The Harper Research Group
Dr Ron Haines
(University of New South Wales)
Ron was trained as a laser spectroscopist and has spent nearly 40 years as an academic at UNSW, where he currently coordinates the First Year Laboratory and contributes to a number of teaching iniatives. He co-supervises many of the students in the group and is integral in the work involving involving the ionic liquids.
https://research.unsw.edu.au/people/dr-ron-haines
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Dr Jeffrey Black
(University of New South Wales)
Jeffrey is a graduate of UNSW having worked with Jason and Dr Leigh Aldous (now at King's College, London)
on a Ph.D. that covered (thermo)electrochemistry in ionic liquids. He is currently an education-focused academic at UNSW but still keeps his hand in experimental research through collaborations on the analysis of tribology, ionic liquid breakdown products and surface properties.
Assoc. Prof. Stuart Prescott
(School of Chemical Engineering, UNSW)
Stuart is a physical chemist with interests in the colloidal properties and dynamics in solution. His interest in NMR relaxation has implications for understanding interactions in ionic liquid mixtures.
https://research.unsw.edu.au/people/associate-professor-stuart-prescott
Dr Jonathan Palmer
(School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNSW)
Jonathan is a dendrochronologist and has been interacting with the Harper group to consider how ancient tree samples might be prepared to better allow understanding of past climate.
http://www.essrc.unsw.edu.au/people/academic-research/jonathan-palmer
Prof. William Price
(Western Sydney University)
Bill is an expert on diffusion NMR spectroscopy, having literally written the book on it! He is involved with the project on ionic liquids (supported by an ARC Discovery Project Grant) where his background on dynamics in liquid systems is also critical.
Bill will be on sabbatical at UNSW for the second half of 2024.
https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/staff_profiles/uws_profiles/professor_bill_price
Prof. Tamar Greaves
(RMIT University)
Tam is trained as a physicist but (despite protestations!) is now a physical chemist with expertise in solvation and structure in ionic liquids. She is involved with the ionic liquids research project, particularly exploiting her expertise in Small and Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS/WAXS).
https://www.rmit.edu.au/contact/staff-contacts/academic-staff/g/greaves-associate-professor-tamar
Prof. Anna Croft
(University of Loughborough, UK)
Anna and Jason go way back, having done their Ph.D.'s in the same group. Her interests include experimental and computational methods to understand enzyme mechanisms and apply them practically. She also has an interest in solvation properties and that's where most of her collaborations with the Harper group come in!
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/engineering/departments/chemenv/people/anna.croft
Dr Christof Jäger
(AstraZeneca, Gothenburg, Sweeden)
Christof has a background in computational chemistry and carries out a variety of research projects in this area. In terms of interacting with the Harper group, his interests in solvation and machine learning have been critical in analysis of ionic liquid solvent effects.
Prof. Sergei Glavatskih
(KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden)
Trained as a mechanical engineer, Sergei's interest include developing novel lubricants based on ionic liquids; he is part of our joint project on understanding lubricity in ionic liquids. He also really misses being able to visit Australia (and loves mangoes!).
Prof. Mark Rutland
(KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden)
Mark is a graduate of the Australian National University and has been at KTH for more than 20 years. A physical chemist with interests in nanotribilogy, perception and self-assembly, he is involved with the ongoing work on using ionic liquids as lubricants.
Prof. Lawrence (Larry) Scott
(Boston College, USA)
Larry is an expert in the synthesis of non-planar aromatic hydrocarbons - his seminal synthesis of corannulene set the stage for a wider range of synthetic procedures. JBH took a sabbatical period in Larry's lab at BC in 2009 and the two have collaborated on reactivity of non-planar aromatic systems.