Profile
Miriam O'Duill
My CV
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Education:
– primary/secondary school: Germany (Karolinen-Gymnasium Rosenheim)
– undergraduate and PhD degree: University of Oxford -
Qualifications:
– Secondary school: In Germany, we don’t choose A-Levels. Instead, we take exams in a wide range of subjects. Mine included maths, art, French and history (but not chemistry)! I’m still interested in lots of different things and like that I didn’t have to narrow my interests down too early.
– University: I studied chemistry at the University of Oxford. I got my Masters (MChem) and doctorate (DPhil) there. It was great to do very new research in such an old city that always reminded me of Harry Potter! (Sometimes it felt like I was in potions classes with Snape.) -
Work History:
– During university, I had lots of different little jobs. I worked in the city council department in charge of drinking water and learned how they make sure the water is clean and safe to drink. I worked in a factory, packing vitamin supplements into boxes ready for shipping. And I was a fire warden at one of the university balls, making sure everybody was safe.
– After university, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher in a laboratory in San Diego, California. The research we did was very interesting, and I was able to explore amazing beaches, deserts and mountains in my free time. -
Current Job:
Assistant professor of chemistry
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Employer:
University of Nottingham
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About Me:
I’m a chemistry lecturer at the University of Nottingham. I like creating fun colours and camp fires.
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Read more
I run a chemistry research lab at the University of Nottingham. I love doing science and have participated in lots of different outreach events (a forensics detective workshop, science fair demonstrations where we made elephant toothpaste, and kitchen chemistry lockdown zoom experiments). I share these on Instagram (@oduillgroup) and Twitter (@MiriamODuill).
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My pronouns are:
she/her
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My Work:
I develop new reactions that allow us to make interesting molecules
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Read more
Chemistry is everywhere! Chemists make new molecules that can be used as medicines, perfumes or make-up, to protect plants against bugs, in batteries, solar panels and many more applications. But making these molecules can be quite tricky. Like a carpenter building houses or bridges, we need a toolkit of tools (reactions) that we can use to build different molecules. In my research group, we develop new reactions so we can make molecules that are impossible to make with the tools we currently have. Sometimes we’re lucky and our reactions are nice and colourful – but most of the time they’re just brown.
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My Typical Day:
My typical day is spent at the university: either in the lab doing experiments, in the lecture theatre teaching students, or at my desk coming up with new research ideas.
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One of the things I like about my job is that no two days are the same! I get up in the morning and head into the university, where I do three main things: research, teaching, and admin (all the behind-the-scenes things that need to get done so things run smoothly).
I my research laboratory, we test new reactions to see how well they work: first, we mix all the chemicals together and let them react with each other. Then, we need to analyse the reaction to see what’s in it. Very often, this will be a mixture of different things and the final thing to do is to extract the product we want from that mixture. I work with a team of students and researchers, so if one of us get stuck there’s always someone else to help with new ideas or suggestions.
1. Mixing the chemicals
2. Analysing the reaction
3. Isolating the product of interest
When I’m not in the lab, you can often find me in my office. Here, I analyse the reactions from the lab, think about why they did or didn’t work, and come up with new exciting ideas. It’s important that other people find the ideas exciting as well, otherwise I can’t get money for more chemicals and equipment in the lab.
I also spend a lot of time teaching. I give lectures on organic chemistry (sometimes to 200 students!). We then practise the new material in small groups (3-5 students). I enjoy these small classes, because I can really share my love of chemistry through them and get to know my students better.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
Go into schools and do experiments together with the pupils
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
globetrotting chemist
What did you want to be after you left school?
a chemistry professor
Were you ever in trouble at school?
never!
What's your favourite food?
curry
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
travel the world - publish lots of exciting research - be able to eat all the chocolate without getting unhealthy
Tell us a joke.
I wanted to make a chemistry joke, but all the good ones Argon.
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