What’s your job title and how long have you been at Loughborough?

I am a Senior Lecturer in Chemistry and I have been here for about seven years.

Tell us what a typical day in your job looks like?

I get into the office between 8am and 9.15am, depending on whether or not I brought my children to school first. After I get into work, I usually try to get 2-3 hours of uninterrupted work time where I can concentrate my full attention to a task that I want to achieve that day. This could be working on a paper, a grant, a new lecture course, or marking student work. During this time I usually keep my emails and Teams turned off to avoid distractions.

Later in the day I open my emails and usually find out that my inbox is filled with requests from a variety of different people, such as undergraduates, research students, admin staff, or international collaborators. The next hours are then filled with responding to and acting on these emails.

Scattered during the day, I also have lectures and various in-person and online meetings. These meetings could be related to various administrative tasks, such as the Learning and Teaching Committee and the Undergraduate Admissions Taskforce or I could be talking about research to my PhD students and colleagues.

On most days, enjoy the variety of different tasks that my job offers and the mix between research and teaching. Sometimes, my job gets a bit hectic if too many requests and tasks are coming in at the same time.

What’s your favourite project you’ve worked on?

I am very much enjoying a joint project with an organic chemist at Cambridge. We are working on translating some fairly abstract theory, developed by me initially, into rules that can be effectively be used by him to make new molecules that can ultimately improve the efficiency of solar cells.

What is your proudest moment at Loughborough?

I was very proud when my first PhD student, Patrick, graduated and later found a great job he enjoys.

Tell us something you do outside of work that we might not know about?

I enjoy running with my running club. In summer, you can find me paddle boarding on the Soar river. If I have some more time I enjoy a good hike (especially back home in the Austrian Alps).

What is your favourite quote?

Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible – Richard Feynman.

If you would like to feature in ‘5 Minutes With’, or you work with someone who you think would be great to include, please email Lilia Boukikova at L.Boukikova@lboro.ac.uk