Meet the people who make up STEM Faculty.
I graduated from Cambridge University with an MA in Natural Sciences, this was then followed by an MSc in Chemistry at Imperial College and a PhD in Organometallic Chemistry from Kings College London in 2003. Since then I have further done research in inorganic chemistry in France (CEA, Grenoble), been a teaching fellow at Sheffield University and prior to joining the OU in June 2015 was a Senior Lecturer in Chemistry and Course Leader in Pharmaceutical Sciences at London Metropolitan University for 8 years.
My research interests primarily involve exploiting electrohydrodynamic techniques (electrospinning and electrospraying) to generate nanomaterials. Our research in this area predominantly focuses on using these techniques to fabricate novel drug delivery systems. The materials generated generally increase the solubility of poorly soluble drug molecules thereby increasing their bioavailability. In addition we have fabricated materials that can tuned to give either sustained or pulsatile release of drug cargo. We are also interested in luminescent solids with unusual optical properties produced via similar techniques to generate highly-tuned materials that act as sensitive sensors of gas molecules. Recent work has applied similar techniques to generate anti-microbial materials for the food industry using food waste as a raw material. This work is supported by the BBSRC. On going work also includes using electrohydrodynamic techniques to fabricate smart wound dressings for patients with diabetic foot wounds. This work is funded by the British Council.
PhD supervision:
Gaoyen Chen (completed 2012)
Eranka Illangakoon (completed 2015)
Yacine Kaassis (completed 2015)
Erum Noureen (completed 2020)
Lewis Anderson (completed 2022)
Ashley Saunders (completed 2024)
Katy Woodason (completed 2024)
Alistair Hines (ongoing)
Maryam Saberi (ongoing)
I have over 10 years experience of face-to-face teaching (lectures, tutorials etc) at UK universities and joined the OU to gain experience in developing and utlizing distance learning approaches to teach HE level chemistry. Since joining the OU in 2015 I have written material for S111, S112, S218, S315, SS021, SS031 and was module chair for the production of level 2 module S248. I am also employed as an associate lecturer on the project module SXC390 and the level 1 module S112. I developed support for materials for chemistry students transitioning between stages in their study, authoring the material for the "Get Ready For S215" website. I am currently Qualification Lead for the Chemistry pathway.
Prof Kenneth White (London Metropolitan University)
Dr Yasmin Abozeid (Helwan University, Egypt)
