Championing diversity in Chemistry
In 2024, the School of Chemistry launched its first call for the Broom-McIntyre Diversity Fellowship, a three-year independent programme designed to support postdoctoral researchers from backgrounds historically under-represented in chemistry research and academia in the UK.
The Fellowship is aimed at women, people who are minority ethnic, LGBTQI+, have disabilities, are from a low-income background, or have had less conventional career paths, providing a supportive and collegial environment for early-career academics to develop their research and prepare themselves for future independent roles in academia, and beyond.
Jason McNulty, the School Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, said: “We are strongly committed to creating an inclusive environment that supports equality and diversity, and the Broom-McIntyre Fellowship is the result of a long-running effort to improve representation in chemistry both here at St Andrews and beyond. This was only possible through generous donations, but we hope to support many more Fellows through the process well into the future.”
With Diverse as one of the University’s strategic themes, the Fellowship is a shining example of how Schools and Units are supporting strategic priorities, making a tangible difference in the St Andrews community, and creating impact in the wider world in myriad meaningful ways.
Competition to the inaugural call was strong and, due to the impressive calibre of candidates, two Fellows were appointed rather than one. Both new Fellows are associated with existing research groups within the School and benefit from existing technical support and infrastructure that would otherwise be unavailable.
Sonja Egert
Sonja Egert holds a MSc in Chemistry from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, and a Dr rer. nat. with Professor Gerd Buntkowsky on antiferroelectric oxide materials used in electronics for the conversion of energy from renewable sources such as sunlight and wind, using solid-state NMR spectroscopy as a method to determine relationships between the atomic structure and resulting electronic properties.
Before starting as a Broom-McIntyre Fellow, Sonja completed a postdoctoral position with Professor Sharon Ashbrook and Dr Paul Webb at St Andrews, exploring the surface structure of catalysts used in the acrylics industry to manufacture acrylic polymers. Sonja’s recent work involved in–situ NMR studies of the cycling degradation of sodium-ion batteries.
As a Broom-McIntyre Fellow, Sonja works with materials for the capture of carbon dioxide from industrial exhaust streams and their subsequent conversion to value chemicals.
Sonja said: “I want to build a toolbox of NMR spectroscopic methods that are selective to different regions of the material, such as the surface or interfaces, to allow for an in-depth understanding of the atomic structures playing a role in the mechanisms that make carbon capture and conversion work. This toolbox can then hopefully be applied to other classes of materials with complex structures in the future.”
Amy Price
Amy Price completed her PhD in the Cowley group at the University of Edinburgh in 2018 where her research focused on synthesising phosphorus-boron multiple bonds, as well as developing understanding of their reactivity. Amy then held postdoctoral positions working with Professor Polly Arnold at the University of Edinburgh and then University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In these positions, Amy conducted research on lanthanide and actinide chemistry, where she was involved in the first ever crystallographic structure-determination of an organometallic complex containing the element berkelium. Amy then held a teaching focused position as Associate Lecturer at St Andrews before starting as a Broom-McIntyre Fellow earlier this year.
Amy said: “I’m excited to start my independent career by conducting research into low-coordinate lanthanoid complexes at St Andrews. Accessing these complexes is currently synthetically challenging but is key to developing our understanding of the magnetic and optoelectronic properties of these elements, as well as having the potential to unlock new reactivity.”
Both new Fellows agreed that the Fellowship represents an important step towards creating a more representative and diverse research community.
Amy said: “It is only as a community, as part of a group, that the benefits of a more inclusive, more diverse research culture made up of individuals with wide-ranging experiences and identities, become apparent.”
Sonja said: “Our research benefits when we can bring a range of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences to the table to tackle the important issues facing societies.”
Broom-McIntyre Fellows are paired with mentors in the School to provide support and advice and are connected to networks within St Andrews to ensure that they have excellent peer support groups.
The current Head of the School of Chemistry, Professor Sharon Ashbrook, said: “The School is delighted to offer these Fellowships, which provide an excellent opportunity for talented younger researchers from different backgrounds and with different career paths to excel. Academia benefits greatly from diversity of thinking and diversity of experience, and I am confident that Sonja and Amy will contribute significantly to the School and to chemical research more widely.”
The vision of the Diverse theme of the strategy reads ‘We will make St Andrews a beacon of inclusivity, placing diversity and equality at the centre of everything we do and creating an environment in which all can flourish and realise their potential.” The Broom-McIntyre Fellowship is proof that our University community is bringing this vision to life.
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