Professor Neil Champness FRSC, FLSW, MAE

• PhD in Chemistry, University of Southampton, 1993. Title: Studies in Ruthenium and Osmium Coordination Chemistry (Supervisor: W. Levason).
• MPhil in Chemistry, University of Southampton,1990 
• BSc (Hons.) in Chemistry, University of Southampton, 1990.

Neil Champness is the Norman Haworth Professor of Chemistry at University of Birmingham. He began his academic career at the University of Southampton with a B.Sc. (1989) and PhD (1993) under the supervision of Professor Bill Levason. Following postdoctoral studies with Professor Gill Reid, he moved to the University of Nottingham in 1995 as a Teaching Fellow in Inorganic Chemistry. He took up an appointment as a Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry (1998), was promoted to Reader in Chemistry (2003) and to the Chair of Chemical Nanoscience (2004). He took up his current position at University of Birmingham in 2021.

In recognition of his research he has been awarded the Bob Hay lectureship of the RSC Supramolecular Chemistry Group (2005); the RSC Corday Morgan Medal (2006); the RSC Supramolecular Chemistry Award (2010) and the RSC Surfaces and Interfaces Award (2016). He is a Member of Academia Europaea, a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, the European Academy of Sciences, IUPAC and the Royal Society of Chemistry and was a Royal Society Wolfson Merit Awardee (2011-2016). In 2011, he was named as one of the top 100 most cited chemists of the previous decade and he has been recognised as a Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher. He is currently an EPSRC Established Career Fellow (2019-2023).

Neil is interested in supervising MSci and postgraduate students in the following areas:

- Supramolecular chemistry
- Metal-organic Frameworks and Hydrogen-bonded Organic Frameworks
- Crystal Engineering
- Mechanically-interlocked Molecules: Rotaxanes and Catenanes
- Surface self-assembly

If you are interested in this research, please reach out to Professor Champness via the contact details above.

The research in the Champness group spans supramolecular chemistry, chemical nanoscience and molecular organisation. In particular, the group focusses on molecular design and synthetic methods, employing self-assembly to create framework materials on surfaces and in the solid-state and for the creation of interlocked structures in solution.

• Metal-organic Frameworks and Hydrogen-bonded Organic Frameworks
• Crystal Engineering
• Mechanically-interlocked Molecules: Rotaxanes and Catenanes
• Surface self-assembly

Honours and Awards

• 2020: Member of the Academia Europaea (MAE)
• 2020-2022: Visiting Professor at Nagaoka University of Technology    
• 2019: Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences.
• 2019: EPSRC Established Career Fellowship.
• 2016: Royal Society of Chemistry Surfaces and Interfaces Award.
• 2014-2016: Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher.
• 2014: Visiting Professor at the University of Adelaide, Australia.
• 2013: Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales (FLSW).
• 2013: Fellow of International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).
• 2011: Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award.
• 2011: Visiting Professor at Institut Le Bel, University of Strasbourg, France.
• 2011: Named as one of the world’s Top 100 Most Cited Chemists by Thomson Reuters.
• 2010: Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship.
• 2010: Royal Society of Chemistry Supramolecular Chemistry Award.
• 2009: Visiting Professor at UNESP (São Paulo State University, Brazil).
• 2008: Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC).
• 2008-2013: Senior Advisor to the British Council on matters relating to Science & Engineering.
• 2006: Corday-Morgan Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
• 2005: Bob Hay Lectureship of the RSC Macrocycles and Supramolecular Chemistry Group.

Selected Professional Societies, Activities and Service

• UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowships Core Panel College (2019-present).
• Scientific Advisory Board for the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) (2019-present).
• Learned Society of Wales A3 Scrutiny Committee (2019-2021).
• European Science Foundation College of Expert Reviewers (2019-2021).
• Royal Society Research Appointment Panel A(ii) (2018-2023).
• Royal Society Newton International Fellowships Committee (2017-2022).
• Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, Science and Engineering Fellowships Committee (2015-present).
• Member of EPSRC Peer Review College 2006-present.
• Philip Leverhulme Prizes in Chemistry, Leverhulme Trust (2019).
• Irish Research Council Laureate Awards Panel (2017-18).
• Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. (FCT), Portuguese Public Funding Agency, "Chemistry and Chemical Engineering" panel (2015).
• External Advisory Board to Institut de Ciència Molecular (ICMol), University of Valencia (2019-present).
• External Advisory Board to University of Cambridge NanoDTC (2014-present). Chair from 2019.
• International Advisory Group for “Integration of Computation and Experiment for Accelerated Materials Discovery” Programme Grant Research Consortium – University of Liverpool.
• International Advisory Group for “Metastable State Materials” Programme Grant Research Consortium – University of Bath.
• Honorary Member of the British Council.
• Senior Advisor to the British Council Science and Engineering Advisory Group.
• Member of the IUPAC Task Group “Coordination polymers and metal organic frameworks: terminology and nomenclature guidelines”.
• “Network Champion” for EPSRC Directed Assembly of Extended Structures Grand Challenge Network.
• Chair of the UK National Crystallography Service Management and Advisory Panel (2013-2017).
• Member of the UK National Crystallography Service Management and Advisory Panel (2010-2013).
• Member of Dalton Council of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2005-2012).
• Member of Materials Chemistry Forum of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2005-2008).
• Chair of the RSC Chemical Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Interest Group (2005-2007).

Journals and Editorial Boards

• Member of the Advisory Board Molecular Systems Design & Engineering (2017-2021).
• Member of the Editorial Board of Chem (2015-present).
• Chairman of the Editorial Board of CrystEngComm (2007-2010).
• Member of the Editorial Board of CrystEngComm (2003-2006).