We are honoured to welcome Prof. Danielle Skropeta and Prof. Siegbert Schmid to our group. They are joining us until June as part of their sabbaticals.
Prof. Danielle Skropeta is a medicinal chemistry research leader and Associate Dean of Higher Degree Research in the Faculty of Science, Medicine & Health, University of Wollongong, Australia. She is a Fellow and Board Member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI), Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy UK and National STEM Ambassador for Science and Technology Australia. Prof Skropeta’s research interests are in chemical glycobiology and she leads an interdisciplinary research group focused on drug development in cancer, wound healing and bacterial infection, working in collaboration with industry partners to translate discoveries into outcomes that benefit society. In 2020, Danielle received the Margaret Sheil National Leadership award for her advocacy of gender equity in the chemical sciences. (Connect with Danielle Skropeta through LinkedIn or Twitter @DrDanChem).
Professor Siegbert ‘Siggi’ Schmid graduated with a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Tübingen, Germany, and after post-doctoral research at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, completed a Habilitation at his alma mater. He returned to Australia to take up his current position at the University of Sydney. He currently serves as Chair of the Chemistry Education & Communication Research theme at the School of Chemistry of the University of Sydney. His education research investigates changes to teaching practices that enhance the student experience and learning outcomes, with particular emphasis on inclusive teaching. He led a Government-funded national project on Assessing the Assessments, investigating the suitability of assessment strategies to verify students’ attainment of threshold learning concepts. He received many awards for his teaching and education research and development, including the 2019 Fensham Medal of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute for sustained contributions to chemistry education in Australia. In addition, he leads materials chemistry research, with emphasis on the synthesis and structural characterisation of aperiodic and other materials with potential technological applications, e.g. electrode materials for rechargeable Li-ion batteries.
We’re very excited to learn and chat all things teaching and research with them!