Rate My Professor Luke Connal

Professor Luke Connal is a Professor in the Research School of Chemistry at the Australian National University. He received a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering and a PhD in polymer chemistry, both from the University of Melbourne. In 2009, he completed a postdoctoral position with Professor Frank Caruso, developing new techniques for the self-assembly of polymers. He subsequently held a joint Sir Keith Murdoch Postdoctoral Fellowship and Australian Linkage International Fellowship at the University of California, Santa Barbara, working with Professor Craig Hawker. In 2013, Connal returned to the University of Melbourne as a veski Innovation Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He moved his research group to the Australian National University in 2017.

Connal is an ARC Mid-Career Industry Fellow and serves as Associate Editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Molecular Systems Design and Engineering. He is also Chair of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute Polymer Division and co-founder of two spin-out companies. His research focuses on the development of molecular design concepts to create new materials for applications including artificial skin and tissues, sustainable polymers and surfactants, additive manufacturing electronics, and water harvesting, with core competencies in advanced polymer design, self-assembly, and catalysis. He has received the David Syme Research Prize and the Grimwade Prize in Industrial Chemistry.