, Miguel enjoys playing volleyball and photography.

 
 
 

Email: c.john21@imperial.ac.uk

Co-supervisor: Dr James Bull

CALLUM JOHN

4th YEAR PHD

Callum completed his Chemistry MSci undergraduate degree at the University of Bristol, where he undertook a project involving the synthesis and characterisation of carbon-dot nanomaterials as part of the Galan group. As a member of the React CDT at Imperial College London, his MRes project focused on developing a late-stage C–H chlorination reaction for diversifying complex drugs and natural products. Now a third year PhD student, his research aims to continue this work, employing automation and computational methods to aid and accelerate the discovery of novel late-stage C–H functionalisation reactions. 

 
 
 

OMAR AL-MIQDADI

4th YEAR PHD

Omar completed his undergraduate degree in chemistry (MChem) at the University of Warwick. While at Warwick, he conducted a summer research project to investigate whether gadolinium-based and ytterbium-based MOFs could be used to catalyse the breakdown of glucose into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural. His final year project was done under the supervision of Professor Richard Walton and investigated the use of iron 2,5-furandicarboxylate MOFs as catalysts for the oxidation of HMF. His experience with porous solids led him to pursue a PhD with Dr Becky Greenaway and Professor Camille Petit on the automated synthesis and use of porous liquids for carbon dioxide removal. Outside of the lab, Omar enjoys cooking, watching TV and rowing.

 
 
 

CHRIS OLIWA

3rd YEAR PHD

Chris (he/him) completed his undergraduate Chemistry degree (MSci) at Imperial College London. During his time there he was awarded a RSC undergraduate bursary to carry out a summer research project supervised by Professor Chris Braddock, where he investigated the effects of attractive dispersion forces in the transition state of an unprecedented hydride transfer reaction. Chris then worked in the Craig group on his final year project on developing a synthetic route to enantiomerically pure 7-membered nitrogen heterocycles form amino acids. He is currently in his third year of the REACT CDT programme, working on the applications of porous liquids to synthesis and catalysis. In his free time he loves growing weird house plants, cooking, and cycling.

 
 
 

AIDEN MCGUIRK

2nd Year PhD

Aiden completed his MChem in Chemistry at the University of Oxford in 2021. During his time at Oxford, Aiden worked within the Willis Group, focusing on using sulfinyl amines to synthesise novel sulfur-containing functional groups. For the last two years, he worked as a Product development scientist at an environmental start-up called Puraffinity. In this role, Aiden was tasked with designing novel absorbents for the removal of PFAS from water. Currently, Aiden is within his second year of the REACT CDT programme, where he is working on designing and synthesising stimuli-responsive porous liquids. When not in the lab, Aiden can be found running, in the gym and playing Xbox.

 
 
 

ALex Ostudin

2nd Year PhD

Alex holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the Russian State University of Oil and Gas, where he designed templates for nanoparticle catalysts and interned in Russia's petrochemical industry. He obtained a joint MSc in Industrial Chemistry at the National University of Singapore and the Technical University of Munich, focusing on the new architectures for high-throughput microfluidic reactors. Following his studies, Alex spent two years at NUS developing a machine learning-based nanoparticle synthesis platform and a year at an R&D consulting firm. Currently, he's pursuing a CDT React PhD under Prof. Jelfs, Dr. Greenaway, and Prof. Crimmin, focusing on the optimal exploration strategies for data-driven catalyst design.

 
 
 

Sean Gurung

2nd Year PhD

Sean completed his BSc at the University of Kent with a project involving the synthesis and characterization of novel Fe(II) spin crossover co-crystals under the supervision of Dr Helena Shepherd. He then completed his MRes in Advanced Molecular Synthesis at Imperial College London under Prof Matt Fuchter and Dr Becky Greenaway, focusing on the use of high-throughput experimentation and machine learning for the discovery of novel azoheteroaromatic photoswitches. He is currently in the second year of his PhD under Dr Becky Greenaway and Prof Kim Jelfs. Aligned with the AIChemy hub, his research focuses on the development of generalisable automated, high-throughput chemistry research workflows using multi-fidelity machine learning and generative AI. Outside the labs, he can be found indulging his love for mixed martial arts, brazillian jiu-jitsu and good wine and cheese pairings.

 
 
 

Aaron Bernardino

2nd Year PhD

Aaron (he/his) completed his BSc in Chemistry at the University of Pavia (Italy) with a literature review on iron oxide nanoparticles for the treatment of brain tumours. He then completed his MSc in Chemistry at the same university and joined the Greenaway Group to do his MSc project as an Erasmus placement and carried out research on the high-throughput synthesis of imide/imine organic cages and macrocycles in collaboration with Prof. Valeria Amendola. He undertook a summer project in Cambridge in the Nitschke Group, working on automating assembly and host-guest binding studies of metal-organic cages. His interest in supramolecular chemistry and automation led him back to Imperial for a PhD on amide- and imide-functionalised imine supramolecular assemblies under the supervision of Dr Becky Greenaway. Outside the lab, Aaron enjoys watching anime, socialising and travelling.

 
 
 

Michelle Madin

2nd Year PhD

Michelle completed her Chemistry MSci undergraduate degree at Imperial College London. Her final year project was done under the supervision of Professor Anthony Barrett and investigated a novel methodology for the synthesis of isonitriles and a new route for isonitrile sugars. Now a second year PhD student, she is pursuing a PhD Fellowship with Dr Becky Greenaway on the design and synthesis of porous organic cages and metal-organic cages.

 
 
 

manahill rabbani

2nd Year PhD

Mani completed his undergraduate degree in Chemistry (BSc) from University College London, where he carried out an extensive literature review as part of his 3rd year project. Throughout his undergraduate studies, he was able to undertake research internships in electrochemistry, investigating the roles of microorganisms in fuel cells, and computational chemistry, where he performed DFT calculations to study the discharge mechanisms in transition metal sulfides. Mani undertook an MRes in Advanced Molecular Synthesis at Imperial College London under the supervision of Dr Becky Greenaway and Prof Kim Jelfs, where he utilised high-throughput synthesis to screen for different porous structures. As part of the React CDT, he is currently expanding his work in his PhD to automate the high-throughput and dynamic combinatorial screening of different self-sorted molecular organic assemblies. Outside of work, Mani enjoys weight-lifting, playing video games, and a good classic Italian pizza.

 
 
 

XIN ZHAO

1st Year PhD

Xin (Halsey) completed her MEng in Materials Physics and Chemistry with Prof. Yanlei Yu at Fudan University in 2024. Her research was based on synthesising multi-responsive liquid crystal polymers via ring-opening metathesis polymerisation and post-polymerisation modification, to obtain the thermal-induced deformable/colour-changing liquid crystal polymer and the photo- and magnetic-responsive liquid crystal polymer, respectively. Currently, Xin is in the first year of her PhD under Dr Becky Greenaway on a President’s PhD Scholarship. Her research will focus on the development of extending the wavelength range from UV light to visible light of photo-responsive porous liquids. Outside of work time, she is interested in taking k-pop or hiphop dancing classes and also joining k-pop concerts.

 
 
 

Will Hempstead

MSC

Will studied a BSc in Chemistry at the University of Glasgow, where his final year project involved synthesising block copolymers via RAFT polymerisation with the Schmidt Group. He is now studying an MSc in Digital Chemistry, where he aims to design, build and test a flow reactor module for the Opentrons liquid handling platform in a joint project with the Advanced Hackspace. Outside of the lab, he is a keen climber and mountaineer. 

 

The Extended Family

Becky also works with a small team of researchers as co-supervisor:

 
Ganose group

Pablo Graf

Pablo is a first-year PhD student funded by AIChemy. Since joining Imperial, he has worked under the supervision of Prof. Kim Jelfs, Dr. Alex Ganose, and Dr Becky Greenaway to help develop a closed-loop platform for the discovery of chemical reaction mechanisms based on reaction kinetics.

Supervisor: Dr Alex Ganose

Co-supervisor: Prof. Kim Jelfs, Dr Becky Greenaway

 
 
 
Bull Group

MATTHEW GRANNAN

Matthew is currently in his final year of the CDT React PhD programme with Dr James Bull, Dr Becky Greenaway and Prof. Alan Spivey. The project is part-funded by AstraZeneca.

Supervisor: Dr James Bull

Co-supervisor: Prof. Alan Spivey

 
 
 
KAMALY GROUP

Cici song

Cici is currently in the first year of her PhD programme under the supervision of Dr Nazila Kamaly, Prof Kim Jelfs, and Dr Becky Greenaway. Her research focuses on the high-throughput synthesis of nanogels guided by machine learning–driven design.

Supervisor: Dr Nazila Kamaly

Co-supervisor: Prof. Kim Jelfs, Dr Becky Greenaway