Laura Katie Allerston

Centre for Doctoral Training Doctoral Researcher

LauraAllerston

Address

School of Chemical Engineering University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
B15 2TT
United Kingdom

Email

LXA482@student.bham.ac.uk

Lead Supervisor

Dr Neil Rees

Research Summary

Laura joined the Centre for Doctoral Training in Fuel Cells and Their Fuels in September 2014 as a doctoral researcher. Based in the University of Birmingham, she is researching applied and fundamental understanding of novel, non-platinum fuel cell catalysts. Her work is carried out under the supervision of Dr. Neil Rees and Professor  Dan Brett. She is sponsored by Amalyst, a spinout company from UCL who work solely on catalysts for fuel cells and water electrolysis. 

She is funded through the EPSRC CDT  in Fuel Cells and their fuels: EP/L015749/1.

Qualifications

MChem (1st class) in Chemistry with Nanotechnology, University of Hull (2013)

Biography

Laura graduated from The University of Hull in 2013 where she obtained a 1st Class Masters Degree (MChem) in Chemistry with Nanotechnology and a year in industry. This year in industry was spent in the New Technologies Group at Reckitt Benckiser, a fast moving consumer goods company. Her work there focused on Vanish, Dettol and Finish projects which were future focused and innovative and expected to hit the shelves in 5-10 years. Her Masters project was completed at The University of Hull in the Chemistry Department in the Surfactant and Colloid Group who are world-renowned in their field. The project concentrated on creating a novel liquid wound care dressing which, once poured into a wound would solidify into a foam. 

After graduating Laura moved to Leicester and became a Research Scientist for Albert Browne, a subsidiary company of Steris a large multinational in the medical industry. Within her role at Albert Browne she became project manager of R&D projects of both existing and new products, this involved seeing projects through from their early stages through to fruition when the product was placed on the market. After a fulfilling year at Albert Browne, her increasing interest in other areas of science led Laura to leave her position to return to education to obtain her PhD at the University of Birmingham.