Overview
Your degree programme will place you in the world-leading Department of Chemistry, with multi-disciplinary research expertise, unparalleled facilities and dynamic support infrastructure to revolutionise your research and development.
Introduction
The Department of Chemistry is a place where academic and industrial researchers work side by side, sharing knowledge in highly advanced research labs and supporting your career development.
Join us and you’ll be based in a state-of-the art environment that has a strong focus on cutting-edge interdisciplinary research. We are internationally known for our research, with 99% of our outputs ranked as internationally leading or excellent in the Research Excellence Framework, 2021. Our 50 academic staff cover a broad scientific spectrum, and we operate in 5 flexible research groupings. Our research impact is felt on a global scale, from antimalarial drug discovery to one of the best-known methods for making nanoparticles.
Few organisations can match our facilities, team and programmes if your passion lies in chemistry research. As part of your research training, you will be encouraged to attend conferences and present your results both within the Department of Chemistry and externally.
It’s possible to study full or part-time for an MPhil or PhD. Part-time study is arranged through enquiry on an individual basis and is useful if you work in industry and want to continue with your career while studying.
Research topics
PhD students can undertake research in a range of cutting-edge areas within Chemistry. Our research is structured around the following key research groupings:
- The Chemical Models cluster innovates all aspects of modelling chemical systems (electronic structure calculations, classical and quantum simulations, data-based and machine learning models and novel combinations thereof)
- The Chemistry of World Health cluster focuses on medicinal chemistry, materials chemistry for nanomedicines, molecular modelling, antimicrobial surfaces research, and bio-organic chemistry with on-campus collaborations with the Life Sciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
- Energy and Interfaces focuses on renewable energy and interface and nanoscale science with additional core research activities in biomass transformations, heterogeneous catalysis and antimicrobials
- Materials Chemistry focuses on renewable energy and interface and nanoscale science with additional core research activities in biomass transformations, heterogeneous catalysis and antimicrobials
- The Organic Synthesis and Catalysis cluster spans studies on fundamental reactivity through to the provision of synthetic methods for fine chemical synthesis (e.g. pharmaceuticals), bulk chemical manufacture and materials chemistry.
Research culture
Join us and you’ll be based in a state-of-the art environment that has a strong focus on novel interdisciplinary research. Our research groups carry out cutting-edge research in fast-moving fields such as nanotechnology and drug design. Often this involves collaboration with colleagues in other fields such as biology, materials science and physics.
As a postgraduate researcher, you’ll be fully involved in our research activity. This will bring you into contact not only with new concepts, but also our prestigious partners in academia, industry and research worldwide.