TCD

Trinity College Dublin

TCD is the top university in Ireland and 81st in the 2024 QS World University Rankings. Founded in 1592, TCD is steeped in history with a reputation for excellence in education, research and innovation. Located on an iconic campus in the heart of Dublin’s city centre, it has over 18,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students. With 24 academic schools, it offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses across all the major disciplines, including arts and humanities, business, law, engineering, science, maths and health sciences. TCD ranks in the top 100 in 18 subjects and is the 8th most international university in the world with students and staff from over 120 countries, making it a truly diverse and international campus.  Moreover, it currently has a portfolio of 150+ patent families, and 35+ active spin-out companies and engages extensively with both the SME and MNC sectors in Ireland and abroad.

The team

Max Garcia Melchor

Adjunct Professor

He is an Adjunct Professor in Chemical Energy Systems in the School of Chemistry at TCD, and a Principal Investigator in the Advanced Materials and Bioengineering Research (AMBER) Centre. He obtained his PhD in Chemistry at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, followed by four years of postdoctoral research at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) and Stanford University.

Since 2016, he leads the very active Computational Catalysis and Energy Materials (CCEM) Group, which strives to use advanced computational methods and artificial intelligence to accelerate the discovery of catalytic materials for the sustainable production of chemicals and fuels. The impact of his work has been recognized with several international awards (e.g. RSC Roger Parsons Medal, RSEQ/GEQO Young Investigator Award, RSEQ Young Group Leader Award, etc.), and has been featured heavily on journal front covers and international media. He is a member of the Editorial Board of several international scientific journals; the Irish Representative at the European Federation of Catalysis Societies; and Director of Chemistry with Molecular Modelling at Trinity College Dublin.

Prof. Graeme Watson

Professor of Theoretical Chemistry

Graeme completed a PhD in Chemistry in 1994 under the supervision of Prof Stephen C. Parker at Bath. He held postdoctoral fellowships at Bath, Liverpool and Cardiff, the later with Prof. Graham J. Hutchings. In 2000 Graeme took up a lectureship in the department of Chemistry at Trinity College Dublin and was made a fellow of Trinity College in 2002. Graeme was subsequently promoted to Senior Lecture (2004) and Associate Professor (2006). Graeme has served as Head of School(2007), Deputy Head of the Department (2004-2005), Head of Discipline – Physical, computational and Materials Chemistry (2005-2008), Director of the Moderatorship of Computational Chemistry (2002-2006) and Director of the Trinity Centre for High Performance Computing (2005-2007), the Director of Teaching and Learning (UG) (2009-11), Director of the Moderatorship of Chemistry with Molecular Modelling (2009-11, 14-), Science Course Director (2011-2014) and Directory of Teaching and Learning (PG) (2014-2015).