Ian Sims University of Rennes, France
Ian Sims is Professor of Physics at the University of Rennes 1 in France, in the Molecular Physics Department of the Institute of Physics Rennes. His research is focused on elementary reactions and energy transfer in the gas phase, especially at very low temperatures, with particular relevance to astrochemistry. Prior to moving to Rennes in 2003 he was on the staff of the School of Chemistry of the University of Birmingham (first as an EPSRC Advanced Fellow, then Lecturer and Senior Lecturer). He studied Natural Sciences at St John’s College, Cambridge, before moving with Professor Ian WM Smith to Birmingham for his PhD. He then did postdoctoral research at Caltech (with Ahmed Zewail) and Rennes (with Bertrand Rowe). Along with Ian Smith and Bertrand Rowe and colleagues he was responsible for the discovery of fast radical-molecule reactions at the low temperatures of interstellar clouds for which the Rennes and Birmingham teams were awarded one of the first EU Descartes Prizes in 2000, and he continues to be active in this area.
Vas Stavros University of Warwick, United Kingdom
Vas Stavros is a Professor in Physical Chemistry and a Royal Society Industry Fellow at the University of Warwick. He has been working on ultrafast non-radiative decay processes in polyatomic systems - the underlying photophysical process that drives molecular light-to-heat conversion - since the start of his independent academic career in 2005. These polyatomic systems have been broad-ranging; from biological building blocks (e.g. nucleic bases) to nature-based UV filters (e.g. the plant UV filter sinapoyl malate) and artificial UV filters (avobenzone and oxybenzone as exemplars) found in commercial sunscreen formulations. After completing 8 years of his Royal Society University Research Fellowship, he was promoted to reader in 2013 and then to Professor in 2017. Prior to this, he undertook PhD studies at Kings College London with Professor Helen Fielding and Postdoctoral studies at both Kings College London and UC Berkeley with Professor Steve Leone.
Dan Stone University of Leeds, United Kingdom
Dr Daniel Stone is an experimental physical chemist with a focus on atmospheric oxidation processes. He obtained his PhD in laboratory studies of peroxy radical reaction kinetics relevant to the atmosphere from University College London, for which he was awarded the Ramsay Medal in 2006. Following his PhD, he moved to The University of Manchester as a post-doctoral researcher in electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, and then to the University of Leeds as a post-doctoral researcher, where he performed research in atmospheric modelling using the Master Chemical Mechanism, field observations of reactive species from ground-based and aircraft platforms, and laboratory studies of atmospheric and combustion systems. He was awarded a NERC Independent Research Fellowship in 2014 to investigate the chemistry of reactive species in the Earth’s atmosphere using time-resolved absorption techniques at the University of Leeds, where he is now an associate professor. His research uses a combination of laboratory experiments, field observations, and numerical modelling to understand the chemistry of reactive species involved in oxidation processes, and the impacts of reactive species on atmospheric composition, air quality, and climate.
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