About us
The Department of Chemistry is a new Department and Research Division within the School of Biomedical Sciences. Formed in 2012 as a focus for further development of chemistry teaching and research, it also aims to integrate existing academic chemistry activity contributing to other parts of the College.
King’s has committed a substantial investment to the success of the new Department, which includes the recruitment of new staff, newly refurbished labs and facilities, and new PhD studentships and postdoc fellowships.
With an initial focus on applications in traditional King’s areas of strength - biomedicine - the ambition of the Department is to expand and broaden, building on its strong foundations by securing additional research funding, appointing new junior and senior academics and growing its research and teaching reputation.
Find out more about the different areas of the Department:
Teaching
The Department is the home of a new and innovative four-year degree course, MSci/BSc in Chemistry with Biomedicine, which is unique in the UK in its approach to teaching chemistry foundations rigorously while placing a strong emphasis on chemical applications to biomedical problems.
The Department will lead the teaching of chemistry, with chemists from across King’s contributing their expertise. The new programme admits its first students in September 2012 to study in newly equipped teaching and research facilities. The Department also aims to create a vibrant environment for postgraduate students, including new PhD students starting in 2012. See more.
Research
The research philosophy of the Department is based on interconnection with other Divisions and Departments in the College in which chemical sciences have a part to play. Accordingly, the Department has a core of chemistry academics and a large number of affiliate members who are also chemistry academics but based in other Schools and their Divisions. This arrangement engenders close interdisciplinary collaboration and effective application of chemistry at the interface with other sciences and medicine.
Chemistry research at King’s covers a broad range of subjects, from medicinal chemistry and drug development through drug analysis to radiochemistry, chemical biology, medical imaging, materials science, biomolecular structure and computational modelling, and is supported by major programme grants from the UK Research Councils, charities and industry. See more.
Collaboration - interactions between Chemistry and other Divisions
Chemistry as a scientific discipline lies at the intersection between several other branches of science, which is evident in the breadth of scientists at King’s affiliated with the new Department. In addition to a core group of chemists based fully or jointly in the Department of Chemistry, a number of scientists in different Schools and Divisions are formally affiliated with the Department (see diagram below). Research collaboration extends even wider, to other divisions where chemistry is applied.
The Department will set the standard for innovative chemistry within the College, providing leadership to chemists embedded in other research divisions and promoting the discipline via seminars, national meetings and other activities.
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