We are interested in the science of alcoholic beverages, specifically

1. Alternatives to the use of Peat in the production of Scotch Whisky

2. Chemistry on the copper in whisky stills

3. The nature of ethanol/water mixtures and the effect of clustering on flavour release

Much of this work is in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Edinburgh, University of Southampton, University of Nottingham and major players in the Scotch Whisky Industry.

We also have projects around the decontamination of hydraulic oils and the use of 'benchtop' NMR spectroscopy in medical diagnostics. Finally we apply  the use of 'benchtop' NMR for monitoring in continuous flow. To this end we have formed 'Continuous BioFlow' a national network focussed on bring the Flow Chemistry community together with those who work in Biocatalysis, Bioprocessing and Biosynthesis

I graduated with a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry/NMR Spectroscopy from the University of Exeter. I then went on to carry out Postdoctoral research at Sussex, Glasgow, St. Andrews and Nottingham, before joining Heriot-Watt University in 2000, again as a PDRA. In 2010 I moved to an open-ended technical position as Head of the NMR Facility before, in 2024, gaining an academic position as Assistant Professor