SCHEMA co-sponsors Women in Chemistry event
SCHEMA proudly co-sponsored the recent OxWiChem Day 2025 at the University of Oxford. Bringing together the chemistry community for an afternoon of talks and discussions, the symposium celebrated the achievements of Oxford's Women in Chemistry—from doctoral students all the way to alumni, postdoctoral research associates, early career fellows, and professors. The annual event opened with an introduction by doctoral student and OxWiChem committee member Neave Taylor, after which the first session commenced.
Attendees at the event
Three of the prize winners
Event organising committee
Greener Chemical Manufacturing session
The Industry Keynote Talk was delivered by Chief Scientific Officer and Co-founder of HydRegen Ltd, Dr Sarah Cleary. Dr Cleary's talk was followed by SCHEMA affiliate and doctoral student Bonny Gao who presented on "High-Performance Recyclable Polyester Elastomers Through Transient Strain-Stiffening" and doctoral student Laura-Bianca Pasca, who spoke on "Machine-learning-driven modelling of amorphous and polycrystalline BaZrS3".
Intervening in Disease session
The Organic Keynote Talk was delivered by Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, Angela Russell. Prof Russell's talk was followed by doctoral student Disha Kashyap who presented on "DNA-Programmable Protein Degradation: Dynamic Control of Proteolysis-Targeting Chimera Activity via DNA Hybridization and Strand Displacement" and doctoral student Daria Turclet who spoke on "Biological Membrane Interactions through the Eyes of the Surface Force Balance (SFB)".
Experimental Soft Matter and Nanoscale Systems
The Physical/Theoretical Keynote Talk was delivered by Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry, Alice Thorneywork. Prof Thorneywork's talk was followed by postdoctoral researcher Camilla Di Mino who presented on "Solvent and counterion behaviours at a charged, nanoscale surface" and postdoctoral researcher Clare Rees-Zimmerman who spoke on "Measuring anisotropic interactions".
Main Group Elements
Doctoral student Shoba Laxmi presented on "Watching the P-Cluster Breathe: Electrochemical Control and Spectroscopy of Nitrogenase Crystals" while doctoral student Suzanne Davison spoke on "New Aza-Sulfur Compounds to Explore Chemical Space".
OxWiChem Day teabreak
Symposium poster
Refreshments
SCHEMA affiliate Bonny Gao says she enjoyed sharing her work and learning about the research taking place across the department, adding that: "the event was really inspiring and a nice opportunity to connect and exchange ideas".
The final flash talks were followed by a poster session featuring the work of over 20 researchers, including SCHEMA affiliate Freya Butler, whose poster was titled "Structure-Activity Relationships for s-Block Metal/Co(III) Heterodinuclear Catalysts in Cyclohexene Oxide Ring-Opening Copolymerizations". The event concluded with a prize ceremony of which the winners were:
- Flash talk prize: Disha Kashyap
- Inorganic poster prize: Maria Colette Healy
- Organic poster prize: Lene Goedde
- Physical/theoretical poster prize: Anna Drummond Young
- People's choice prize: Minal Dayaram
Congratulations to all of the prize winners, presenters, and organising committee for a successful event.
Learn more about OxWiChem and its events here.
