Rate My Professor David Scanlon

David Scanlon holds the position of Chair in Computational Chemistry in the School of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham, leading the Scanlon Materials Theory Group (SMTG), which comprises post-doctoral researchers, PhD students, and Master's students. His research employs computational methods for materials design and characterisation, focusing on advancing first-principles calculations to predict properties of novel materials for applications in Li-ion batteries, photovoltaics, photocatalysis, and thin film displays. Prior to joining Birmingham in September 2023, Scanlon held progressive academic roles at University College London (UCL), including Ramsay Fellow (2011-2013), Lecturer (2013-2016), Reader (2016-2018), and Professor of Computational Materials Design (2018-2023). He completed his BA (Mod) in Computational Chemistry in 2006 and PhD in Chemistry in 2011, both at Trinity College Dublin under the supervision of Professor Graeme W. Watson.

Scanlon is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC, 2015) and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA, 2014). His accolades include the RSC Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prize (2015) for developing computational techniques for functional semiconductors, the RSC Materials Chemistry Division Early Career Award (2021) for contributions to materials modelling of conducting oxides, Outstanding Referee of the American Physical Society (2019), and European Research Council grants: Starting Grant DISCOVER (2018) and Consolidator Grant PRAETORIAN (2023). He has made significant contributions to the field through key publications such as "Accessible Chemical Space for Metal Nitride Perovskites" (Chemical Science, 2023), "Cu2SiSe3 as a promising solar absorber" (Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2023), "Understanding the Electronic Structure of Y2Ti2O5S2 for Green Hydrogen Production" (Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2023), "Interplay of static and dynamic disorder tunes the band gap of mixed-metal chalcohalide Sn2SbS2I3" (Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2023), and "Computational prediction and experimental realisation of earth abundant transparent conducting oxide Ga-doped ZnSb2O6" (ACS Energy Letters, 2022). Scanlon serves as Lead Editor for PRX Energy (APS) and Scientific Editor for Materials Horizons (RSC), and chairs the Faraday Institution High Performance Computing Committee.