Professor Andrew Goodwin FRSC

Winner: 2021 Materials Chemistry Division mid-career Award:
Peter Day Award

University of Oxford

For studies of structural complexity in framework materials.

Celebrate Professor Andrew Goodwin

#RSCPrizes

I have been so lucky to interact with many talented people at an early stage of their careers.

Professor Goodwin’s research exploits advanced X-ray and neutron scattering methods to study the nature and implications of complex atomic arrangements within functional materials. Understanding this complexity and its functional role is a significant challenge, and one that interfaces with difficult problems in condensed-matter physics, geometry, and crystallography.

While Professor Goodwin’s work is unashamedly fundamental in its focus, it is of direct relevance to fields as diverse as pharmaceutical science and renewable energy.

Read winner biography

Andrew Goodwin is Professor of Materials Chemistry at the University of Oxford. He was born in Sydney, Australia, and studied at the universities of Sydney and Cambridge. Following a Junior Research Fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was appointed to the Chemistry Faculty at Oxford in 2009. Andrew is based in the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, where he leads a creative and enthusiastic team of about 15. The group’s research focuses on the dual roles of flexibility and disorder in functional materials.

Q+A

How did you first become interested in chemistry?

My father was a chemist, so I had no choice but to be immersed in the subject right from the start. He even built me a small chemistry lab in the basement of our family home.

Who or what has inspired you?

Cheesy, I know, but I find the UK materials chemistry community really inspiring. We have such great people, world-class facilities, a friendly and supportive network, and it all translates to excellent science that challenges and inspires in equal measure.

What has been a highlight for you (either personally or in your career)?

Watching former group members go on to do great and wonderful things – I have been so lucky to interact with many talented people at an early stage of their careers.

What has been a challenge for you (either personally or in your career)?

Early on, I found the lack of visible LGBT+ role models in academia challenging in a personal sense. But things have changed so much for the better in the years since.