With a background in water quality sensor development in industry and academia, my current research is primarily focused on explosive vapour detection by optical sensing for landmines and IEDs. In the Organic Semiconductor Centre we develop and characterise conjugated polymer films that are sensitive to nitroaromatic molecules such as TNT. My main focus is in developing the instrumentation to take these advanced materials into the field, and improving selectivity and specificity for target molecules.

Other active research interests include:

• Sol-gel coatings for molecular imprinting
• Detection of explosive molecules in aqueous environments
• Pesticide sensing
• Preconcentration materials and techniques for trace chemical sampling and detection
• Use of honeybees in environmental sensing
• Sensor arrays.