Group

Claire Brodie first came to St Andrews for her undergraduate degree. Since, she has completed her PhD at the University of Durham working with Prof. Philip Dyer on homogeneous cobalt catalysis for olefin oligomerisaition. After this, she moved to the group of Prof. Andrew Weller in York as a PDRA where she worked on group 9 complexes for amine-borane dehydropolymerisation and resulting materials properties. Claire has now returned to St Andrews to join the group here and will work on homogeneous dehydrogenation and hydrogenation reaction for sustainable polymer synthesis. 

Pavel is from a small town near Izhevsk in Udmurt Republic of the Russian Federation. Pavel obtained a Specialist degree at M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, where his final qualifying project involved the development of nickel-catalysed homocoupling reactions. He obtained his Ph.D in Chemistry at M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University under the supervision of Prof. A. Voskoboynikov working on stereoselective metallocene catalysts for propene polymerization. Pavel is currently working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Kumar research group. In his free time Pavel enjoys hiking, playing volleyball and video games.

James Luk is from a small village near Stevenage in North Hertfordshire. He completed an MChem at the University of St Andrews, where his masters project involved the use homogeneous catalysts in amide hydrogenation and the effect of amines in poisoning these catalysts. James is currently a PhD student in the Kumar research group. In his free time, he enjoys playing football, hiking and playing the saxophone and guitar.

Angus McLuskie is from a village outside of Cambridge, England. He completed a BSc at the University of Southampton, where his final year project involved the total synthesis and extraction of natural products. He then studied his MRes degree in the Kumar research group working on the manganese catalysed synthesis of urea derivatives and polyureas. Angus continues working in the group as a research assistant. In his free time, he enjoys triathlon training, walking trips and repairing motorbikes.

Julian Kolb has completed the Bilingual IB Diploma from the American International School of Vienna, where he was born, and is now attending the University of St. Andrews, completing this BSc in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry. He has been working in the Kumar research group ever since his third year, continuing to work throughout summer of 2022 after getting the Undergraduate Research Bursary from the RSC. This work involved the synthesis of polyamines. He is currently working on his honors project involving the synthesis of polyureas and their application in batteries as binders under the joint supervision of Dr. Amit Kumar and Dr. Rob Armstrong. In his down time, he likes to play golf and spend time with his friends, especially cooking.

Ollie Page comes from the town of Yeovil on the Somerset-Dorset border. He is a 5th year MChem student at the University of St Andrews and is currently undertaking his final year research project in the Kumar Research lab under Dr Amit Kumar, and is jointly supervised by Prof. Zysman-Coleman in the Zysman-Coleman Group.
He feels a key motivating factor in the development of Green Chemistry is to preserve the beautiful countryside landscape. Aside from his studies, Ollie spends his free time going to the gym, watching the UFC, playing boardgames and playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Nachiket More is from Nashik, Maharashtra, India. Nachiket completed his M.Sc. Organic Chemistry & B.Sc. Chemistry from H.P.T. Arts & R.Y.K. Science College, Nashik, affiliated to S. P. Pune University, India where Nachiket’s M.Sc. project involved the synthesis of Schiff base of Aryl containing thiazole carbohydrazides targeting Mycobacterium tuberculosis. During his B.Sc. he was NIUS (HBCSE-TIFR) Scholar for 2 years, in which his work focused on synthesizing pyridyl thiazole derivatives and studied photophysical properties and powder diffraction pattens. Nachiket is currently a M.Sc. (Res) student in the Kumar research group. In his free time, he enjoys playing badminton, swimming and cooking.