DPhils
DPhils (4th Year)
Caleb Doyle
Caleb grew up in Liverpool and completed his MSci in Chemistry at the University of Nottingham, graduating in 2022. His final year project, under the supervision of Dr James Dowden, focused on developing a concise synthesis to a novel opioid scaffold. Caleb also completed a year-long industry placement at GW Pharmaceuticals in 2020/21, synthesising cannabinoids with potential anti-epileptic activity. He extended his placement to work in the botanical branch of GW, developing novel cannabis extraction techniques. Caleb joined the Gouverneur group in August 2022 to begin his DPhil in Organic Chemistry. In his free time, Caleb enjoys woodcarving, cooking, and repairing and restoring tools, antiques, and other curios.
Yongyi Guo
Yongyi completed her BEng in Applied Chemistry at Shanghai University in 2020. Her bachelor’s project was about the synthesis of perfluoroalkylated heterocyclic derivatives under the supervision of Prof. Weiguo Cao. During her master’s degree at the University of Edinburgh, she took the research project on the synthesis of hexafluoroisopropanol derivatives by Ruppert-Prakash reagent under the supervision of Dr Andrés García Domínguez and Prof. Guy Lloyd-Jones. Yongyi will join the VG group to begin her DPhil in Organic Chemistry in January 2022. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, travelling, hiking and reading.
Ella Ogilvy
Ella grew up in Glasgow and completed an MChem, graduating in 2021 from the University of Edinburgh. During her time in Edinburgh, she was a summer student in the group of Prof. Guy Lloyd-Jones working on the synthesis of fluorinated photo-switches. Her final year was spent at ETH Zürich under the supervision of Prof. Peter Chen working on experimental gas-phase and DFT methods to investigate Cu-catalysed C-H carboxylations using CO2. Prior to this, in 2018, she worked in the lab of Prof. Hermann Wegner at Justus-Liebig University, Giessen synthesising phthalazine derivatives for use in redox flow batteries. Ella joined the Gouverneur group in October 2021 to begin her DPhil in Organic Chemistry. When not in the lab, Ella enjoys playing in orchestras, baking, and hiking.
Gabija Poskaite
Gabija grew up in Vilnius, Lithuania and completed her MChem degree at the University of Southampton in 2021. During the summer of 2019 Gabija worked on synthesis of fluorinated carbohydrates under the supervision of Prof. Bruno Linclau, which led to her final year project on SRI-FESTA (selective-reverse INEPT fluorine-edited selective TOCSY acquisition) NMR utilisation for equilibrating mixtures of significant relevance in medicinal chemistry and chemical biology. She joined the Gouverneur group in October 2021. Gabija’s hobbies include exploring specialty coffee, playing board games and contract bridge.
Xiaoyun Wang
Xiaoyun (Claire) completed her BSc in Chemistry at Imperial College London. She did her BSc project under the supervision of Prof. Oscar Ces on Giant Unilamellar Vesicles. In October 2019, she joined the VG group to start her DPhil in Organic Chemistry. Claire enjoys music and plays the violin. She performs, teaches and plays the violin in orchestras.
DPhils (3rd Year)
Nicolas Charalambous
After 2 years of military service, Nicolas completed his bachelor's degree in chemistry at the university of St Andrews. There, he joined the group of Prof. Rebecca Goss, working on a novel detection method of halogenated amino acids utilising fluorescent probes. Following work as a spectroscopist for a year, he undertook a traineeship at the German Oncology Centre in his native Cyprus, where he developed a keen interest in positron emission tomography and radiopharmaceutical chemistry. He returned to St Andrews for his master's degree under Prof. David O'Hagan, focusing on the development of novel 18F-fluorinated A2A adenosine receptor agonists for PET imaging. In 2023 he joined the Gouverneur group as a DPhil student to further pursue his interest in radiolabelling. Outside the lab, Nicolas can be found at a tennis court or teaching a cooking class.
Zian Wang
Zian grew up in China and completed his BA and MSc degrees at the University of Cambridge. During the summer of 2022, Zian worked on the photoredox synthesis of tetrahydro-naphthyridines under the supervision of Prof Matthew Gaunt. He remained in the same research group for his Master's project, working towards primary amine homologation via deaminative radical generation. Zian joined the Gouverneur group in October 2023 to begin his DPhil in Organic Chemistry. In his spare time, Zian enjoys orchestral music, travelling, and reading.
DPhils (2nd Year)
Robert Douglas
Robert completed his MChem at the University of Manchester in 2024, undertaking his project with Dr Darren Willcox looking at iron phosphino-borane complexes, having previously undertaken a year in industry at Mitsubishi Chemical Group in Redcar, where he looked at new sustainable routes to the production of methyl methacrylate. He will be working on a joint project with the Aldridge group as part of the new IMAT CDT.
Theodore Jefferson
Theodore (Teddy) grew up in the United States of America, where he completed his B.S. in Chemistry: Synthesis and Chemical Biology at the University of Texas at Austin. There, he held multiple teaching appointments and studied both transition metal catalysed organic methods under Prof. Kami Hull and physical organic chemistry under Prof. Eric Anslyn. His undergraduate dissertation focused on a copper catalysed three-component carboamination of vinylcyclopropanes, and he also helped develop a rhodium catalysed tandem reaction of diallyl ethers to yield α,β-disubstituted amides & esters. With his primary interest being the pharmaceutical applications of organic chemistry, Teddy is interested in leveraging physical organic analysis to develop novel fluorination methods. To that end, Teddy joined the Gouverneur group in October 2024 to pursue his DPhil (Ph.D.) in Organic Chemistry. When he isn't in the lab, you can find Teddy playing Chopin on the piano, having a cold brew or coffee liqueur (depending on the time of day!), and missing his corgi Mari back home. He is also the #1 Evelynn player in the North American superserver on League of Legends.
Columbus Layton
Columbus did his MChem at Oxford as an undergraduate at Jesus College. He completed his Part II in 2024 in the Gouverneur group. He returned to the group later that year to begin his DPhil, still working on sustainable chemistry, moving down the road to Magdalen College. In his free time, he can be found by the river, (still) rowing for Jesus College Boat Club. He also enjoys dancing salsa, cooking, and baking desserts for his friends.
Maddison Lovell
Maddison is from Bath, Somerset and received her MChem degree from the University of St Andrews. This included an external placement year at GSK, Stevenage, working as a synthetic chemist in the chemical modalities department. Maddison was supervised by Prof. Allan Watson for her final year masters project, working on the development of an asymmetric photocatalytic cross coupling using styrene boronic acids. After this, Maddison stayed in the Watson group for a summer placement, working on Chan-Lam couplings of benzoxaboroles. Maddison joined the SBM CDT in 2023, and completed her first rotation in the Willis group. In her spare time, Maddison enjoys going to the gym, cooking and spending time with friends.
Melina Tschopp
Melina grew up in Zug, a small canton in Switzerland, and completed both her Bachelor’s and Master’s in chemistry at the University of Bern in the group of Prof. Eva Hevia. During her time there, she investigated the catalytic deuterium incorporation into small molecules using organosodium reagents. She then joined the IMAT CDT in 2024. Outside of the lab, Melina enjoys iceskating and spending time with friends and family.
DPhils (1st Year)
Janelle Amegatse
Janelle completed her B.S. with honours in Chemistry at the University of Arizona in May 2025. During her degree, she investigated heterocyclic carbocations for symmetrical redox flow batteries under Prof. Thomas Gianetti. During the summer of 2024, she researched fluorinated polymer electrolytes for lithium metal batteries at the University of Chicago under Prof. Chibueze Amanchukwu as an NSF REU research intern. She joined the IMAT CDT in September 2025, where her doctoral research concerns the development of liquid electrolytes for fluoride ion batteries. Outside of the lab, she can be found enjoying a book, baking, and spending time outdoors.
Benjamin Cave Calland
Ben grew up in Málaga, Spain and currently lives in Bath. He completed his MChem at St. John's College, Oxford, where he joined the Gouverneur Group in September 2024 for his Part II year in the Molecular Imaging subgroup. Alongside his undergraduate studies, he undertook a placement with Prof. Angela Russell, working on PROTAC synthesis for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Later, he also worked at the Adolphe Merkle Institute with Prof. Christoph Weder on healable polymers utilising dynamic non-covalent bonds. He then took part in the 2024 GSK Residential Training Experience. He returned to the Gouverneur Group in October 2025 to start his DPhil as part of the CSHP CDT. In his free time, he enjoys playing the clarinet and drums as well as playing golf and squash.
Sam Fineman
Sam grew up in Tunbridge Wells and is currently an MChem student at Christ Church. During his degree, he has undertaken research projects with AstraZeneca and the UK National Crystallography Service in Southampton. Outside of the lab, Sam is a keen rugby player, musician and runs the university Movember campaign.
Sam Power
Sam is London and recently completed his MChem at the University of Oxford. During his master's research project, San investigated a simplified approach to flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) cofactor recycling to drive biocatalytic halogenation, supervised by Professor Kylie Vincent. His upcoming project is joint with the Aldridge group, in which Sam will be investigating the repurposing of fluoride from PFAS. In my spare time Sam enjoys playing tennis, piano and spending time with friends.
Adam Sikorjak
Adam grew up in Slovakia but moved to the UK in 2020 to study Chemistry at the University of Oxford (St John's College) where he graduated with First Class Honours in 2024. After several summer internships at the University of Bristol (the Lennox lab and Galan group), GSK and HelloBio, he joined the Gouverneur group as Part II student. Outside of chemistry, he usually spends weekends at home gardening, reading, and baking. He also enjoys photography of animals.
Jade Watson
Jade completed her undergraduate studies in Chemistry at the University of Victoria. Throughout her studies, she conducted research under the supervision of Prof. Ian Manners which focused on the synthesis of phosphorus-based small molecules and polymers. She also spent a summer placement in the lab of Prof. Rebekka Klausen at Johns Hopkins University and synthesized silicon-based polymers for polymeric networks. Following graduation, she moved to the University of Cambridge and completed an MPhil with Prof. Dominic Wright on the synthesis of calcium-based electrolyte salts. Jade joined the Gouverneur group in October 2025 to begin her DPhil in Chemistry.
