Biological and Chemical Sciences

Laura received her Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry in 2020 from University College Dublin. Under the supervision of Professor Pat Guiry, she investigated planar chiral scaffolds for medicinal chemistry and asymmetric applications, with applications in both transition metal and organocatalysis. She moved to the University of Oxford in 2020 to carry out postdoctoral research with Professor Stephen Fletcher. Laura initially worked on the development and scale-up of asymmetric cross-coupling reactions and their applications in the synthesis of natural products, and later worked on complex self-assembling micellar systems. Her research program now focuses on working at the interface between organic and supramolecular chemistry, investigating how self-assembly phenomena can solve challenges in classic organic synthesis.

Laura's work beyond research has largely focused on the development of supportive research cultures in chemistry. She was awarded the Award for Excellence Scheme in 2023 from the Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford for her outstanding contribution to the departments activities over her 3 years at Oxford in the capacity of an EDI Fellow (2022-2023), chair of the Postdoctoral Research Forum (2020-2022) and elected President of Oxford Women in Chemistry (2021-2023). She was also awarded the ED&I Champion award from the Maths, Physics & Life Science Division at the University of Oxford for her consistent work in supporting women researchers and mental health advocacy.