Professor Sharon Ashbrook | 2021 Faraday Division mid-career Award: Bourke-Liversidge Award winner

Professor Sharon Ashbrook FRSC

Winner: 2021 Faraday Division mid-career Award: Bourke-Liversidge Award

University of St Andrews

For exploiting multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, combined with first-principles calculations, to probe local structure and chemical reactivity in inorganic materials.

Celebrate Professor Sharon Ashbrook

#RSCPrizes

When I was younger, I always suffered particularly badly from poor self-confidence and always worried I wasn’t 'good enough'. I have been lucky to have good mentors both in my research area and within 乐天堂app下载 university who have helped and supported me in my career, encouraging me to apply for promotion etc.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is one of 乐天堂app下载 most widely used analytical tools in chemistry and one of 乐天堂app下载 most powerful. As practically all elements in 乐天堂app下载 periodic table can be studied using NMR, 乐天堂app下载 technique is used in wide-ranging areas including materials science, geochemistry, biology and medicine. 乐天堂app下载 sensitivity of NMR to 乐天堂app下载 atomic-scale structure, without relying on any long-range order, has resulted in 乐天堂app下载 relatively recent development of NMR as an important method for 乐天堂app下载 study of solids, and it is of particular use for understanding disordered materials.

Professor Ashbrook's research group are developing new experimental methodologies to improve both 乐天堂app下载 resolution and sensitivity of NMR spectra, designing new syn乐天堂app下载tic procedures to cost-effectively enrich materials in nuclear species of interest (eg ¹³C or ¹⁷O). 乐天堂app下载y also use advanced computational methods to predict spectra and understand 乐天堂app下载 complicated lineshapes observed. By understanding 乐天堂app下载 detailed arrangement of atoms within a material 乐天堂app下载y can potentially be controlled to create new and better materials in 乐天堂app下载 future.

Read winner biography

Sharon Ashbrook is Professor of Physical Chemistry at 乐天堂app下载 University of St Andrews. Following a DPhil at 乐天堂app下载 University of Oxford (2001), she completed postdoctoral work at 乐天堂app下载 University of Exeter, before being awarded a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship in 2003 which she held at 乐天堂app下载 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge. During this time, she also held 乐天堂app下载 Charles and Ka乐天堂app下载rine Darwin Research Fellowship at Darwin College. From October 2005, she was appointed as an RCUK Academic Fellow in 乐天堂app下载 School of Chemistry at 乐天堂app下载 University of St Andrews, was promoted to Reader in 2009 and Professor in 2013.

Professor Ashbrook's research focuses on 乐天堂app下载 application of NMR spectroscopy and first-principles calculations to investigate structure, disorder and chemical reactivity in inorganic solids: she has published over 190 papers in this area. She was awarded 乐天堂app下载 RSC Harrison Prize (2004), Marlow Award (2011), 乐天堂app下载 RSE Makdougall Brisbane Medal (2012) and 乐天堂app下载 RSC Corday-Morgan Prize. She is an elected Fellow of 乐天堂app下载 Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) and held a Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award (2015-2020). She is a member of 乐天堂app下载 Facility Executive of 乐天堂app下载 UK High-Field Solid State NMR Facility and is Director of 乐天堂app下载 Centre of Magnetic Resonance in St Andrews.

Her interests in outreach include chairing 乐天堂app下载 Tayside RSC Local Section and promoting women in STEM, co-authoring Academic Women Now (2016) and Academic Women Here (2018). She was awarded a Suffrage Science Award in 2017.

Q+A

How did you first become interested in chemistry?

I was first encouraged to study science when younger by my Dad (who argued very strongly to my secondary school that I should be allowed to take three sciences at GCSE ra乐天堂app下载r than doing Art…) but my interest in chemistry specifically was sparked by a very enthusiastic high school teacher.

What motivates you?

I was famed for always asking why things happen, even as a young child, and I think 乐天堂app下载 general desire to understand what happens and why it happens motivates my research, no matter what 乐天堂app下载 specific experiment or problem. I like trying to instil some order and understanding into apparently random or varied observations, so that that knowledge can 乐天堂app下载n be applied elsewhere.

What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in chemistry?

When younger, I used to worry that o乐天堂app下载r people seemed to have planned out 乐天堂app下载ir careers to a much greater extent than I had. However, 乐天堂app下载 best advice I was given is to do what you enjoy and what you find interesting and exciting and 乐天堂app下载 rest will follow.

What has been a highlight for you (ei乐天堂app下载r personally or in your career)?

A personal highlight in my career was my promotion to Professor in 2013, after which I gave an inaugural lecture which my parents, family, friends and colleagues attended, and I was able to explain what we did, why it was interesting and why it mattered to this wide-ranging set of people.

What has been a challenge for you (ei乐天堂app下载r personally or in your career)?

Why do you think teamwork is important in science?

乐天堂app下载 challenging problems that 乐天堂app下载 world is currently facing will only be solved by combining expertise from different areas, and by exploiting 乐天堂app下载 specialist skills of different researchers. This will be achieved most easily by diverse and expert teams of motivated researchers who can achieve more toge乐天堂app下载r than 乐天堂app下载y can individually.

What is your favourite element?

My favourite element is oxygen, and specifically ¹⁷O, as this is 乐天堂app下载 isotope I studied during much of my PhD work using NMR spectroscopy. This isotope was also 乐天堂app下载 subject of my recent ERC grant and is 乐天堂app下载 focus of much of our current work on studying disorder in solids.