Makepeace Group

About the Group

Our research group is based in the School of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham. We're part of the broader solid state community there, sharing lab and office space, equipment, ideas, and general research life among the various groups. We aim to foster a supportive, creative, collaborative and enthusiastic research environment.

For opportunities to join the group, click here. Chemistry should be accessible to all, and so we welcome interest from dedicated researchers regardless of gender, race, sexuality, (dis)ability, religion and background.

Current members

Josh Makepeace

Principal Investigator:

Josh is an Associate Professor in Materials Chemistry and UKRI Future Leaders Fellow in the School of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham.

After completing his Bachelor degree at Flinders University of South Australia, Josh moved to the UK to study for a D.Phil. in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Oxford.

Following work at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and as a Junior Research Fellow at St John's College, University of Oxford, Josh started at the University of Birmingham in late 2019.

Fatima Abi Ghaida

Research Fellow:

Fatima is conducting a research project on the development of new catalyst formulations for ammonia synthesis under mild conditions as part of the AMBHER project.

See Fatima's publications via Google Scholar

Shilpi Sengupta

Research Fellow:

Shilpi is a postdoctoral research fellow specializing in electrochemical energy storage applications. She recently completed her PhD in this field and is currently focused on developing solid-state electrolytes for lithium-based storage systems.

See Shilpi's publications via Google Scholar

Jeremy Lowen

PhD Student:

Jeremy joined the group as a PhD student in 2020 after completing his MSci in the group in a project co-supervised by Dr Paul Anderson. His doctorate focuses on the development of M-N-H materials for battery applications.

Caitlin Brooker-Davis

PhD Student:

Caitlin joined the group in 2021 on a PhD project developing new M-N-H catalyst systems for producing hydrogen from ammonia.

See Caitlin's publications via Google Scholar

Ezri McGarrigle

PhD Student:

Ezri is completing a PhD research project on M-N-H ammonia synthesis catalysts as part of the AMBHER project. Ezri previously completed a MSci project in the group.