About Rob |
Rob Smith is Deputy Head of Natural Sciences (Students & Teaching) at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) and is group leader for the Organic Medicinal Research Group. Rob received a BSc(Hons) in Chemistry from UCLan, a Ph.D from the University of Surrey (with Dr Ian D. Cunningham), and was then a post-doctoral fellow at NTU (with Prof. James Davis). In 2008, Rob was appointed as Lecturer in Organic Medicinal Chemistry, in 2012 he was promoted to Senior Lecturer and then Principal Lecturer in 2017. During his time at UCLan, Rob has been admissions tutor for chemistry, course leader for both the BSc (Hons) Chemistry and MChem Chemistry degree programs, as well as team lead for chemistry. In 2012, Rob was awarded the Vice-Chancellors Award Excellence in Research and Informed Teaching and Learning.
Rob's main research focus is in the area of synthetic medicinal chemistry with much of the research focused towards the development of dyes and probes towards healthcare applications. Rob's research also looks at designing new antimicrobials which is focused around small molecule design. Another area which Rob enjoys to research, is the chemistry of ascorbic acid and utilising its amazing properties to generate new medicinally active compounds. Rob also enjoys researching the complex Chemistry done by one of our most famous natural product chemists- Mother Nature and is fascinated by natural medicines. Rob has also been an invited external postgraduate (MSc/Ph.D) examiner at a number of UK and overseas universities and has sat on validation panels for external courses. Rob is also the external chemistry course examiner at the University of South Wales (USW). Rob is an active member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and is currently Vice Chair of the Lancaster and District Section. |