Dan Whitaker is a PhD student at the Melville Laboratory For Polymer Synthesis at the University of Cambridge. Dan received his Masters in Chemistry with study in America (MChem) from the University of Sheffield and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2017.  He joined the Scherman Group with funding from the EPSRC in October 2017. His research focuses on the synthesis of acrylic monomers which contain cationic CB[8] guests and their subsequent polymerisation. In December 2018 Dan was awarded a NanoDTC Associate Studentship. In the summer of 2019 Dan was awarded a JSPS Summer Programme Fellowship and undertook a ten week research project in the Takashima Lab at the university of Osaka, Japan. This project has led to a strenghened collaboration between the groups which continues to date. Dan is also involved in a project with Dr. John Kolinski at EPFL examining the failure behaviour of hydrogels. Alongside this Dan was a member of the Natural Material Innovation Group which spans multiple departments within Cambridge and works towards utilising natural materials for a more sustainable future. Dan’s PhD strongly reflects his opinion that increased collaboration leads to better science. PhD Supervisors: Prof. Oren Scherman – Department of Chemistry

Research Topic: Supramolecular Polymeric Structures