Professor Rachel O'Reilly FRS PhD, FRS, FRSC CChem CSci MA MSci

Professor Rachel O'Reilly

School of Chemistry
Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research)
Professor of Polymer Chemistry

Contact details

Address
School of Chemistry
University 麻豆精选
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT

Rachel O’Reilly holds a Chair in Chemistry within the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University 麻豆精选. She graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1998 with a BA in Natural Sciences, and in 1999 with an MSc in Chemistry and completed her PhD in 2003 from Imperial College London. She has held a number of prestigious fellowships from the EPSRC, Royal Society and Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851.

She has published over 225 research papers in scientific journals as well as reviews and book chapters in the fields of polymer synthesis, self-assembly, catalysis and DNA nanotechnology. She has given over 200 invited lectures and was recognised as one of the Royal Society of Chemistry's . She has received major grants and research support from the ERC, BP and EPSRC. She leads a large interdisciplinary team working at the interface of chemistry, materials and biology. Since 2006 she has graduated over 40 PhD students and mentored over 25 postdoctoral researchers.

Rachel was appointed on the  in 2009 and served for almost 7 years. During this time she most significantly contributed to white papers on developing more flexible support for early career researchers, managing diversity and delivering impact. She holds a position as a review editor for  and is an associate editor of the leading journal in Chemistry, the Journal of the American Chemical Society,.

Rachel leads the Rachel O'Reilly Group. Her group’s work has received numerous national and international awards for her polymer and material efforts, including, uniquely, four from the , and, young researcher medals from the  and the , the world authority on chemical nomenclature and terminology.

Rachel is also part of the Birmingham Plastics Network, an interdisciplinary team of more than 40 academics working together to shape the fate and sustainable future of plastics.  This unique team brings together chemists, environmental scientists, philosophers, linguists, economists, and experts in many other fields, to holistically address the global plastics problem.

Qualifications

2003

Ph.D. in Chemistry, Supervisor: Professor Vernon C. Gibson, FRS
Title : Novel catalyst design for utilisation in controlled radical polymerisations
Imperial College, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 2AY, UK

1999

M.Sci. hons, 1st class in Chemistry
B.A. hons, 1st class in Natural Sciences
University of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, CB3 0DG, UK

Other activities

Selected Professional Societies, Activities and Service

  • Member of REF 2021 sub-panel UOA 8, Chemistry
  • Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences, 2021
  • Member of the Novo Nordisk Committee on Interdisciplinary Research, 2021-
  • Member of the Science and Engineering Fellowship Committee for the 1851 Commission, 2019
  • Panel Member of the ERC Advanced Grant program, 2019-
  • Council member of the High Polymer Research Group, 2018-
  • Associate Editor for the ACS journal, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2021-
  • Editorial advisory board member for the ACS journal, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2019-2021
  • Associate Editor for the ACS journal, Macromolecules, 2018-2021

Honours and Awards

  • Awarded the ACS Global Outstanding Mentor Award in Polymer Science and Engineering, 2022
  • Awarded the Macro Macro Group UK Medal, 2021
  • Awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry, Corday-Morgan Prize, 2020
  • Awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry, Polymer Chemistry lectureship, 2020
  • Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, UK Finalist Chemistry, 2019

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Londo帽o de la Cruz, DA, Chappell, D, Rashid, B, Tookey, BR, Ferguson, CTJ & O'Reilly, RK 2025, '', Polymer Chemistry.

Frommer, J, Oppenheimer, R, Allott, BM, N煤帽ez鈥怭ert铆帽ez, S, Wilks, TR, Cox, LR, Bath, J, O'Reilly, RK & Turberfield, AJ 2024, '', Angewandte Chemie (International Edition) .

Frommer, J, Oppenheimer, R, Allott, BM, N煤帽ez鈥怭ert铆帽ez, S, Wilks, TR, Cox, LR, Bath, J, O'Reilly, RK & Turberfield, AJ 2024, '', Angewandte Chemie.

Balaji, A, Prior, A, O'Reilly, R, Dove, A, Thurecht, K & Bell, CA 2024, '', Polymer Chemistry.

Thomas, M, Varlas, S, Wilks, TR, Fielden, SDP & O'Reilly, RK 2024, '', Chemical Science.

Xia, T, Xiao, L, Sun, K, Rho, J, Xie, Y, Parkinson, S, Sangroniz, L, Zhang, J, Lin, J, M眉ller, AJ, Gao, L, Dove, A & O'Reilly, R 2024, '', Macromolecules, vol. 57, no. 23, pp. 11210-11220.

Parkinson, SJ, Fielden, SDP, Thomas, M, Miller, AJ, Topham, PD, Derry, MJ & O'Reilly, RK 2024, '', Biomacromolecules, vol. 25, no. 8, pp. 4905-4912.

Barker, JE, Richings, GW, Xie, Y, Rho, JY, Ferguson, CTJ, O'Reilly, RK & Habershon, S 2024, '', Chemical Science.

Dale, SD, Beament, J, Dove, AP & O'Reilly, RK 2024, '', RSC Applied Polymers.

Clamor, C, Beament, J, Wright, PM, Cattoz, BN, O'Reilly, RK & Dove, AP 2024, '', Polymer Chemistry, vol. 2024, no. 15, pp. 1227-1233.

Liu, L, Ferguson, CTJ, Zhu, L, Chen, S, Wang, R-Y, Wang, S, Dove, A, O'Reilly, R & Tong, Z 2024, '', Nature Synthesis, vol. 3, pp. 903鈥912. <>

Xie, Y, Tong, Z, Xia, T, Worch, JC, Rho, JY, Dove, AP & O'reilly, RK 2023, '', Advanced Materials.

Sikder, A, Pearce, AK, Kumar, CMS & O鈥橰eilly, R 2023, '', Materials Horizons.

Review article

Barker, J, Tibbetts, J, Ferguson, C, Xie, Y & O'Reilly, R 2024, '', Angewandte Chemie.

Barker, J, Tibbetts, J, Ferguson, C, Xie, Y & O'Reilly, RK 2024, '', Angewandte Chemie (International Edition) , vol. 63, no. 43, e202410550.