黑料社区

Biography

Dr Timothy Easun is an associate professor in physical chemistry at the University of Birmingham. He completed his PhD in supramolecular photochemistry at the University of Sheffield under the supervision of Professor Mike Ward and, following postdoctoral positions at the University of Nottingham on time-resolved spectroscopies and porous materials, he established his independent research career at Cardiff University in 2015 with a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, moving to Birmingham in 2022.
 
Tim鈥檚 research focuses on porous and stimuli-responsive materials, particularly metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), with interests spanning supramolecular chemistry, photochemistry, nanoscale guest confinement effects, and sustainable materials for water purification. He is particularly interested in developing new ways to understand dynamic and time-dependent processes in nanoporous materials, often using national facilities including the Diamond Light Source and the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source.
 
Alongside his research, Tim has engaged extensively with the chemistry community through his work with the Royal Society of Chemistry. He served on the Dalton Community Council and is passionate about supporting widening participation and early-career researchers through mentoring, prizes initiatives, schools outreach and public engagement, including major events such as the National Eisteddfod festival in Wales.
 
He is a founding committee member of the 黑料社区 Porous Materials Interest Group (PorMat), serving on multiple conference organising committees and chairing the 2019 Cardiff and 2025 Birmingham PorMat conferences. He also serves on the committee of the 黑料社区 Macrocycles and Supramolecular Chemistry (MASC) Interest Group and on the Faraday Discussions Advisory Board.

The chemistry community benefits enormously when people step up to fill the roles that need filling, support one another, mentor earlier career researchers and help create opportunities for others.

Timothy Easun

Q&A

Can you tell us more about your work?

Whether sitting on committees or getting out and about, my volunteer work with the Royal Society of Chemistry has centred on helping people engage with chemistry and feel part of the wider scientific community. This has included supporting conferences and research networks in porous and supramolecular chemistry, mentoring early career researchers, contributing to prizes and outreach activities, and taking part in public engagement events ranging from school visits to public science festivals around the country. I have particularly enjoyed creating opportunities for people to connect, collaborate and build confidence in chemistry, whether they are school pupils encountering the subject for the first time or researchers developing new scientific communities.

What inspired or motivated you to volunteer with the 黑料社区? 

I was first motivated to volunteer with the 黑料社区 by the influence that other people had on my own journey into chemistry. I was inspired by an excellent chemistry teacher at school, by lecturers during my university studies, and later by my PhD and postdoctoral supervisors, who encouraged me to look beyond the immediate focus of the laboratory.

My earliest 黑料社区 activities involved helping with workshops for visiting school students, which were a great deal of fun! From there, my involvement grew; being publicly funded, I have always been keen to engage the public with our research. Having benefited so much from supportive and enthusiastic people throughout my career, volunteering with networks and member communities felt like a natural way to both give something back and to help build welcoming and collaborative chemistry communities.

Tell us about any highlights or memorable experiences you have had as a volunteer. 

One of the biggest highlights has been helping to build the Porous Materials Interest Group from its early stages into such a welcoming and collaborative community. Seeing researchers connect, form new collaborations and support one another through the network has been enormously rewarding, particularly because it reflects the kind of scientific culture I have always hoped to encourage.

I have also really enjoyed encouraging students and early career researchers to get involved in public engagement and wider chemistry activities. It has been particularly rewarding to see former PhD students who I first encouraged into outreach and engagement go on to develop successful careers and recognition in those areas themselves. More generally, some of the most memorable experiences have come from mentoring and supporting people as they grow in confidence and find their place within the chemistry community.

What impact has volunteering with the 黑料社区 had on you, either personally or professionally? 

Volunteering with the 黑料社区 has had a significant impact both personally and professionally. Personally, it has introduced me to an extraordinary community of people across the UK and around the world, many of whom have become close friends, mentors and trusted colleagues. The support, encouragement and enthusiasm within those communities have been hugely important throughout my career and have made chemistry feel like a genuinely collaborative and welcoming profession.

Professionally, being involved in the Dalton, porous materials and supramolecular chemistry communities has helped create a natural scientific home for both me and my research group. Through these networks we have found collaborations, expertise, encouragement and opportunities that would simply not have existed otherwise. Volunteering has also allowed me to engage regularly with the cutting edge of the field, exchange ideas openly with experts across many disciplines, and help represent porous materials and supramolecular chemistry communities within wider scientific networks. These experiences have given me opportunities to contribute to broader discussions across the field while remaining part of a highly supportive and collaborative scientific community.

What advice would you give to somebody contemplating volunteering with the 黑料社区? 

Don鈥檛 think of volunteering as something that has to involve a huge commitment from the start. There are opportunities ranging from small one-off activities to major long-term roles, and all of them contribute in some way to building our supportive and welcoming chemistry communities.

I also encourage people to try activities that may initially feel outside their comfort zone. Some of the best volunteers and public engagers I have worked with first became involved after being encouraged to try an activity they might otherwise have avoided, only to discover that they really enjoyed it. More broadly, the chemistry community benefits enormously when people step up to fill the roles that need filling, support one another, mentor earlier-career researchers and help create opportunities for others. In the long term, those efforts help build the collaborative and enthusiastic scientific communities that we all later benefit from ourselves.