Professor Annette Taylor

BSc, PhD, MRSC, FHEA

School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering

Professor

Director of Student Experience

Athena Swan Champion

Chair of Opportunities Committee

Dr Annette Taylor
Profile picture of Dr Annette Taylor
a.f.taylor@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 9607
Room C31, Pam Liversidge Building

Full contact details

Professor Annette Taylor
School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering
Room C31
Pam Liversidge Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
Profile

I obtained a BSc and PhD from Physical Chemistry at the University of Leeds and was later RCUK Fellow, then Senior Lecturer, before taking a position in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield in 2014. During my time at Leeds I also held Visiting Researcher positions with collaborators in the USA. My research involves combining chemical kinetics and mass transport with applications in materials science and biological processes.

I have over 50 publications, including in Science and PRL, and have written News and Views articles for Nature and Nature Chemistry. I have obtained research funding from the EPSRC, EU FP7 and Innovate UK as well as funding for teaching and outreach related projects from HESTEM and the RSC. I'm a member of the management committee of the COST action on Emergence and Evolution in Complex Chemical Systems and a Member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science (American Institute of Physics). In 2016, I was elected Chair of the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Oscillations and Dynamic Instabilities in Chemical Systems. I'm also a member of the EPSRC peer review college and an international grant reviewer for many organisations, including the ERC.

I'm the Athena SWAN Champion and Chair of the Opportunities Committee on matters related to Equality and Diversity in CBE at Sheffield. I recently led a successful departmental application for a Silver Athena SWAN Award.

Research interests

My research involves reaction engineering: the design and optimisation of chemical/biochemical systems through consideration of catalytic reaction networks coupled with mass transport. The research combines experiments with kinetic modelling and has a wide range of applications such bio-reactors for fuel or food, materials formation or degradation, drug delivery and sensing.

I'm particularly interested in aqueous phase catalysis and control of dynamics in cellular biological or bioinspired chemical systems. Taking inspiration from nature or the use of natural components allows us to design functional materials and processes that are greener or more sustainable, but also harness the unique properties arising from feedback in natural systems including collective behaviour (e.g. quorum sensing in bacteria) and self-organisation.

Some current projects include:

  • New methods for the bio-catalytic control of gelation for natural adhesives and repair with Prof Pojman (Louisianna State University)
  • Enzyme loaded colloids or vesicles for biotechnology and healthcare applications with Dr Rossi (Salerno) and Dr Beales (Leeds)
  • Self-organisation in precipitation processes with Prof’s Horvath and Toth (Szeged) and Prof Meldrum (Leeds)
  • Bio-based and biodegradable materials: Optimising ester hydrolysis in polymers and lignocellulose processing for bioethanol production
  • Engineering applications of biomineralisation and biofilm formation with Dr Karunakaran and the SCARAB team (Sheffield)

COST action on Emergence and Evolution in Complex Chemical Systems

Gordon Research Conference on Oscillations and Dynamic Instabilities in Chemical Systems

Publications

Journal articles

Chapters

Conference proceedings papers

Software / Code

Datasets

Other