Meet the team
Dr Patrick A. Robertson
Principal investigator, NURD Lab Head
Patrick is from Perth, Western Australia. He studied chemistry at the University of Western Australia, where he developed a fondness for term symbols and an affinity for not doing synthetic chemistry. After graduating, he moved to Melbourne, on the east coast of Australia, where he contemplated a career as a professional trading card game player, ultimately deciding that he needed a fall-back plan. He took his Honours year (MChem/MSci equivalent) at the University of Melbourne, where he aligned and fired his first laser. He then took a PhD position just up the road at La Trobe University, where he fired more lasers (this time into a mass spectrometer), under the supervision of A/Prof Evan Robertson (no relation). Patrick's PhD research used IR-UV double resonance spectroscopy to study the influence of internal hydrogen bonding and solvation on determining the conformational preferences of biomolecules.
After graduating, Patrick took a postdoctoral position at the University of Bristol in the group of Prof Andrew Orr-Ewing FRS and Prof Mike Ashfold FRS. Over two years in Bristol, Patrick learned about the wide world of reaction dynamics. He studied reactive collisions in the gas-phase, and ultrafast dynamics in solution. In 2021, Patrick joined Prof Claire Vallance's group at the University of Oxford, where he delved deeper into the world of reactions initiated by photon and electrons.
In June 2024, Patrick joined the School of Chemistry at the University of Nottingham and here we are.
We welcome all inquiries to join the group from students or researchers, no matter what your career stage. Broader information on potential projects can be found in the “research” section of the website, but ideas can be tailored to suit your interests, so just get in touch!
Our mission is to train you to be a great researcher. The nature of our work is interdisciplinary, and you’ll get exposure to a wide range of laboratory and analytical skills across chemistry and physics. This includes, but is not limited to: lasers, optics, high-vacuum instrumentation, mass spectrometry, instrument development, scientific programming, data analysis, and quantum chemistry. You’ll be given opportunities to develop your science communication skills, expand your network and meet other young researchers at scientific conferences and seminars.
Funded positions will be widely advertised here, and through appropriate channels, when available. However, there are always options for enthusiastic scientists, so again, please do get in touch and we can explore all options available.
Interested in joining us?
Listed below are a handful of postdoctoral fellowship opportunities that we’d be more than happy to help you develop projects for: