School of Chemistry

Francois Aguey-Zinsou is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Sydney, where he leads the MERLin (Materials Energy Research Laboratory in nanoscale) group- School of Chemistry and with 20 years experience, he is one of the leading experts in hydrogen technologies,advising many key stakeholders.

Francois Aguey-Zinsou is Director of the Australian Association for Hydrogen Energy, Vice-President of the Australian French Association for Research and Innovation, Co-director of the Australian-French Research Network FACES and the ARC Training Centre for Hydrogen GlobH2E, and Chief Investigator of Hy-Supply. He is also the President and CTO of H2potential.

Francois Aguey-Zinsou hold 3 master degrees, in Physics, Physical Chemistry, and Material Science. After completing his PhD in 2001 in heterogeneous catalysis under the supervision of Prof Michel Che, he worked with Prof. Paul Bernhardt on bio-electrochemistry at the University of Queensland. In 2003, he joined the research centre Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon in Germany and worked on the development of advanced materials for hydrogen storage with Prof. Thomas Klassen. In 2005, he moved to Queen Mary University London with Prof. Xiao Guo and later to University College London where he supported research projects on hydrogen, biofuel cells, and biomaterials.

He returned to Australia in 2009 and created MERLin within the School of Chemical Engineering at The University of New South Wales (Sydney). Francois Aguey-Zinsou developed several world first including hydrogen bikes and BBQ. He is co-founder and director of H2potential. H2Potential is a consulting company focused on Hydrogen. H2potential provides expert, independent advice and identify emerging technologies, innovative use-cases and appropriate partners that result in lower implementation risks and faster return on investment.

Francois Aguey-Zinsou serves/served on the editorial/advisory boards of 5 international journals, and was one of the founding members of the Energy Future Conferences. He has received many awards, including the 2018 Australia's Most Innovative Engineers award and the 2014 ICheme ChemEng365 award, and was finalist of the 2017 Make the Planet Great Again Call, the 2017 and 2015 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes in Excellence in research innovation

Publication record

> 200 publications, including 20 patents/patent applications and 2 book chapters

• B.A. Reed College, 2010
• PhD University of Texas at Austin, 2015
• National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2016-2018
• Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, 2018-2023
• Senior Lecturer, University of Sydney, 2023-Present

Dr. Constance Bailey is a Senior Lecturer and group leader in the School of Chemistry. She completed her PhD at the University of Texas at Austin investigating the enzymology and biocatalytic applications of polyketide synthases and pursued a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellowship at UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Joint BioEnergy Institute where she investigated bioengineering and synthetic biology applications of polyketide synthases. Prior to starting at the University of Sydney she was an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

The Bailey group uses a combination of biochemical and synthetic biology approaches to better understand how to engineer the biosynthesis of natural products such as antibiotics. Her research focuses both on the enzymology of complex natural products as well as developing strategies to improve heterologous expression and accelerate "design, build, test, learn" cycles for bioengineering applications both for new medicinal applications as well as to generate new bioproducts.

• BSc (Hons I) 1981, PhD 1986, University of Adelaide
• Humboldt Fellow, University of Constance, 1987-88
• Leverhulme Fellow, University of East Anglia, 1989
• Max Planck Research Fellow, Liebig Fellow, Fritz Haber Institute, Berlin, 1990-94
• Dr. Habil. (Physical Chemistry), 1995, Free University of Berlin
• Max Planck Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Biophysics, Frankfurt/Main 1995-99
• Dr. Habil. (physical chemistry) 1999, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main
• University of Sydney; Lecturer 1999-2002
• University of Sydney; Senior Lecturer 2003 - 2012
• University of Sydney, Associate Professor 2013 -
• Dozor Visiting Professor, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel, 2008
• McAulay-Hope Prize for Original Biophysics (Australian Society for Biophysics), 2010
• Visiting Professor, University of Science and Technology Hanoi, Vietnam, 2011 -
• Research Affiliate, Kolling Institute of Medical Research, Sydney
• Humboldt Fellow, Technical University Berlin, 2014-2015

MSci (Bris), PhD (Manc)

Dr Jonathan Danon is a group leader specialising in synthesis of novel bioactive small molecules at the School of Chemistry. He received his undergraduate degree (MSci in Chemistry with Industrial Experience) from the University of Bristol in 2011, spending one year of his degree working for AstraZeneca. Funded by an EaStCHEM Studentship, he undertook a PhD in Chemistry and subsequent postdoctoral position with Prof. David Leigh FRS at the University of Edinburgh/University of Manchester from 2011-16. After moving to Australia in 2017 to kickstart his academic medicinal chemistry career, he won a University of Sydney Postdoctoral Fellowship (2018-21) to establish his independent research program. In 2022 he was awarded and began an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council research fellowship at the University of Sydney, focussing on developing novel compounds for studying and treating disorders of the brain. He was appointed to the position of Senior Lecturer in Medicinal Chemistry in 2025.

• I am a senior research fellow in the School of Chemistry.
• I am an expert in the technique of electroacoustics and impedance spectroscopy which enables particle size and charge to be determined in concentrated (real) colloidal systems.
• I study the charging mechanism at hydrophobic-water interfaces which are present everywhere in nature and affect their surface properties.
• I work on industrial projects (Dyno Nobel, Licella Holdings) to help solve current problemsby finding practical, cheap and sustainable solutions.

Dr Wesley M. Dose is a Senior Lecturer and DECRA Fellow in the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney. He holds a prestigious Sydney Horizon Fellowship studying sustainable and high-energy materials for energy storage.

Biography

Dr Dose received a BSc (Hons 1) and PhD in Chemistry from the University of Newcastle focusing on investigations of manganese-based materials for application in lithium batteries.

He was a postdoctoral fellow at Argonne National Laboratory (Chicago, USA) and the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom).

He joined the faculty at the University of Leicester in 2021, moving to the University of New South Wales in 2022 to take up his DECRA Fellowship, and to the University of Sydney in 2024.

2026 - current: Research Fellow, School of Chemistry, University of Sydney

2022 - 2025: Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Chemistry, University of Sydney

2018 - 2022: Postdoctoral Researcher, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

2013 - 2018: PhD, Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, Singapore

2011 -2013: MS, Department of Chemistry, Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey

• BForSc (Hons), Deakin University, 2010
• PhD, Deakin University, 2015
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, 2015-2017
• Marie Curie Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, 2017-2019
• Lecturer, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand, 2020
• Senior Lecturer, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand, 2023
• Lecturer, University of Sydney, 2024

The University of Sydney

• Senior Lecturer (Chemistry, Education Focused), 2022-
• Graduate Certificate in Higher Education, 2020
• Lecturer (Chemistry, Education Focused), 2019-2021

Monash University

• PhD (Chemistry Education), 2016-2019

The University of New South Wales

• PhD (Chemistry), 2010-2014
• BSci (Adv) (Chemistry, Hons I), 2006-2009

Trevor Hambley is Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the University of Sydney's School of Chemistry.

His research interests are in the area of medicinal inorganic chemistry with an emphasis on platinum anticancer drugs, hypoxia selective cobalt complexes, and metal based anti-inflammatory compounds. He has published 4 books, 24 reviews, and more than 470 refereed journal papers.

Professor Hambley was the recipient of the Edgeworth David Medal for contributions to Science by an Australian under the age of 35 and has received the “Supervisor of the Year” award at the University of Sydney in 1997 and an Excellence in Teaching Award for Postgraduate Supervision in 1998.

• B.Sc. (University of Sydney)
• Ph.D. (University of Chicago)

Toby Hudson is a Senior Lecturer in Theoretical Materials Chemistry in the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney. In 2008 he completed a Sydney University Postdoctoral fellowship. His D.Phil. was in Materials Science at the University of Oxford in 2000-2004, modelling neutron damage in metals for fusion reactors, and he continued at the Oxford Materials Modelling Laboratory for a postdoctoral year studying silicon nitride crystal interfaces. His undergraduate degree was a B.Sc.(Adv.) at the University of Sydney, majoring in chemistry and physics, with an honours year in computational chemistry (class 1 and university medal).

• B. Sc. (Adv) (Hons I & Medal), Chemistry, Sydney, 1999
• D. Phil., Materials Science, Oxford, 2004
• Postdoctoral Researcher, Oxford, 2004-2005
• Sydney University Postdoctoral Fellow, Sydney, 2005-2008
• Lecturer in Theoretical Materials Chemistry, Sydney, 2008-2014
• Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies (Higher Education), 2009
• Senior Lecturer in Theoretical Materials Chemistry, Sydney, 2015-

Dr Vien Huynh is a Senior Research Fellow at Key Centre for Polymers and Colloids (KCPC), School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney. He currently works on a Syngenta Crop Protection funded project focussing on polymer coating of active ingredients (agrochemicals). He also works on or involves in other industry-funded projects with various roles ranging from writing proposals, carrying out proof-of-concepts, optimising processes toward transferring technology and scaling up. His research addresses solutions for hard-to-solved problems in agrochemicals, drug delivery, energy, and recycling materials.

Dr Huynh studied chemical and food engineering at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Vietnam. He received his Master of Science at The University of Queensland. He was then awarded a highly competitive Endeavour Postgraduate Scholarship to undertake his PhD in polymer chemistry at Centre of Advanced Macromolecular Design (CAMD), School of Chemical Engineering, University of New South Wales. Since 2012, he has joined the Hawkett group at KCPC as a Research Fellow to undertake the Syngenta funded project.

• BEng, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Vietnam, 2002
• MSc, The University of Queensland, Australia, 2007
• PhD, The University of New South Wales, Australia, 2012
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of Sydney, Australia, 2012-

Ph.D., Sydney; Postdoc, Harvard;

Chief Investigator and Group Leader, Sydney (current)

Dr. Haihui Joy Jiang is a continuing (tenured) faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at The University of Sydney, where she leads an interdisciplinary research group focused on sustainable energy solutions. Alongside her academic research, Joy has co-invented 12 patents and commercialized five products. She serves on the National Committee for Chemistry for the Australian Academy of Science, has acted as an international reviewing panellist for the United Nations Environment Programme, and is the recipient of the 2025 Asian-Australian Leadership Award in Science.

Operating at the intersection of Chemistry, Materials Science, and Astrophysics, Joy’s research balances applied technologies with fundamental science. In addition to developing electrified, low-carbon materials, her team investigates astrobiology and prebiotic chemistry, exploring the chemical pathways that underpin how the building blocks of life first emerged on Earth and in space.

Prior to establishing her independent group at USYD in 2024, Joy received her Ph.D. in Chemistry with a Materials Science focus. She subsequently completed postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard University, working with the group of Prof. George M. Whitesides within the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. Joy also held a joint appointment in the group of Prof. Dimitar D. Sasselov at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Career and Education 

• BSc (Hons), University of New South Wales, 1993
• PhD, University of New South Wales, 1997
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Universiteit Twente, The Netherlands 1996-1998
• Temporary Lecturer, University of Nottingham, UK, 1998-2000
• Research Fellow, Australian National University, 2000-2002
• QEII Fellow, University of Sydney, 2002- 2007
• Senior Lecturer, University of Sydney, 2007
• Associate Professor, University of Sydney, 2008
• Professor, University of Sydney, 2009 -Present
• Head of School, School of Chemistry, University of Sydney, 2013-2016
• Associate Dean, Research Education, Fauclty of Science, Univeristy of Sydney, 2021-2023
• Associate Dean, Research Fauclty of Science, Univeristy of Sydney, 2023-2026

Elected Fellowships

2020      Fellow, Australian Academy of Science

2016      Fellow, Royal Society of NSW

2012      Fellow Royal Society of Chemistry, UK

2008      Fellow, Royal Australian Chemical Institute

Prizes 

2024      Eureka Prize for Outstanding Mentor of Researchers

2023      Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry award (Royal Society of Chemistry, RSC)

2023      Finalist, Eureka Prize for Outstanding Mentor of Young Researchers

2021      Margaret Sheil Leadership Award, (Royal Australian Chemical Institute, RACI)

2018      H. G. Smith Memorial Award, (RACI)

2017      Birch Medal (RACI) for excellence in Organic Chemistry

2017      USyd Vice-Chancellors Award for Outstanding Teaching and Research

2007      NSW Young Tall Poppy Science Award (Australian Institute of Policy and Science)

2006      Biota Award for Medicinal Chemistry (RACI)

2004      Ian Potter Foundation Travel Award

2004      Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) Organic Division Beckwith Medal

1999      Pfizer Academic Travel Award

• BSc (Hons) Sydney 1990
• PhD (Sydney) 1994
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow Research School of Chemistry, ANU 1994-95
• Research Fellow, Girton College, University of Cambridge, UK 1995-98
• ARC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Sydney 1998-2012
• Associate Professor, University of Sydney 2013-

• BSc, Ewha Womans University, South Korea, 2011
• MSc, Ewha Womans University, South Korea, 2013
• PhD, the University of Warwick, UK, 2018
• Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, the University of Warwick, 2019-2022
• ARC DECRA Fellow, 2022-2025
• Lecturer, 2023-

I am a theoretical chemical physicist interested in:

• Quantum computing and quantum simulation for chemical problems
• Fundamental processes in next-generation solar cells and renewable-energy materials
• Energy and charge transport in disordered materials
• Engineering quantum effects into molecular systems

For more information about research activities and opportunities in my group, please visit our home page.

BSc PhD UNSW, FRACI, FAFMC, FRSC, FSRS, FTSE, FAHMS

Michael received his PhD in Organic Chemistry in 1992 from the University of NSW. Following this he took up a position as research scientist within the Biomedicine and Health Program at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). In 1993 he was appointed as a visiting scientist at the CEA-Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot Life Sciences group in France looking at methods for studying the living brain. Shortly after that Michael took up a postdoctoral position at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes in Baltimore USA. In 1996 he was awarded a Fogerty Fellowship that saw him take up a position at the NIH National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) USA. He then moved back to Sydney to the Department of PET and Nuclear Medicine at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital as a Principal Hospital Scientist and in 2006 took up a position at the University of Sydney in which he is currently Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Academic Director of the Centre of Drug Discovery Innovation. He is an Honorary Professor with the Centre for Advanced Imaging at The University of Queensland and elected in 2017 to the position of Director for the Society of Radiopharmaceutical Sciences. He is the Editor for the Journal of Labelled Compounds and Radiopharmaceuticals, Chief Editor for Frontiers in Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and Associate Editor for ACS Chemical Neuroscience. He is an editorial advisory board member for ChemMedChem and Trends in Pharmacological Sciences.