Rate My Professor Julie Macpherson

Professor Julie Macpherson is a Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Warwick. She earned a first-class BSc in Chemistry from the University of Warwick (1990-1993) and completed her PhD in Chemistry there (1993-1996) under the supervision of Professor Patrick Unwin, focusing on scanning electrochemical microscopy. She held a Royal Society University Research Fellowship from 1999 to 2007, was appointed to the faculty in 2000, promoted to Reader in 2004, and to Professor in 2007. From 2014 to 2018, she served as a Royal Society Industry Fellow in partnership with Element Six Ltd, developing boron-doped diamond electrochemical sensors. She is co-director of the UK's first Collaborative Doctoral Training Centre in Diamond Science and Technology and leads research within the Warwick Electrochemistry and Interfaces Group.

Macpherson's research encompasses application-driven themes in electrochemistry and materials science, including the properties of carbon-based materials like boron-doped diamond for electrochemical sensors in healthcare and environmental monitoring, such as water quality assessment for pH and chlorine, pollutant removal via advanced oxidation processes targeting PFAS, electrosynthesis of chemicals, and control of metal, alloy, and semiconductor nanostructures. Her group employs electrochemical techniques, scanned probe and electron microscopy, operando spectroelectrochemistry, and fabrication methods like 3D printing and lithography for prototype sensors. She has received prestigious awards including the 2025 American Chemical Society Advances in Measurement Science Lectureship Award, 2023 Royal Society of Chemistry Tilden Prize, 2020 RSC Geoffrey Barker Award, 2017 Royal Society Innovation Award for boron-doped diamond sensors, 2006 McBain Medal, 2005 RSC Marlow Medal, and 2009 Warwick Award for Teaching Excellence, along with multiple Andrew McCamley Prizes for lecturing. Notable publications include 'Boron doped diamond: a designer electrode material for the twenty-first century' (Annual Review of Analytical Chemistry, 2018) and 'A Practical Guide to Using Boron Doped Diamond in Electrochemical Research' (Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2015). She teaches modules on statistical mechanics, electrochemistry, nanotechnology, electroanalysis, and sensors.