Our departments
The School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy (SCFP) brings together three thriving departments that are each well known and respected for the breadth and significance of their research expertise.
There are three research sections within Chemistry: Biomedical, Molecular and Analytical Chemistry; Materials and Interfaces for the Future; and Soft Matter.
The research divisions within Food and Nutritional Sciences encompass Human Nutrition, Food and Bioprocessing Sciences, and Food Microbial Sciences.
The core disciplines that comprise Pharmacy are Pharmacology, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmaceutics and Pharmacy Practice. Research in Pharmacy brings together experts across a wide range of health science and related disciplines to improve use of current therapies whilst developing new ones for the future. The multidisciplinary research spans research from fundamental science underpinning health and disease through to clinical practice.
Our research
Within SCFP, the interdisciplinary research environment facilitates work that spans traditional barriers. This has allowed researchers to approach fundamental problems in new ways and tackle research problems of significant importance to the pharmaceutical, health, food, chemical and materials industries.
Researchers within SCFP contribute significantly to the University research themes entitled 'Agriculture, Food and Health', and 'Environment'.
Our laboratories
Research within the School is conducted in well equipped research laboratories, many of which have been refurbished in recent years.
A considerable expansion of the instrumentation infrastructure has taken place through the central provision of the Chemical Analysis Facility (CAF), which is housed within SCFP.
The state of the art analytical suite is equipped with facilities that include 700 and 500 MHz NMR spectrometers, vibrational spectroscopy (IR imaging, Raman, fluorescence), mass spectrometry, X-ray diffractometry (powder and single crystal) and thermal analysis (DSC, TGA, hot-stage microscopy), at a cost of approximately £4.5million. The CAF provides a platform that will support a wide range of internationally competitive collaborative research activities across the University.
Researchers are also extremely well supported by central research and analytical facilities available on campus. These include the Centre for Advanced Microscopy (CfAM), which provides cutting edge microscopy services and solutions for the life, medical and physical sciences, and The Biocentre, which acts as a focus for interdisciplinary collaboration using state-of-the-art research tools.
We relish the opportunity to work with researchers from both within the University and outside, and welcome enquiries from external enterprises and institutes. Enquiries should be made to our School Director of Post-doctoral researchers Professor Vimal Karani, or to our School Director of Postgraduate researchers Dr Graeme Cottrell, or to our Deputy Head of School Professor Helen Osborn.
Postgraduate Research Students within SCFP
The School of Chemistry, Food, and Pharmacy boasts a vibrant PhD community with over 120 students. PhD students are integral to our research endeavours, significantly contributing to our research outputs. They are provided with numerous opportunities to showcase their work, including at our annual Departmental Conferences and the University's Doctoral Research Conference. For further details please contact our School Director of Postgraduate Research Studies, Dr Graeme Cottrell.
Postdoctoral Research Associates within SCFP
The School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy’s Postdoctoral Research Associate (SCFP-PDRA) community provides the platform to welcome new PDRAs to the school and solve issues highlighted by the PDRA community. The community also raises awareness of career and professional development opportunities available to PDRAs, coordinates activities and responsibilities focused on the Researcher Development Concordat at a School level, and works with human resources to ensure that the PDRA community is supported appropriately before and throughout their time at the University. The team organises PDRA social networking events every 3 months where we provide the opportunity for PDRAs to share their experiences, discuss issues of equality in the workplace, and promote events and reflect on our work supporting PDRAs at all stages.
If you are interested in getting involved, please contact us (Professor Vimal Karani, Dr Amelia Hollywood, Dr Francesco Tamagnini, Dr Manik Puranik).
