Scientists in their element
Show your students what a career in STEM can look like as we ask chemists to distil their working lives
‘We can’t get rid of fossil fuels and not have an alternative’
Meet Phil Mercer, a chemist helping plan for a new lithium mine in Cornwall
‘I went on my first anti-racism march when I was 14’
Meet Tom Welton, RSC president, ionic liquid guru and vocal advocate for inclusion and diversity in the chemical sciences
‘To work with paintings is my dream job’
Meet Marta Melchiorre, a scientist who supports the conservation of paintings at the National Gallery in London
‘Science doesn’t always work in the way you expect it to’
Meet Lee Goodwin, a bioanalytical chemist who helps unpick what our bodies do with the drugs they are given, such as antivirals as treatment for Covid-19
‘A material that could heal itself was the coolest thing I’d ever heard’
Meet Annela Seddon, a research scientist who designs materials able to self-fold on demand for biomedical applications
‘We’re interested in using that same concept to make surfaces antiviral’
Meet Mark Moloney, an organic chemist who spends his time pondering surfaces and hunting antibiotics
‘I want to leave the world in a better state than when I entered it’
Meet Omar, a materials chemist who designs highly porous materials for applications ranging from gas storage to the destruction of nerve agents
