Contact Details

Telephone: +44(0)2476150172

Email: v dot stavros at warwick dot ac dot uk

Office: E0.11b

Brief CV

I received my BSc. from King's College London and remained there to do a Ph.D. under the guidance of Professor Helen Fielding (UCL) carrying out work on Rydberg electron wavepacket dynamics in atoms and diatomic molecules. Following my Ph.D., I spent three months as a postdoctoral fellow at the PTCL at the University of Oxford under the guidance of Professors J.P. Simons FRS and Mark Brouard and then returned as an EPSRC postdoctoral researcher in Professor Fielding's group for three years to continue research on Rydberg dynamics. Under a Lawrence Berkeley postdoctoral fellowship, I joined Professor Stephen Leone's group at the University of California, Berkeley (three years) where I began investigating rotational and vibrational motion in diatomics and polyatomics and ways to manipulate these motions with certain optical tricks (pulse-sequences). I returned to the U.K. in 2005 and am currently a Professor of Physical Chemistry. Our main interest of research is studying the photoprotection mechanisms of molecules found in DNA, proteins and sunscreens following excitation with ultraviolet radiation, using a combination of femtosecond laser spectroscopy and gas-phase molecular beam methodologies. More recently, we have begun bridging the gap between our gas-phase work and the solution-phase, seeking to unravel how the photochemistry of these biomolecules is influenced by the more realistic condensed-phase environment. This is achieved using transient absorption spectroscopy methodologies. In addition, we are also interested in condensed dynamics of transition metal complexes of potential use as photochemotherapy 'prodrugs'.

Outside of science I enjoy all sorts of sporting activities such as running and martial arts in addition to frequenting the local Indian restaurants within a 1000 mile radius.

 

Recent Awards and Research Grants

• EPSRC responsive mode grant with Prof Mike Warwick (PI), 2018. Project title: Photocatalysis in coordination cages using supramolecular arrays of chromophores
• Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship, 2017: Project title: Unravelling artificial and natural photoprotection through laser photography
• Leverhulme Trust grant with Dr Scott Habershon (Warwick Chemistry), 2016. Project title: Unravelling photoprotection pathways in plant sunscreens
• Chemistry academic of the year 2016
• University of Warwick Award for Teaching Excellence: 2015 commendation
• Leverhulme Trust grant with Professor Dmitry Shalashilin (Leeds Chemistry), 2015. Project title: Understanding the mechanisms of photostability of biochemical building blocks from quantum simulation & imaging experiments
• EPSRC strategic equipment grant with Dr James Lloyd-Hughes (Warwick Physics), 2015. Project title: Ultrafast spectroscopy of advanced materials

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