Friday, 02 October 2020
A Nottingham professor has received a prestigious award from the Royal Academy of Engineering to support the development of machine learning models of sustainable chemistry for researchers in the pharmaceutical sector and related chemical-based industries.
Jonathan Hirst, Professor of Computational Chemistry at the University of Nottingham’s School of Chemistry, is one of eight new Royal Academy of Engineering Chairs in Emerging Technologies who will receive a share of £22 million funding to support innovative new research.
Professor Hirst will develop machine learning techniques to help chemical engineers and chemists make their manufacturing processes more sustainable. Working with scientists at the University of Nottingham’s Centre for Sustainable Chemistry, Professor Hirst aims to build interactive machine learning models of sustainability that can be used early in the discovery phase by researchers in the pharmaceutical sector developing new drugs and related chemical-based industries.
The challenge we will address is how to design, make and ultimately manufacture new molecules in a more sustainable fashion. At the moment, there are all kinds of inefficiencies, which are largely neglected in the search for new chemicals with specific desired properties. My project will provide machine learning tools for chemists and chemical engineers that will help them address two questions. How do we find greener synthetic routes to chemicals? And how do we identify greener target molecules from the outset?
Royal Academy of Engineering Chairs in Emerging Technology
The Royal Academy of Engineering has announced that eight academics at universities across the UK are to receive awards from its largest research funding scheme—the Chairs in Emerging Technologies. A total of £22 million will support these innovative researchers and global leaders in their fields whose projects made it through the rigorous selection process in the face of stiff competition.
The innovations being developed by the Chairs in Emerging Technologies aim to benefit society and the UK economy, and enable the nation to remain at the global forefront of engineering innovation. The areas of research funded reflect the UK’s wider technological priorities, with many of the projects directly aligned to the government’s Industrial Strategy and designed to tackle some of the biggest industrial and societal challenges of our time.
The Chairs in Emerging Technologies scheme, which supports global visionaries in the UK to advance emerging technologies, is made possible through funding from the UK’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
The ten-year support provided to the Chairs will enable them to progress their pioneering ideas from basic science through to full deployment and commercialisation.
GSK Carbon Neutral Laboratories for Sustainable Chemistry
Machines learning chemistry
Professor Hirst added: “I am very excited to receive this funding! It will support our research group for a considerable period of time, giving us the opportunity to pursue blue-skies, high-risk high-reward research. It will enable us to work ever more deeply with the industrial partners who have supported us, such as GlaxoSmithKline and Lenovo, with the ultimate aim to deliver technology that goes beyond current machine learning deployments to a new generation of dynamic interactive tools where AI and human experts are working hand in hand. I am most grateful to the Royal Academy of Engineering for this award, which builds on the fantastic research of many wonderful doctoral students and postdocs in our research group over the years.”
Research excellence
The project leverages significant investment from the University in its Green Chemicals Beacon of Excellence and in the University’s on-site high performance computer and Digital Research more broadly.
This award is wonderful recognition of Jonathan’s excellence in research. Royal Academy of Engineering Chairs in Emerging Technologies are extremely prestigious and we are delighted by Jonathan’s success.
Jonathan Hirst studied for his PhD (1990-1993) at the University of London on the application of artificial neural networks to molecular design. His postdoctoral work (supported with a HFSP Fellowship) was first at Carnegie Mellon University and subsequently at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. In 1996, he was promoted to Assistant Professor at Scripps. In 1999, he moved to the University of Nottingham, where he has flourished: Reader (2002), Professor (2004), Head of School (2013-2017).
Story credits
More information is available from Professor Jonathan Hirst on Jonathan.Hirst@nottingham.ac.uk or Jane Icke, Media Relations Manager for the Faculty of Science at the University of Nottingham, on +44 (0)115 951 5751 or jane.icke@nottingham.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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