Dr Jonathan Foster (Jona – pronounced “John-ah”) graduated with an MChem from the University of Durham in 2008, where he also completed a PhD in the groups of Professor Jonathan Steed and Professor Judith Howard CBE FRS. He undertook post-doctoral positions at the University of Cambridge in the groups of Professor Jonathan Nitschke and Professor Anthony Cheetham FRS.

In 2015 he was awarded a Ramsay Memorial Trust Fellowship and the position of Vice Chancellors Fellow which he heldin the Department of Chemistry at the University of Sheffield where he is now a lecturer. Jona has experience working with a wide range of nano-structured and supramolecular materials including gels, polymers, cages and frameworks.

Ram Prasad R R (2019-2022)

Ram obtained his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Kerala, then joining the National Institute of Technology, Trichy for his master’s, where he completed a final year project under the guidance of Dr. S. Anandan on manganese oxide/graphene nanocomposites for supercapacitor applications. He went on to complete a PhD at the University of St. Andrews under the supervision of Professor Paul Wright and Professor Matt Clarke, where he investigated the use of metal-organic frameworks for tandem catalysis. Now in the Foster group, Ram is working on designing and functionalising novel MONs for advanced catalysis applications.

Prioti Choudhury Purba (2023-2025)

Prioti completed her bachelor’s degree from Jadavpur University followed by an M.Sc. in Chemistry from the Presidency University, Kolkata, India. She obtained her PhD degree from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore under the supervision of Prof. P. S. Mukherjee. Her research interest was on the design and synthesis of imidazole and NHC-based supramolecular coordination architectures and their applications. Now, in the Foster group, Prioti is working on the development of hydrogen and halogen-bonded nanosheets.

Millie Wood (2019-2023)

Millie completed her Masters’ degree working in Dr Sarah Staniland’s group at the University of Sheffield.  Her master’s project was focused on using phage display to identify a peptide for biotemplating of L1o phase FePt.

Now working with Jona, Millie’s research continues to be bio-inspired – designing MONs to function as sensors for biologically relevant molecules and macromolecules.

Benedict Smith (2020-2024)

Benedict Smith was awarded his MSc with distinction in green chemistry and sustainable industrial technology by the University of York in 2020. In the same year, he begins study for his PhD at the University of Sheffield co-supervised by Dr Adrien Chauvet and Dr Jonathan Foster. His research is a joint synthetic and spectroscopic study of the enhancement of the selectivity of graphene-based sensors by the addition of metal organic nanosheets for the real-time detection of phosphate and other small molecules in soil.

Jiangtian Tan (2020-2024)

Jiangtian completed his MSc at the University of Sheffield, under the supervision of Dr Jonathan Foster. In 2020, he comes back to the Foster group as a PhD student, working on Mixed Matrix Membranes composed of MONs and porous polymers for water purification applications. In the same year, he joins the ​Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures​ (GCSF).

Sanyou Xu (2021-2025)

Sanyou obtained his master’s degree at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology before joining Jona’s group. He is now studying at the University of Sheffield as a PHD student under the supervision of Dr Jonathan Foster and Professor David Lidzey. His research focuses on modifying different 2D mons materials for making high-performance solar cells.

Bethany J Lingard (2022-2023)

Beth is completing her MChem under the supervision of Dr Jona Foster, working alongside Jiangtian Tan to develop a water purification membrane. She has completed 3 years at the University of Sheffield, including an industrial placement where she developed a 3D printing resin synthesised with fatty acids.