Professor Andrew Dove

• MChem (hons), University of York, Heslington, York, UK
• PhD, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London, UK

Andrew 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 post-doctoral research first under the guidance of Professor Robert M. Waymouth at Stanford University, California and then as a CIPMA post-doctoral fellow at IBM, San Jose, California under the supervision of Dr James L. Hedrick and Professor Robert M. Waymouth.

Andrew returned to the UK to take up a RCUK Fellowship in Nanotechnology in September 2005 before being appointed as an Assistant Professor in September 2006 and subsequently as an Associate Professor in September 2009 before being appointed as a Professor in June 2014. In September 2017, Andrew joined the School of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham as Professor of Chemistry.

Awards, Honours and Fellowships:

• Biomacromolecules/Macromolecules Young Researcher Award - 2016
• ERC Consolidator - 2016
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy - 2016
• RSC Gibson-Fawcett Award - 2014
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry - 2013
• Warwick Award for Teaching Excellence - 2012
• Royal Society Industry Fellowship - 2012
• RSC JWT Jones Travelling Fellowship - 2012
• Macro Group UK Young Researcher Medal - 2009
• RCUK Fellowship in Nanoscience - 2005
• CPIMA Postdoctoral Fellowship - 2004

We are always looking to work with highly motivated and talented scientists. Specific funded opportunities will be advertised on the Dove Group webpages and on the jobs website (among other locations) when they are available.

Details of how to join the Dove group:

Postdoctoral Researchers

Opportunities that arise will be advertised through the group twitter account (@Dove_group) and on the Dove Research Group website front page as well as in prominent (inter) national advertisers such as the jobs website or EURAXESS.

The group are also very active in supporting strong applicants that wish to apply for fellowships (such as Marie Curie-Sklodowzka Action EF/GF, Newton International Fellowships, Whittaker Fellowships etc.). The Dove group have an excellent record of success in supporting these applications and potential applicants should contact Andrew Dove to discuss such opportunities.

PhD and MSc Research Students

Applications are also welcomed from suitable candidates who wish to study for a PhD within the group. Funded places for home/EU students are available and several opportunities to support study through scholarships are also possible and excellent candidates from all around the world. The Dove group have an excellent record of success in supporting these applications. Please contact Andrew Dove to discuss possible PhD and MSc research opportunities.

Research in the Dove group is centered around polymer degradation. We have many strands to our research portfolio that focus on both developing strategies to control and understand polymer degradation as well as design new materials that degrade in a controlled and predictable manner. Our research efforts are in turn primarily focussed on sustainability on polymer science – that includes both ‘green’ methodologies for polymer synthesis and development of strategies to tackle plastic waste – as well as the development of next generation biomaterials – in which we seek to design materials for application in delivery and tissue engineering applications. Linking both areas is our interest in polymer stereochemistry and how that can be used to control materials properties and direct their behaviour. We work with engineers, biologists and medics across academia, hospitals and industry to drive our chemical discoveries towards application.

Sustainable Polymers and Plastics Recycling

We are focussed on the development of new (organo)catalytic methodologies to both make new polymers and degrade waste plastics into useful higher value products. Our interests also extend into the development of efficient ‘click’ chemistry methods for the synthesis and functionalisation of degradable polymeric materials as well as developing new materials from sustainable feedstocks.

Polymer Stereochemistry

Stereochemistry in polymer materials has received relatively little study yet has a significant impact on the properties and performance of the resultant material. Our interests are focussed on both designing new methods to create polymers with high levels of stereocontrol as well as investigating how their stereochemistry affects their properties and the ultimate function of the material.

Degradable Biomaterials

Our research focusses on controlling their properties across the length scales to create translatable new biomaterials. We work with elastomers and hydrogels (macroscopic control over degradability and mechanical properties), 3D printed scaffolds and microparticle by emulsion methods (microscale control over structure) and nanoparticles (nanoscale self-assembly and ordering).

To find out more about our research, please visit our group website.

Membership of Learned or Professional Societies:

• Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
• Member of the American Chemical Society (Polymer and PMSE divisions)
• Member of the Pure and Applied Macromolecular Science Group (Macro Group UK), previously committee member (2007 – 2013)
• Founding and committee member of Biohydrogels Society
• Committee member (2005 – 2009) of the Recent Appointees in Polymer Science Network
• Member of UK Society for Biomaterials
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Other Esteem Indicators and Synergistic Activities:

• Editorial Board of ‘Biomacromolecules’ (2017 – present)
• Editorial Board of ‘Macromolecules and ACS Macro Letters (2016 – present)
• Editorial Advisory Board of ‘Biomaterials Science’ journal (2012 – present)
• Associate Editor of ‘Green Materials’ journal (2012 – 2016)
• Review Editor of ‘Frontiers’ journal (2013 – present)
• High-End Foreign Visiting Expert, Tongji University (2015 – 2017)
• Visiting Scholar at Texas A&M University, USA (2012)
• Visiting Scholar at University of Queensland, Australia (2011)
• Visiting Professor of Green Materials at University of Prince Edward Island (2009)
• 125 Invited, Keynote and Plenary lectures at National and International Universities and Conferences

• Member of the American Chemical Society POLY awards panel (2017)
• Member of EPSRC prioritisation panels for Chemistry and Materials (2008, 2012, 2013, 2017)
• Member of Royal Society Newton International Fellowship Award Panel (2016 – present)
• Invited guest editor for European Polymer Journal ‘Sustainable Organocatalytic Polymerisation’ issue (2017), Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics ‘Step-growth polymerization’ special issue (2013) and Polymer Chemistry ‘Emerging Investigators’ issue (2010)
• External Examiner for ‘Polymers for Advanced Technologies MSc and PGDipp’, ‘Polymer Composite Science and Engineering MSc’ degrees, University of Sheffield (2016 – Present)
• External Examiner for ‘Polymer Materials Science and Engineering MSc’ degree, University of Manchester (2016 – Present)

Working with Industry:

We have undertaken consulting and collaboration with a wide range of industrial partners in areas as diverse as elastomers, degradable materials and the development of ring-opening and step-growth polymerisation methodologies amongst others.