#FaradayPathways James Robinson, UCL

James shares his journey from his PhD at University College Dublin to securing the academic position of Lecturer in Advanced Propulsion at UCL. He describes the importance of approaching problems systematically and collaborating with people from different academic fields, and the initiatives he’s involved with helping to develop early career researchers.

With an aptitude for maths, physics and chemistry at school James chose to undertake an MEng in General Engineering at University College Dublin because it gave him a breadth of options. As he was working through his degree, he chose to pursue a chemical engineering route. Between his third and fourth years he worked at Pfizer.

“The standard route out of chemical engineering in Dublin was to work in the pharmaceutical industry. My experience at Pfizer was really interesting, but it made me realise that this wasn’t the right path for me. After studying thermodynamics in my fourth year, I decided to do a PhD. I thought it would be more exciting than going to work for a company.”

In 2012, James moved to UCL to start his PhD in the thermal investigation of electrochemical devices in the Electrochemical Innovation Lab.

“My PhD initially looked at solid oxide fuel cells, but then morphed into also looking at batteries, fuel cells and electrolysers. This gave me the opportunity to gain exposure to different systems, principals, operational modes, and characterisation techniques.”

James stayed on at UCL for his post doc, where he worked as a research fellow for the EPSRC and then the Royal Academy of Engineering with the UK Intelligence Community.

“This three-year period of post doc work demonstrated to me that I wasn’t someone who was going to be in the lab for the rest of my life, it wasn’t where my skillset was. Bringing people together and looking at things on a systematic basis was more aligned with my talents.”

In October 2019, while still a post-doc, James became Project Leader for the Faraday Institution’s LiSTAR project on lithium-sulfur batteries.

Group photo of LiSTAR “We have a lot of excellent scientists involved in LiSTAR who are working on materials, electrolytes and protecting the anodes amongst other things. It’s when you bring these things together that the magic really happens. Particularly with the lithium-sulfur battery, developments in isolation don’t necessarily translate into the cell because it is so interconnected.”

James is also heavily involved with many Faraday Institution initiatives to give opportunities to early career researchers.

“I chair the ECR [Early Career Researcher] Committee, which ran the Faraday Institution’s ECR Conference and Training Event in 2022 where 300 PhD students and post docs came together in Warwick for interactive training sessions, career development opportunities, and insight from researchers working in industry. Seeing that through to completion was challenging but so rewarding, and we’re planning a similar event in March 2023.”

James and the ECR committee have been pivotal in initiating a new Faraday Institution ECR collaboration award scheme, which encourages PhD and post doc researchers to apply for an award that will allow them to carry out their own research, independent of their supervisor.

“ECRs being able to demonstrate their research independence can be very powerful. The idea is that the sum of money could act as a seed for concept data that could then be used to provide evidence for a follow-on fellowship application.”

What has James gained from being part of the Faraday Institution?

“Since becoming Project Leader for LiSTAR the support that the Faraday Institution has given me has been unbelievable. Being able to demonstrate a combination of scientific and personal skills on projects and committees with the FI was pivotal in me securing my academic position at UCL.”

“The community that the FI has created is so vibrant. It has brought people together from disparate universities and academic specialisations. For instance, in LiSTAR we have people who are working on density function theory modelling right the way through to manufacturing. Without LiSTAR these researchers wouldn’t necessarily cross paths that often. But with the project, we are all working together towards the same goal. It yields really positive results because you get questions from people who aren’t specialists in your specific field but who are coming at the research question from a different angle.

“I think the Faraday Institution has been a huge force for good in strengthening the UK’s battery research community, and long may that last!”

In the summer of 2022, James began his role as a Lecturer in Advanced Propulsion at UCL.

“Alongside the work with LiSTAR, I am working on a number of Innovate UK projects, which are industry-academia collaborations. Some focus on lithium-sulfur batteries, and some are related to other work in aerospace, for example looking at aircraft to replace helicopters and the process you would go through to select a battery for that system.”

“We’re also working on a quasi-solid-state lithium-sulfur cell. The idea is to try and use a different operating mechanism by driving the reaction to a solid-state mechanism rather than dissolving sulfur into the electrolyte.

Photo of UCL East Marshgate Building In September, James will be moving to UCL’s new campus, UCL East, which is the single biggest expansion of UCL in its 200-year history. He’s leading the £6 million fit out of the new labs alongside colleagues in other departments in UCL.

“It is a joint effort with mechanical engineering and we will all work together in the same space. There will be things that we learn from each other that we wouldn’t necessarily have thought of that will help us make the most of what will be an amazing facility. The labs are extraordinary, the building is beautiful, and it’s now time to fill it up and start running with it!”

There are three new MSc programs being launched on UCL East, including one on advanced propulsion, which will focus on batteries, fuel cells and electrochemistry. James is responsible for teaching two of its modules.

“I’m excited to get to talk about the topics that I am interested in and I’m trying out new teaching approaches to make things as enjoyable as possible for the students. The teaching and mentoring side of things is a really enjoyable part of my work.”

James is still very new in his position as a lecturer, but does he have any aspirations for his future career?

“I’m not one for a 10-year plan. But generally I take the view that you don’t get anywhere by staying the same. Being open to change is a good thing. What I enjoy most about my work is the people I work with. I am excited to see how the PhD students in my group will develop over the next three years.”

What advice would James give to early career researchers?

“I would say that surrounding yourself with good people is very important. I’ve been fortunate to have had unbelievably generous mentors in Paul Sheering and Dan Brett who really went out of their way to give me so much of their time and effort through my PhD and beyond. I’ve also made some great friends along the way who’ve been a great sounding board for ideas and plans.

“Asking questions is also crucial, particularly at university where there are orthodoxies that are well established. It’s only when you begin to question ‘why do we do that?’ or ‘what is it about this system that means we can’t do this?’ that you get satisfactory answers.

“Be curious, be open to opportunities and to challenging yourself and stepping outside of your comfort zone. Make sure to embrace what you have around you as well… and read lots of literature and work hard!”

This #FaradayPathways story was written by Nancy Stitt, Science Communications Intern, July 2023.

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