Why Study at the CDT in Resilient Chemistry -Feedstock to Function (F2F)?
Core mission: Integrated resilient chemistry that underpins production of high-volume chemical feedstocks threatened by supply issues.
Students will benefit from the wide range of innovative new training approaches, with strong links to industry and the unique chance to interact and develop new critical thinking skills and expertise will open up a range of career opportunities.
Year 1 activities will include:
- Taught courses in core and specialist subjects
- Interactions with industry scientists
- Significant laboratory-based or computational research on a group project
- Transferrable skills training
- Assessments
- Research and planning to support the development of individual PhD projects for Years 2-4
A major component of the training framework is the ‘Team aspect’ of the themes, where students work collaboratively on a specific output e.g. A joint student literature review, a web (or other resource) aimed at an external audience, an outreach exhibition/stand at a local event or your own idea! This initiative aims to promote effective teamwork, strengthen interpersonal relationships and foster a sense of unity within the group.
In Years 2-4, students will work on individual PhD projects, we expect projects will evolve naturally out of the challenge teams as this matures the student will be tasked to identify a possible substantive PhD research project for years 2-4. To maintain the multidisciplinary nature of the centre students will be required to have at least 2 PhD supervisors from both UoN and NTU. Transferrable and specialist skills will continue in Years 2 and 4.
By the end of our CDT programme, students will not only be experts in a particular chemistry-related field but will also have a deep understanding of a resilient concept. This training will be invaluable in a future scientific career.
The first-year assessments involve the following stages:
- Skills Report(s)
- Literature Review
- Research Project Proposal
- Presentation to an external audience – Research Project Proposal & Theme aspect – output(s)
- Annual monitoring for Nottingham Trent University
blank dummy
Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.
Research Themes 2026-27
We currently have 2 research themes funded for studentships for 2026-27.
1. ReaCT: Resilient Catalytic Strategies for Transformative Technologies. Theme Lead: Dr Mattia Silvi, University of Nottingham.
The ReaCT theme seeks to transform the way organic molecules are synthesized through innovative photochemical, electrochemical, metal-free, and organophosphorus catalytic strategies. Together, these approaches form an integrated platform for developing next-generation tools and technologies that drive progress in sustainable organic synthesis. Students will gain hands-on experience with cutting-edge techniques that unite creativity in molecular design with the core principles of green chemistry. Through these projects, participants will contribute to shaping the future of pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and functional materials—advancing cleaner, smarter, and more resilient chemical manufacturing.
Industrial Collaborator:
2.Next-generation sustainable synthesis of peptide and oligonucleotide therapeutics Theme Lead: Dr Nicholas Mitchell, University of Nottingham
Peptide and oligonucleotide therapeutics are becoming increasingly central to modern medicine, offering potent and highly selective interventions that address a broad range of diseases, with significant further potential. Due to the programmable nature of these ‘new modality’ therapeutics, solid-phase synthesis (SPS) is the technique of choice for the preparation of both classes of molecule. Efficient and reproducible chemistry has been developed that can be automated at low scale and scaled up for manufacture. The almost unlimited potential of synthetic chemistry enables the incorporation of non-canonical amino acids, nucleosides, linkages, and appended moieties, which are vital components in peptide and oligonucleotide drugs. Such molecular engineering is not readily achievable using biological machinery. However, due to a reliance on hazardous reagents, very low atom-economy, the production of large volumes of toxic solvent waste, and purification challenges, manufacturing of these modalities using contemporary technology is becoming less viable. As governments push for enhanced sustainability within manufacturing processes, regulatory requirements/restrictions will only tighten, leaving current methodology exposed. This CDT theme will focus on exploring the AI-driven evolution of SPS, photocatalytic methods for the late-stage functionalisation/macrocyclisation of peptides, and the development of next-generation chemoenzymatic sustainable peptide and oligonucleotide synthesis.
Industrial Collaborator:
3. Tandem circularity waste to products enabled through heterogeneous catalysisTheme Lead: Dr Anabel Lanterna, University of Nottingham
The UK emits over 340 million tons of CO₂ annually, produces 48 million tons of CO₂-equivalent methane, and generates significant amounts of end-of-life microplastics. There is an urgent need to adopt greener and more resource-efficient technologies for energy and chemical production. Heterogeneous catalysts play a pivotal role in this transition; however, our understanding of how they work is still limited. The surface chemistry and nanoscale structure of heterogeneous catalysts are highly dynamic under reaction conditions and are not well understood. If we could observe the true state of the catalyst during the reaction, or get as close to it as possible, we could design new, more efficient catalysts and uncover the reaction mechanisms that govern their behaviour.
The W2P PhD cohort will delve deeply into the mechanisms of heterogeneous photo- and electrocatalysts, essential for converting plastic waste into valuable chemicals and materials, and for transforming industrial metal waste into high-performance catalysts for green hydrogen production. The unique combination of skill sets in catalyst preparation, testing, and advanced cryo-electron microscopy will enable us to capture catalysts in their native state, revealing the fundamental connection between their structure and performance. In direct collaboration with Quorum Technologies, a leader in developing innovative sample preparation instrumentation and sample handling methodologies for electron microscopy imaging and analysis, we will gain deep structural and chemical insights into catalysts across the length scales: macro, micro, nano, and atomic levels. By working together on this project, we have the opportunity to revolutionise the way catalysts are studied and discovered, making them more active, selective, and durable, which is essential for supporting the UK’s sustainable future.
Industrial Collaborator:
Research Themes 2025-26
We have 4 research themes funded for studentships in 2025-26.
1. Circular Recovery of organics and metals from wastes-CROme project. Theme Lead – Ifty Ahmed, University of Nottingham. As the world faces increasing resource scarcity, the transformation of waste products into new materials is emerging as a powerful strategy. Hence, this theme will develop circular economy concepts to recover organic and inorganic materials from varying waste sources. The outcomes will include converting organic wastes into valuable chemicals and bio-products, and recovering critical metals from industrial waste. Evaluating the lifecycle and techno-economic impacts of the technologies developed will also be for downstream impacts. Proposed research areas:
Project 1: Developing adsorption processes to recover organic materials from wastewater streams.This project will explore organic materials recovery from wastewater using MOF/COF-based membrane technology.
Project 2: Developing engineering biology and industrial biotechnology solutions for organic material production.This project will develop microbial biotechnology solutions for producing new chemicals from organic waste streams.
Project 3: Recovering metals from inorganic waste feedstocks.This project will extract and recover precious and critical metals from automotive catalysts and mine-waste tailings via novel processing and green solvent technologies.
2. Manufacturing Liquid Energy through Greener CO2 Conversion. Theme Lead – Darren Lee, Nottingham Trent University. CO2 is a harmful waste stream generated by various large industries, including energy, steel, and concrete manufacturing. However, we can view CO2 as a valuable resource for producing chemicals and fuels. By combining cutting edge green reaction methodologies (such as catalysis, photochemistry, and electrochemistry) with engineering and flow chemistry the team will deliver scalable solutions to produce valuable molecules from CO2. Potential candidates will need an open mind, flexibility and be adaptable to new areas of research. In brief, two of the projects in this collaborative theme will involve more synthetic work and one will involve more engineering and reactor design but all projects in the theme will involve multidisciplinary researchers from both NTU and UoN in addition to collaborators from Yale University in the US.
3. Non-Thermal plasma promoted bulk chemical synthesis. Theme Lead – Elmar Slikboer, Nottnigham Trent University. Unlock the future of chemical synthesis with Non-Thermal Plasma (NTP) technology. NTPs use renewable electricity to energize chemical reactions, making and breaking bonds that traditional methods cannot achieve at room conditions. This groundbreaking approach, which relies on synergy with heterogeneous catalysts, opens new pathways for efficient and selective chemical transformations. Our research theme is dedicated to exploring these innovative opportunities, with three exiting projects respectively focusing on transforming stable molecules N₂, CO₂, and CO. Join us in revolutionizing organic synthesis and catalysis with cutting-edge ‘Cold Plasma’ technology! Take a look at the video below for more information about the Non-Thermal promoted bulk chemical synthesis theme. The transcript of the video below can be read Here.
4. Enhancing sustainability in chemical manufacture. Theme Lead – Connor Taylor, University of Nottingham. Revolutionizing chemical manufacturing for a greener future – this CDT theme explores cutting-edge strategies like flow chemistry, electro & photochemistry, and AI-driven optimization. By minimizing waste, reducing emissions, and replacing non-renewable feedstocks, researchers will drive real-world sustainability solutions. Students will gain highly interdisciplinary expertise and support from industrial collaboration, leading to impactful careers in academia and industry.