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Post-doctoral Researchers

Lucas Al-Shok

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Lucas graduated in 2019 from the Humboldt University Berlin (Germany) with a Master in Chemistry. From October 2019 to December 2023 he completed his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Dave Haddleton at the University of Warwick where he looked at the synthesis and degradation of polyesters.

In June 2024 he joined the Buchard Group as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of York where he investigates sustainable polymer additives for formulations within the Prosperity Partnership with Croda and the University of Nottingham.

In his free time Lucas enjoys cooking, climbing and baking bread.

Anna Bachs Herrera

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Anna graduated from Universitat Rovira i Virgili in 2018 with a degree in Chemistry, followed by a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering in 2021 from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. In 2024, she obtained her PhD in Chemistry from Swansea University. Later that year, she simultaneously joined the Buchard group and Grayson group, across the Universities of Bath and York, as a research associate in computational chemistry on the EPSRC-funded project "Catalytic Chemical Sorting of Intractably Mixed Plastics". In her free time, Anna enjoys knitting, baking, walking, listening to and playing music, and occasionally writing fiction.

 

Aniruddha Nag

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Aniruddha completed his master's and PhD degrees in Materials Science in 2016 and in 2019, respectively, at JAIST, Japan under the supervision of Prof. Tatsuo Kaneko. During this period, he was mainly involved in the design and synthesis of high-performance bioplastics using renewable, non-edible feedstocks and their materials applications. Later, he explored different areas around polymers, namely functionalization of polymers, polymer nanocomposites, ring opening polymerizations, polymers in flow systems, application of renewable solvents in polymerizations. In February 2025 he joined the Buchard group to investigate novel sugar based polymers for polymers in liquid formulations as a part of the SCHEMA-Hub research project. In his free time, he enjoys listening to music, cooking, and traveling.

 

PhD Students

Anita Plumley

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Anita completed her MSci at Imperial College London in 2022, where her Master’s research project focused on finding bio-based plasticisers for regenerated cellulose films under the supervision of Prof Tom Welton. In her first year, she completed a summer internship with Notpla, investigating possible filler components for agar films. Anita is co-supervised by Prof Matthew Davidson at the University of Bath. Her research focuses on the development of novel polylactic acid (PLA) materials. In her spare time, Anita enjoys sailing (but only if it’s sunny!), hiking and baking. 

Eleanor Trudinger Charnley

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Eleanor graduated from the University of York in 2022 with a Master’s in Chemistry. During her time at York, she completed a computational project under the supervision of Dr Jon Agirre which examined the torsion angles between glycans in glycosidic proteins. Her master’s project, under the supervision of Dr Thomas Farmer, focussed on synthesising novel bio-based and biodegradable ionomers using secondary diols and exploring their properties. Eleanor’s PhD research in the Buchard group will continue to investigate sustainable polymers. Working in partnership with the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (with Prof. P. Lindeque and Dr M. Cole) and funded by the NERC GW4+ DTP, she will investigate the effects of previously synthesised and novel sustainable polymers on the marine environment. In her spare time Eleanor enjoys long walks, reading and drinking tea, sometimes all at the same time. 

 

Sophie Barber

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Sophie completed her MChem at the University of Southampton in 2023, with her final project looking at the inhibition of glycosyltransferase enzymes in Streptococcus mutans to prevent oral biofilm growth and was supervised by Dr Seung Lee. She is now researching sugar-derived polymers for molecular recognition, sensing and catalysis and is co-supervised by Prof. Antoine Buchard and Dr Hannah Leese from the University of Bath (Department of Chemical Engineering). In her spare time, Sophie enjoys going on hikes, reading and aerial sports.

Jack Tinker

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Jack completed his MSci at the University of Nottingham in 2023, where his Master's project, under the supervision of Prof. Robert Stockman, explored the synthesis of novel, sustainable short-chain polyethers from terpenes and their use as a replacement for squalene as an adjuvant in vaccines. Jack is in the second year of his PhD studies, funded by the Royal Society, under the supervision of Prof. Antoine Buchard and Dr Hannah Leese from the University of Bath (Department of Chemical Engineering). He focuses on the development of novel polymers and hybrid biomaterials from sugars. In his spare time, Jack enjoys cooking, hiking, and exploring new places and pubs.

Zameer Ashrif

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Zameer graduated from the University of Warwick in 2025 with a Masters in Chemistry.

During his MChem research project, he investigated the use of anionic polymerisation for the  synthesis of bio-based surfactants under the supervision of Prof. Stefan Bon and Prof. Dave Haddleton. For his PhD, Zameer is co-supervised by Prof. Antoine Buchard and Prof. Helen Sneddon as part of a Prosperity Partnership with Synthomer . His PhD research focuses on the development of bio-based monomers for defossilisation of the polymer industry. In his spare time, Zameer enjoys travelling, history, and playing the saxophone.

Jessamy Riley

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Jess graduated from her MChem degree at the University of Liverpool in 2022. During her time there, she completed an industrial placement researching PVC additives at INEOS Inovyn, and an MChem project focusing on inorganic nanoparticles for medical imaging, supervised by Dr Marco Giardiello.

Jess then joined the graduate leadership programme at Synthomer, where she completed placements in microbiology and corporate sustainability, before settling into a permanent role as a polymer scientist, focusing on bio-based emulsion polymers. Continuing this theme, Jess’s PhD research is on novel bio-based monomers for the specialty polymer industry, as part of a Prosperity Partnership with Synthomer, and is co-supervised by Prof. Antoine Buchard and Prof. Helen Sneddon. In her spare
time, Jess enjoys running, reading and writing.

Emily Tyson

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Emily completed her MChem at the University of York in 2023. Her Master’s research focused on the synthesis of naturally-occurring biologically active pyrrolizidine alkaloids under the supervision of Prof. Paul Clarke and Dr Luke Wilkinson. She is co-supervised by Prof. Helen Sneddon and works on the development of new bio-based monomers, in collaboration with Synthomer. In her free time, Emily enjoys reading, walking and listening to music.

Daniel Gilbert

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Dan finished his MChem here at York in 2025 investigating in his final year the fabrication of Cu based Metal-Organic Nanosheets through top-down methods, supervised by Richard Douthwaite. He has now started his first year of his PhD co-supervised by Antoine, Martin Fascione and Alison Parkin. His work focuses on the synthesis of novel sugar-derived polymers for biological applications. Daniel enjoys going for cycle rides and runs, and learning drums and guitar in his free time.

Helena Roalfe

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Helena graduated from the University of York in 2023, before working in the Laboratory Teaching Team at the University of Warwick. At Warwick, she worked on developing new experiments for the undergraduate curriculum, with a focus on organic synthesis and polymers. She is now part of the Synthomer prosperity project under the co-supervision of Prof. Antoine Buchard and Prof. Helen Sneddon. In her spare time, Helena enjoys climbing and visiting new coffee shops.

Jake Graham

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Jake is a first-year PhD student and part of the Chemical Synthesis for a Healthy Planet Centre for Doctoral Training (CSHP CDT). Co-supervised by Professor Charlotte Williams at the University of Oxford and in partnership with Syngenta, Jake is working on sustainable polymers towards agricultural applications. He graduated from the University of York with an MChem degree in 2025, completing his Master’s project in the Buchard group on sustainable sugar-derived copolymers. Previously, he has also worked on sustainable anti-microbial polymers under Dr Daniel Day. His interests outside his studies include running, reading, and playing guitar/bass.

Undergraduate Project Students

Freya Stobbs

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Freya is a final year MSci Natural Sciences student specialising in Chemistry at the
University of York. She has previously spent her summer working under Dr Julia Oktawiec at
the University of Illinois Chicago, where she helped set up the new Oktawiec Lab and
investigated the effects of peptides on the structures of metal-organic frameworks. Last year,
she completed a research project under Professor Duncan Bruce and Dr Stephen Cowling,
synthesising and investigating the properties of novel ionic liquid crystals. In her spare time,
Freya is an avid rock climber, guitarist and enthusiastic but amateur pickleball player.

Lottie Thomas

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Lottie is in the final year of her MChem degree at the University of York. She recently completed a research project under Prof. David Smith creating self-assembling supramolecular hydrogels using a low molecular weight gelator. In her spare time, she enjoys running, baking and playing the cello.

Visiting Students

Get in touch by email if you would like to come and visit our group.

Past members

PhD students

  • Dr Georgina Gregory (PhD 2013-2017) (CDT in SCT)

  • Dr Andrew Hall (PhD 2015-2018) (CDT in SCT)

  • Dr Keiko Yakabi-Diosdado (PhD 2015-2018) (CDT in Catalysis)

  • Dr James Beament (PhD 2015-2018)

  • Dr Strachan McCormick (PhD 2016-2019) (CDT in SCT)

  • Dr Thomas McGuire (PhD 2016-2020) (EPSRC DTP)

  • Dr Ioli Howard (PhD 2017-2021) (CDT in Catalysis)

  • Dr Jasmine Lightfoot (PhD 2018-2022) (CDT in SCT)

  • Dr Jamie Boden (PhD 2018-2022) (CDT in SCT)

  • Dr Marco Piccini (PhD 2018-2022) (CDT in SCT)

  • Dr Craig Hardy (PhD 2018-2023) (Royal Society)

  • Dr Emma Daniels (PhD 2019-2023) (CDT in SCT)

  • Dr Jake Hooton (PhD 2019-2023)

  • Dr Matthew Oshinowo (PhD 2019-2023)

  • ​Dr Niamh Murphy (2020-2024)

  • Dr James Runge (2020-2024)

  • Dr Ella Clark (2020-2024)

  • Dr Sophie Ellis (2020-2024) 

Post-Doctoral research assistants

  • Dr Eva María López Vidal (2016-2018)

  • Dr Frances Singer (2019-2021)

  • Dr Jack Stewart (2022)

  • Dr Ania Grobelny (2023-2024)

  • Dr Fannie Burgevin (2021-2024)

 

MRes students

  • Matthew Shaw (spring 2019) (CDT in Catalysis)

  • Theo Gazis (winter 2018) (CDT in Catalysis)

  • Owen Rogers (winter 2017) (CDT in Catalysis)

  • Bethan Charles (summer 2016) (CDT in SCT)

  • Rose King (summer 2016) (CDT in Catalysis)

  • Lewis Bowman (summer 2015) (CDT in Catalysis)

Undergraduate students

  • Edmund Dadge (2023/2024)

  • Callum Endean (2023/2024)

  • Sebastian Morales Feliu (2022/2023)

  • Bethan Davies (2022/2023)

  • Donatella Abba (2021/2022)

  • Emily Parkinson (2021/2022)

  • Lauren Singer (2021/2022)

  • Auryn Merridue (2020/2021)

  • Isobel Munro (2020/2021)

  • James Runge (2019/2020)

  • Richie Drew (2019/2020)

  • James Chapell (2019/2020)

  • Edward Deane (2018/2019)

  • William Brown (2018/2019)

  • Nimai Jivai-Frier (2018/2019)

  • Teresa Faber (2018/2019)

  • Liza (Zhi Rong) Lee (2017/2018)

  • Ross Arthur (2017/2018)

  • Alice Preston (2016/2017)

  • Tanguy Tomes (2016/2017)

  • Liz Hierons (2015/2016) 

  • Charlie Kendall (2015/2016)

  • Lucy Cotton (2014/2015)

  • Felicity Clarke (2014/2015)

  • James Ewen (2013/2014)

  • Curtis Bell (2013/2014)

 

Visiting students

  • Nour Belgaied (Arts et Métiers ParisTech, Project ANR Octopussy, Summer 2025)

  • Amy Woollard (University of York, Summer 2025)

  • Theo Hughes (University of York, Summer 2025)

  • Isaac Tayler-Hicks (University of York, Summer 2025)

  • Tim Kuestner (University of Dusseldorf, Germany, Spring 2025)

  • Philibert Lenormand (Institute Charles Gerhardt Montpellier, autumn 2023)

  • Giacomo Trapasso (Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy, winter 2023)

  • Khadija Nasser Sanchez (Institut Supérieur de Plasturgie d'Alençon, France, summer 2022)

  • Maude Ximenes (Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Lille (ENSCL), France, summer 2022)

  • Alina Hermann (RWTH Aachen University, Germany, summer 2021)

  • Jessica Bowles (Université de Bordeaux, France, Winter/Spring 2019)

  • Johanna Henkel (RWTH Aachen University, Germany, Winter 2019)

  • Marine Guittot (Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Lille (ENSCL), France, summer 2018)

  • Cécile Pérale (Institut Supérieur de Plasturgie d'Alençon, France, summer 2018)

  • Nadjali Chung (University of North Carolina Greensbor, NSF REU program, summer 2016)

  • Liliana Jenisch (University of Technology, Vienna, Austria, ERASMUS program, winter-spring 2016)

  • Evan Rees (University of North Carolina Greensboro, NSF REU program, summer 2015)

  • Morgan Fleming (Elon University, North Carolina, NSF REU program, summer 2015)

  • Craig Lawley (University of Bath, RSC Undergraduate Bursary, summer 2015)

  • Marion Ullman (Chimie Paris Tech, April-August 2014)

  • Michael Maxwell (University of North Carolina Greensboro, NSF REU program, July-August 2014)

  • Dominic Macias (Nuffield Bursary, July 2013)

  • Philippe Wilson (University of Bath, Alumni Fund Bursary, August 2013)

 

  • Jake Graham (2024/2025)

  • Finn O'Sullivan (2024/2025)

 

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