The Ball Research Group
School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, UK
The Ball Group is a synthetic and physical organic chemistry research group based in the School of Chemistry at the University of Nottingham, UK.
Latest News
October 2021. Two PDRA positions are available in the Ball group. Details and the application process are outlined here; informal inquiries can be sent directly to Liam.
October 2021. A warm welcome to Tash Ansarian and Sam Thomson, who both join the group for their PhD studies.
September 2021. Our collaborative work with the Werz lab is online in JACS! Many congratulations to Marcel, who lead the research at Braunschweig.
September 2021. Congratulations to Tom Barber, whose procedure for making tri-1-adamantyl phosphine from zinc phosphide is published in Org Synth!
September 2021. Many Congratulations to Aaron Senior, who has been awarded the Leslie Crombie prize for the best talk in the Organic & Biological section at the annual postgraduate symposium.
September 2021. Liam is awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship.
June 2021. Congratulations to Dr Tom Barber, pioneer of phosphine chemistry and cheese connoisseur, who has successfully defended his PhD thesis!
April 2021. A fully-funded, 4-year PhD studentship in collaboration with GSK is now available! The position is only available to UK applicants due to funding restrictions, and will start in October 2021. ***Position now filled***
February 2021. Congratulations to Aaron Senior and Charlie Swan on winning Best Talk and Best Poster prizes at the annual CDT Winter Showcase.
January 2021. Congratulations to Aaron Senior, whose Synpact article has been selected as cover art.
January 2021. Ciao to Dr Lorenzo Maggi, who leaves us after four years in the group to take up a position at Pharmaron.
December 2020. Congratulations to Dr Lorenzo Maggi, who successfully defended his thesis and is the inaugural winner of the Jurrat Thesis Award! Lorenzo will take up a position at Pharmaron in the new year.
October 2020. Welcome to Alessio Calcatelli, who joins the group to for his PhD studies in collaboration with Prof. Ross Denton and GSK.
September 2020. Welcome to Louis Pentecost and Martyna Ostrowska, who join the group for their PhD studies.
September 2020. Aaron Senior's highlight is published! Read it now in Synlett.
September 2020. Congratulations to Aaron Senior, whose poster won the Frederick Kipping prize at UoN's annual postgraduate symposium.
August 2020. Congratulations to Katie Ruffell, whose highlight article is published in Trends in Chemistry.
July 2020. Farewell to Mahri Park, Sophie Taylor and Will Shepherd who graduate after a very challenging few months. Huge congratulations to Mahri and Sophie, whose efforts have been recognised with the King Memorial Prize (best organic MSci research project) and the Gillian Milne Memorial Prize (top graduating chemist), respectively.
June 2020. Mahri Park wins the National Undergraduate Poster Competition. Many congratulations on a job well done!
May 2020. A fully-funded, 4-year PhD studentship is available under the co-supervision of Prof. Ross Denton and Dr Liam Ball. The project will involve collaboration with GSK and the University of Strathclyde. More details can be found here. *** position now filled ***
April 2020. Tom Barber's paper on phosphine synthesis is published in ACS catalysis. Congratulations Tom!
April 2020. Mark Jurrat's collaborative work with Andy Chapman and Louis Adriaenssens is published in JACS. Many congratulations all!
April 2020. Mark Jurrat's paper on bismuth mediated arylation is published in Nature Chemistry! Many congratulations on a job well done!
October 2019. Welcome to Ben Joynson, who joins us for his PhD following undergraduate studies at the University of Bristol.
October 2019. Welcome to Mahri Park, Sophie Taylor and Will Shepherd who join the group for their final-year research projects.
August 2019. Congratulations to Mark Jurrat, who successfully defended his PhD viva. First Alumnus of the Ball group!
May 2019. Welcome to Desiree Dalligos, Charlie Swan and Gemma Valentine who join the group for their PhDs as members of the CDT in Sustainable Chemistry.
April 2019. A fully-funded 3.5 year PhD studentship (starting October 2019) is available to UK or EU applicants. **Position now filled**
October 2018. Congratulations to Katie Ruffell, whose Year-in-Industry research has been published in Organometallics.
September 2018. Welcome to Katie Ruffell, who joins the group for her PhD in collaboration with Syngenta. Welcome to Nicole Tsang, Jo Lee and Jean-Paul Heeb who join the group for their final year Masters projects.
Congratulations to Mark Jurrat for being selected to present his research at the prestigious J-NOST-14 conference in Hyderabad this November. Congratulations also to Tom Barber for winning 'best talk' at the CDT's Annual Industrial Showcase.
July 2018. Congratulations to Mark Jurrat and Lorenzo Maggi for winning the Leslie Crombie Prize (best talk) and Frederick Kipping Prize (best poster), respectively, at Nottingham's annual Postgraduate Symposium.
June 2018. Welcome to Alex Edmonds, who Joins the group for a summer research project.
April 2018. Welcome to Aaron Senior, who joins the group as a member of Nottingham's CDT in Sustainable Chemistry.
December 2017. Two industry-funded PhD positions are available to UK/EU candidates (to start in October 2018). Please contact Liam for further information. **Positions now filled**
Welcome to Valentin Magne, who joins the group as an EPSRC-funded post-doctoral researcher.
October 2017. Welcome to James Gillespie, James Elverson and Charlie Swan who join the group for their final-year research projects.
August 2017. Welcome to Teresa Ambrosio, who joins the group from the Loernaz group as a member of Nottingham's CDT in Sustainable Chemistry.
July 2017. Congratulations to Mark Jurrat for winning the Frederick Kipping Poster Prize at Nottingham's annual postgraduate symposium. Farewell to Evie Newby and Ellie Nichols, who leave us for positions at Syngenta and Diageo.
April 2017. Welcome to Tom Barber, who joins the group as a member of Nottingham's CDT in Sustainable Chemistry. Congratulations also to Tom for winning best presentation prize at the CDT's Dragons' Den event.
December 2016. Many congratulations to Evie Newby who has been awarded a Syngenta Prize for academic excellence.
Christmas comes to the Ball group!
October 2016. Welcome to PhD student Lorenzo Maggi who joins the group from the University of Pavia. Welcome also to Evie Newby and Ellen Nichols who join the group for their final-year research projects.
October 2016. Congratulations to Bjork Tyril who wins a prize for presentation of a poster on her summer project in the group.
September 2016. Farewell to Bjork Tyril who leaves us for a final year research project in the Woodward group.
July 2016. Welcome to Bjork Tyril who joins the group for a BP-funded summer project. The transition to the GSK Carbon Neutral Lab is complete.
June 2016. Farewell to Michele Formica and Jamie Cadge who leave the group to pursue PhDs at Oxford and Bristol.
October 2015. Welcome to Michele Formica and Jamie Cadge who join the group for their final-year research projects.
September 2015. Welcome to PhD student Mark Jurrat who joins the group from the Leibniz-Institute for Catalysis, Germany.
July 2015. Lab set-up begins in Nottingham