Michael is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of Lincoln College. He graduated from Imperial College, University of London, before moving to the University of Cambridge for his PhD studies, working with Professor Steve Ley. He then spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University working with Professor David Evans. In 1997 he returned to the UK and he was appointed to a Lectureship in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Bath. He moved to Oxford in January 2007, and was promoted to Full Professor in 2013. His research interests are based around the development of new catalytic processes and their application in synthesis, which has more recently included the development of new catalytic reactions using sulfur dioxide. His work has been recognised by the award of the 2015 Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Syngenta Process Chemistry Research Award, the 2014 Royal Society of Chemistry Catalysis in Organic Chemistry Award, and 2008 AstraZeneca Award in Synthetic Organic Chemistry.

Helen is a Professor of Sustainable Chemistry at the University of York, and is Director of the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence. She studied Natural Sciences at Christ’s College, Cambridge, and obtained her PhD on The Application of beta-Keto Dithianes in Natural Product Synthesis from the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Professor Steven V. Ley. Following postdoctoral studies on the catalytic asymmetric chemistry of Palladium II, at the University of California, Irvine with Professor Larry Overman, she joined GSK. Whilst at GSK Helen developed a particular interest in Green Chemistry as applied to the Pharmaceutical Industry, including solvent and reagent selection, metrics and the development of more efficient transformations. She is an author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Ed is a Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Oxford, and the current Head of Organic Chemistry, as well as a Fellow of Jesus College. Ed obtained an MA degree in Chemistry from Oxford, and a PhD from Cambridge under the supervision of Prof Andrew B. Holmes working on the chemistry of medium ring oxacycles. He pursued postdoctoral research firstly at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla with Prof Erik J. Sorensen, and then at the University of Cambridge with Prof Ian Paterson, working on a variety of total synthesis projects. He was appointed as an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow in Oxford in 2007, and took up a Lectureship at Jesus College, Oxford, in 2009; he was promoted to Full Professor position in 2016. His research interests span many fields of organic chemistry, and his work has been recognised by award of the RSC Bader Prize (2020) and the Novartis Chemistry Lectureship (2019).

Véronique received a PhD in chemistry from the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium), carrying research in the laboratory of Prof. L. Ghosez. After postdoctoral studies with Dr R. Lerner at the Scripps Research Institute (CA, USA) and following a first academic position at the University Louis Pasteur (Strasbourg, France), she began her career at the University of Oxford in 1998. She is currently the Waynflete Professor of Chemistry, a statutory professorship linked to Magdalen College. Her research widely recognised by numerous international awards and prizes is centred on safe and sustainable fluorine chemistry for applications in life and material sciences. She is the founder of FluoRok, a spin-out of the University of Oxford, where she is currently serving as non-executive director.

With a Biochemistry background, Lara obtained her PhD at Oxford researching molecular and cell biology in the context of Parkinson’s disease. She then moved to Imperial College London for postdoctoral research looking at genomics of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. In 2014, Lara moved into research administration and has since worked as a programme manager for the Synthesis for Biology and Medicine (SBM) CDT and now the Chemical Synthesis for a Healthy Planet (CSHP) CDT. She is responsible for the overall coordination of the CDT activities and day-to-day organisation at Oxford, including admissions, marketing, training, finance and student support.

Linda has worked at the University of York since 2011. Previous roles include working in undergraduate examinations, departmental operations administration and CDT Administration Management. She is currently the Administration Manager for the NERC funded ECORISC CDT based in the Department of Environment and Geography. Since April 2024, Linda has also worked in the Department of Chemistry where she is the EPSRC CDT Coordinator for both the CSHP CDT and the PINZ CDT. Linda is responsible for the coordination of CDT activities at York including admissions, training, finance and student administration.

Alexa obtained her PhD in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Oxford, researching the use of Group 13 metal hydrides for catalytic reduction of carbonyl compounds. Following this, she continued in Oxford for three years as a postdoctoral research associate, studying the chemistry of low-valent Group 14 compounds. Since 2021, Alexa has worked as a programme manager for the Oxford Inorganic Chemistry for Future Manufacturing (OxICFM) and Health Data Science (HDS) CDTs. She is now the partner liaison manager for the Chemical Synthesis for a Healthy Planet (CSHP) and Inorganic Materials for Advanced Manufacturing (IMAT) CDTs.