Professor Andrew Dove FRSC

Winner: 2022 Corday-Morgan Prize

University of Birmingham

For seminal contributions to controlling and understanding stereochemistry and degradation in polymeric materials.

Celebrate Professor Andrew Dove

#RSCPrizes

Looking at the past winners of the Corday-Morgan Prizes, it is hard to believe that I am in the company of such esteemed chemists.

Professor Dove’s research is focused around degradability in polymers and plastics. His group is working on new, sustainable plastics that are designed to degrade to non-toxic by-products, either in the environment or as biomaterials in the body. They are also studying how to degrade plastics to use them as a useful resource to either make more plastics or other chemicals.

Read winner biography

Professor Andrew Dove graduated from the University of York with an MChem degree in 1999. His subsequent PhD studies were conducted under the supervision of Professor Vernon C Gibson FRS at Imperial College, London, and focused on metal catalysed co-ordination insertion polymerisation.

Andrew undertook postdoctoral research, first under the guidance of Professor Robert M Waymouth at Stanford University, California, and then as a CIPMA postdoctoral fellow at IBM, San Jose, California under the supervision of Dr James L Hedrick and Professor Robert M Waymouth. He returned to the UK to take up an RCUK Fellowship in Nanotechnology in September 2005 before being appointed to Assistant Professor in September 2006 and subsequently Associate Professor in September 2009. He was appointed Full Professor in June 2014.

In January 2018, Andrew joined the School of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham as Professor of Sustainable Polymer Chemistry.

Q+A

How did you first become interested in chemistry?

Like most people, high school was my first real taste of chemistry and I decided to study it for a degree as I could see more of an interesting career in it. My passion was really ignited though when I undertook a 4th year MChem placement at BP Chemicals in Hull – I really got the bug of doing research, being creative and solving problems with chemistry. That was cemented when I did my PhD and I still am probably most interested today in the opportunity to find out new things and let the ideas lead you in new directions that you hadn't previously thought of.

Who or what has inspired you?

Following my PhD and a postdoctoral position at Stanford University, I was fortunate enough to work at IBM in the US. Probably partly through Jim Hedrick's leadership and partly as a result of the open and collaborative research culture, we are supported in exploring new things and trying difficult chemistry with the support of some outstanding and highly experienced staff scientists and analytical technicians that enabled us to set and explore some interesting research questions without any real limitations. This approach to science and the outcomes remains an inspiration to me.

What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in chemistry?

Be inquisitive, ask difficult scientific questions and don't be afraid to fail; you can learn just as much from things not working as you can from them working.

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

After moving to Birmingham in 2018, I realised that there were a lot of different types of expertise across campus that had interests in different aspects of working with and interacting with plastics. From the more obvious chemistry and engineering sides to environmental science, human geography, economics, law and even philosophy (and many more). As a result, we launched the Birmingham Plastics Network which aims to use our unique interdisciplinary approach to develop deep insights into the science of plastics, while also investigating plastic as it is experienced in economic, environmental, social and ecological systems. In this way we are focused on creating a sustainable future for plastics that enhances the positive contributions they make to our social, economic and environmental well-being without negative impacts across their life cycle. The journey through creating this network and interacting with people with fascinating subject expertise, often a long way from chemistry, has been a real learning experience and highlight.

Why do you think teamwork is important in science?

Ideas get better when they are discussed and we can achieve greater things more quickly together than we can alone.