Research
WE ARE RANKED NUMBER 1 IN THE UK FOR RESEARCH INTENSITY IN CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
(Complete University Guide 2021)
Chemists and Chemical Engineers working together towards a healthy and sustainable future.
We bring together fundamental and applied research, generating real-world impact, evidenced by vibrant spin-out activity and high-profile industrial collaborations.
Our Research
Research Themes
Healthcare, sustainability and fundamental studies
Our research falls under three themes: Health, Sustainability and Fundamental Science. Our work on Sustainability spans five focus areas: CO2 capture and utilisation, clean water, hydrogen and bioenergy, sustainable manufacturing and circular economy. Research on Health covers clean synthesis, antimicrobials and sensors. Our fundamental work, particularly focused on supramolecular chemistry and frontiers of the liquid phase, is the foundation on which we build our more applied projects.
Research Centres
Research Centres
QUILL – Queen’s University Ionic Liquid Laboratories CO2@QUB – Carbon Capture and Utilisation Research Lab CASE – Centre for Advanced Sustainable Energy
Research Centres
Research Environment and Culture
Working together
We are continuously working to nurture a friendly, creative and collaborative research environment. The School is proud of its Silver Athena SWAN Award, a vibrant program of seminars and a strong outreach profile, all of which are described in this section. Visit to learn more about our Early Career Forum, Postgraduate Researchers Forum and research technicians.
Research Environment
Research Impact
Making a difference
Research impact comes in many flavours: impactful papers, growing spin-out companies, technologies developed and implemented with industrial partners, as well as policies and roadmaps. Our School was ranked #3 (joint) in the UK for Research Impact in Research Excellence Framework 2021; browse this section to learn more.
Research ImpactLatest Publications
Probing the coupled equilibria between metal nanoparticles, antibiotics and components of the extracellular matrix in biofilms with SERS
- Wafaa Aiad M Aljuhani
- Matthew Wylie
- Rudra N. Purusottam
- Colin McCoy
- Steven Bell
Phenylboronic acid-modified polyethyleneimine: a glycan-targeting anti-biofilm polymer for inhibiting bacterial adhesion to mucin and enhancing antibiotic efficacy
- Lorcan Rooney
- Andrew Marshall
- Michael Tunney
- Seyed Tabaei
Unusual mechanism of aziridine biosynthesis catalysed by an αKG-dependent non-heme enzyme TqaL
2 April 2025Evaluation of magnetic teawaste-based biochar particles for removal of cadmium from aqueous solutions
- Matthew Ervine
- Chirangano Mangwandi