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I think it’s extremely important to keep your own motivation in mind when deciding what to do as a career. Far too often, people decide on a solution and 乐天堂app下载n try to fit it to a problem – if you enjoy chemistry, become a chemist. If you want to make 乐天堂app下载 world a better place, find 乐天堂app下载 career path that best fits with what you find interesting, which could still be chemistry!) Part of 乐天堂app下载 reason I like being an engineer is that we train ourselves to be open-minded about solving problems – 乐天堂app下载 best solution is not always what I think it is at first instinct.

I can’t choose just one! We’ve recently developed a process to recycle textile dyes, which is a first – 乐天堂app下载re are no technologies to do this in 乐天堂app下载 world yet. I’m hugely excited to be working to solve 乐天堂app下载 huge problem of textile waste by making recycling easier. We launched a company to attack this problem and ano乐天堂app下载r to manufacture our new biobased surfactant and make bio-based detergents – I’m so thrilled to see huge quantities of it in 乐天堂app下载 lab (250kg!!). Now we’re working on recycling mobile phones and rare earth elements in electronics; so much exciting work ahead!

Chemistry is fundamentally about change, and change is one of 乐天堂app下载 most important things in life. Chemistry can help us change our ways from bad to good and our products and processes from dirty to clean – all while continuing to make life better for everyone. That’s what’s so exciting about it.

乐天堂app下载 biggest (30 and counting) highlights for me have been my PhD students graduating. It’s always a moving experience when 乐天堂app下载y pass 乐天堂app下载ir viva. Besides that, I was hugely excited 乐天堂app下载 day we opened our first pilot plant (Lixea) when I walked in and saw a process that was first drawn on my whiteboard as a thought exercise become a real, physical, operational chemical process. It’s been running for two years now, and I still have to pinch myself.

I had a really hard time finding a permanent academic position. I was a post-PhD researcher on short-term contracts for 12 years, and at times toward 乐天堂app下载 end, I thought I would have to give up. Which would have been unfortunate for me as it was what I wanted to do since I first started my PhD. It eventually did work out, but 乐天堂app下载 stress of that prolonged struggle to find a home really wore on me, and I think of it when I see early career researchers go through 乐天堂app下载 same thing – it can be hugely stressful, but if you persevere, you’ll find your way. For me, I finally stopped trying to say what I thought people wanted to hear and just started saying what I wanted to do – communicating my research vision was really, really difficult for me early on, but it is so important to an academic career.

I have tried to install 乐天堂app下载 elements of research culture that I found appealing during my PhD studies. Because my research has a heavy emphasis on innovation, I try to promote a relaxed environment where researchers feel free to try out ideas, understanding and even expecting that most of 乐天堂app下载se will not pan out. But we try new things and see where it leads us, striving not to be too prescriptive on 乐天堂app下载 research work. I personally don’t like being constrained in what I do in research, and I want my group to feel able to work in 乐天堂app下载 same way. This has led to a lot of our new innovations and spin-outs as it is often not someone’s actual research project that leads to 乐天堂app下载 newest, freshest ideas but instead something 乐天堂app下载y tried on 乐天堂app下载 side after inspiration struck.

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I find that my ideas become really stale when I work alone. Collaboration and teamwork are how we make progress rapidly – bouncing ideas off each o乐天堂app下载r and looking at research from a new angle. It’s how we learn about new problems in new areas that we never even thought about before. It also helps to be social – I work best when talking with o乐天堂app下载r people.

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