Susan Perkin is a British chemist who is a Professor of Physical Chemistry at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. Her research considers the physics of liquids and soft matter. She was awarded the 2016 Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prize and named the '' Soft Matter'' Lecturer of 2018. In 2015 Perkin was awarded a

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

starting grant and in 2020 she was awarded a

consolidator grant.

Early life and education

Perkin was an undergraduate student at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, where she completed a master's degree in chemistry at St John's College. She remained at Oxford for her doctoral research, where she worked alongside Jacob Klein. Her research involved placements at Oxford and the Weizmann Institute of Science. Before completing her doctorate, Perkin was made a Junior Research Fellow at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...

Research and career

In 2007 Perkin was named a Research Councils UK Fellow at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. She returned to Oxford in 2012 to join the faculty in the Department of Chemistry, where she serves as a Fellow of

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

. Perkin is interested in liquid interfaces, and explores them using a

surface forces Surface force denoted ''fs'' is the force that acts across an internal or external surface element in a material body. Surface force can be decomposed into two perpendicular components: normal forces and shear forces. A normal force acts norm ...

balance. In such experiments, liquids are confined between insulators or electrodes, and measurements are made of their mechanical, optical, electrical and dynamic properties. This set-up allows for characterisation of materials properties in both natural (i.e. non-biased) and working (i.e. during device operation) environments. This type of characterisation is essential to the application of functional materials in energy storage and bio-materials. She leads a

funded programme that looks at electrolytic materials, in an effort to understand the fundamental physics that underpins their properties and interactions. Electrolytic materials are used in the electrolytes for batteries and form the interiors of

halophilic The halophiles, named after the Greek word for "salt-loving", are extremophiles that thrive in high salt concentrations. While most halophiles are classified into the domain Archaea, there are also bacterial halophiles and some eukaryotic species, ...

organisms. One type of electrolyte is an ionic liquid, which is in a liquid state in ambient conditions because their asymmetric, bulky ionic structures will not crystallise. Despite this, the dynamics of ionic liquids cannot be explained using conventional physical theories. By using surface force analysis to study ionic liquids, Perkin has shown it is possible to estimate the screening length, near-surface ordering, capacitance and charge regulation.

Awards and honours

* 2015

Starting Grant * 2016 Meldola Medal and Prize * 2016

Philip Leverhulme Prize The Philip Leverhulme Prize is awarded by the Leverhulme Trust to recognise the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising. The prize schem ...

* 2018 '' Soft Matter'' Lectureship * 2020

Consolidator Grant

Selected publications

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perkin, Susan Living people Year of birth missing (living people) British women chemists Alumni of the University of Oxford Academics of the University of Oxford Academics of University College London