Rate My Professor Brendan Kennedy

Professor Brendan Kennedy serves as Professor of Solid State Chemistry in the Faculty of Science, School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney, where he has held his position since 1988. He obtained a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) from Melbourne State College and a Ph.D. from Monash University. Subsequent to his doctoral studies, Kennedy completed postdoctoral fellowships at Oxford University and the Australian National University. Since joining the University of Sydney, he has advanced research in solid state chemistry, leading the Kennedy Group focused on structural and magnetic properties of inorganic materials. His academic career encompasses extensive use of synchrotron and neutron scattering facilities in Europe, the United States, and Japan to probe crystallography, inorganic chemistry, and structural phase transitions under high-pressure conditions.

Kennedy's research investigates complex oxide systems such as perovskites, pyrochlores, and halide perovskites, employing techniques like high-pressure X-ray diffraction, neutron powder diffraction, and electron diffraction. Key publications include 'Thermal Expansion Matching via Framework Flexibility in Zinc Dicyanamidoborates' (Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2009), 'Studies of the antiferrodistortive transition in EuTiO3' (Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 2014), 'Structural and Magnetic Properties of the Iridium Double Perovskites' (Inorganic Chemistry, 2015), 'High-Pressure X-Ray Diffraction Study of Scheelite-type Perrhenates' (recent), and 'Irreversible oxygen uptake and thermal expansion in the solid oxide Pb2Nb2O7' (APL Materials, 2024). His scholarly output has amassed over 19,900 citations, reflecting substantial impact in materials science. Kennedy has secured Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project grants, including one in 2019, and his funded projects align with university strengths in molecules to materials, critical minerals and materials, and next-generation materials. In recognition of his contributions, he received the Australian Neutron Users' Group (ANBUG) Career Award in 2024 for sustained work in condensed-matter physics.