Celebrating Women in Chemistry Conference and Careers Event 2022

After studying for my undergraduate’s degree in Poitiers, France, I received my MChem degree in Medicinal and Organic Chemistry from the University of Montpellier. After attaining my Master’s degree, I then started working for Idenix Pharmaceuticals, a small MSD company based in Montpellier. There I worked on the development of next-generation oral antiviral therapeutics for the treatment of human viral diseases such as hepatitis C, HIV and herpes, developing protease inhibitor compounds and prodrugs.

In 2017, I joined Charnwood Molecular as a Research Chemist, contributing to the design and delivery of therapeutic molecules for a number of pharmaceutical companies. Now a Senior Research Chemist and project manager, I continue to work as a synthetic chemist on customer-facing projects, synthesizing therapeutic compounds for pharmaceutical companies. In addition to my chemistry work, I get a great deal of satisfaction representing the company externally, helping with the recruitment effort ongoing at Charnwood Molecular and interacting with the universities.

“Don't let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or your curiosity. It's your place in the world; it's your life. Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live.”  Mae Jemison, American astronaut.

Anna Zhenova is the founder and CEO of Green Rose Chemistry, an independent chemical consultancy that is bringing a brand-new service to the EU in response to a growing market need. Green Rose provides unbiased expertise rooted in cutting-edge computational science, using a unique combination of chemistry, sustainability, and market knowledge to solve industrial problems and accelerate the transition to a safe and biobased economy.

Anna earned her Ph.D. from the University of York as part of the industrially partnered RenewChem program, focusing her research on green solvents for industrial polymer dissolution. Before coming to York, Anna worked at the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council, a non-profit consortium promoting proactive adoption of green chemistry in industry. Anna earned her M.Sc. from Carnegie Mellon University with research in low-cost ionic liquids for carbon capture, and her B.Sc. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, where she developed environmentally-friendly catalysts in the Grubbs Group.

Anna excels in translating academic expertise to real-world applications, and has a rather unscientific fondness for clear communication and polished graphics. She works with clients in industries ranging from fragrances to construction manufacturing, bringing green chemistry out of the lab and helping companies join the bioeconomy boom.

Dr Charlotte Crowhurst is a patent attorney and partner and board member of leading Intellectual Property Law Firm, Potter Clarkson.  Charlotte will talk about her journey from school to studying chemistry at university, doing a PhD (and realising that research was not for her), training as a patent attorney and rising through the ranks to become a partner and board member and the challenges along the way.  One of Charlotte’s many responsibilities is to recruit high calibre chemistry graduates to join the team and train as patent attorneys.  She will discuss what recruiters in this field are looking for, the training process and what she loves about the career.

Pooja grew up on the foothills of Mount Kenya. Her academic career started with a First class (Hons) MChem (Chemistry) degree from Coventry University which included an industrial placement at GlaxoSmithKline. She then went on to pursue a PhD at the University of Warwick with the late Prof. Mark Rodger. This was part funded by industry (Cabot Speciality Fluids) and by the Warwick Postgraduate Scholarship. ​

In 2005, Pooja moved to the Dept. of Physics and Materials Science at Uppsala University, Sweden, working on a FP7 project looking at diagnosing malaria using a magneto-optical technique which would be fast, efficient and reliable and most importantly non-invasive. After 3 ½ years she joined the University of Bath as an EPSRC Research Officer working on computational simulations of energy materials with applications in Sustainable Technologies such as Li Ion Batteries, Fuel Cells and Thin Film PV materials. Since then she has been Senior Research Fellow at the University of Huddersfield, before joining the team at Loughborough in 2015 and is now a senior lecturer in computational materials modelling.  In 2021 she  received the Royal Society Short Industry Fellowship to work with Industry as well as join the Royal Society of Chemistry Inclusion and Diversity Committee. More recently, she has taken over as the Director for EDI for the School of Science at Loughborough. Among her many recent accolades, she also sits on the UKRI-EPSRC e-infrastructure Strategic Advisory Team.​

Pooja truly believes inclusivity is about recognising the importance of every individual in shaping the success of an institution. Recognition and acceptance empowers people to believe they can achieve the unimaginable and this can be incredibly powerful for the individual as well as for the institute.

Katharine Reid obtained her D.Phil. in Chemical Physics from the University of Sussex in 1986 and then took up a SERC/NATO fellowship at Stanford University where she worked on photoionization dynamics in the group of Professor R.N. Zare. She was awarded an EPSRC Advanced Fellowship in 1992, which she took up at the University of Nottingham. Continuing at Nottingham, she was appointed as Lecturer in Physical Chemistry in 1995; the first female lecturer in the School of Chemistry. She was promoted to Reader in Chemical Physics in 2002 (while on maternity leave!) and Professor of Chemical Physics in 2007. She is known internationally for her expertise in the measurement and interpretation of photoelectron angular distributions which are finding an ever-increasing number of applications. Between 2016 and 2020 she coordinated a Marie Skłodowska Curie Innovative Training Network involving nine European partner institutions and entitled "Angular Studies of Photoelectrons in Innovative Research Environments" (674960, ASPIRE). Among other activities, Katharine has chaired the RSC interest group in Spectroscopy and Dynamics, the Gordon Conference on Photoionization and Photodetachment, and a Faraday Discussion on Emerging Photon Sources for Chemical Dynamics.​

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Katharine was Head of Physical Chemistry from 2013-2018 and Deputy Head of School from 2017-2019. She has long had an interest in Education, and since 2018 has been the Faculty of Science Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Student Experience, overseeing teaching and learning in all of the schools in the Faculty. She served on the Natural Sciences TEF pilot panel in 2017/18 and 2018/19 and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.​

Hannah is a career coach and professional skills trainer with clients spanning six continents and a top 10 UK podcast 'Women in STEM Career & Confidence'. Her articles have been featured in Nature Careers, jobs.ac.uk, Chemistry World and Thrive Global to name a few. During her extensive academic and industrial career, she took research from concept to start-up. Since 2018, she has been a qualified and regulated coach; trained in Talent Dynamics profiling. Specialising in purposeful career planning, online networking and social media skills and embedding commercialisation into research design. Hannah has a particular passion for diversity and inclusion and women's leadership development.