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.
.jpg)
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
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.
Una O'Hara
PhD Student:
Una is studying the hydrogen storage applications of metal borohydride - metal hydride composites as part of the SusHy CDT programme
Bakhtawar Ahmed
PhD Student:
Bakhtawar is exploring ammonia cracking catalysts based on Group 2 metals as part of the SusHy CDT programme.
Jade Doody
PhD Student:
Jade joined the group this year after completing a MSci project with us last year. Jade is developing new multi-anion solid electrolyte candidates.
Francis Himsworth
MSci Student:
Francis is completing a MSci project looking at ways of scaffolding ammonia cracking catalysts.
.png)
Chloe Elliott
MSci Student:
Chloe is examining the synthesis of imide-halide materials for energy storage applications.
Seb Nicholson
Previous members
Manoj Ravi
Research Fellow
Simon Fetwi
M.Sci. Student '20/21
Chloe Walker
M.Sci. Student '21/22
Matthew Brookman
M.Sci. Student '20/21
Angharad Beach
M.Sci. Student '22/23
Adam Way
M.Sci. Student '21/22
Bryan Kuzov
M.Sci. Student '22/23
Emily Cooper
M.Sci. Student '20/21
Maryam Aziz
M.Sci. Student '19/20
Alisha Sukhwani Manghnani, Part II (co-supervised with Prof Bill David)
Jonny Betteridge, Part II (co-supervised with Prof Bill David)
Jack Searle, Part II (co-supervised with Prof Bill David)
Jake Brittain, Part II (co-supervised with Prof Bill David)
M.Sci. Student '23/24
Beatrice Vincent
Research Fellow