Dr Chris Wedge - 2024 Award for Exceptional Service

Dr Chris Wedge MRSC

Winner: 2024 Award for Exceptional Service

RSC ESR Spectroscopy Group and Huddersfield Local Section

For outstanding service to the 萝莉社 through our member communities in Huddersfield and the ESR Spectroscopy community.

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Having worked alongside so many other committed RSC volunteers in the ESR Spectroscopy Interest Group, Huddersfield Local Section and NE Regional Steering Group, it is humbling to be singled out for recognition and I’m incredibly grateful to the hard-working committee colleagues who nominated me for this award.

Throughout his career as a spin-chemist, Chris Wedge has delved into the ‘spin’ property of electrons and atomic nuclei. The ‘spin-up’ and ‘spin-down’ states of an electron or nucleus have different energies when placed in a magnetic field. Chemists regularly use this fact in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, which probe, at the atomic scale, the local environment around an atomic nucleus or unpaired electron, providing exceptionally detailed structural information.

Chris’ research has focused on a novel method to increase NMR sensitivity: exciting electron spins using high-intensity laser light. This will open up new possibilities for NMR applications, helping scientists to probe more complex molecules and speeding up analysis by reducing the need for time-consuming signal averaging. His research could also open up new applications, such as routine NMR analysis of very low concentrations of metabolites for medical screening, which isn’t possible with current NMR sensitivity levels.

Read winner biography

Dr Christopher Wedge completed his DPhil working in the group of Professor Chris Timmel (University of Oxford), investigating the effects of radiofrequency magnetic fields on radical pair recombination reactions. His work on spin-locking phenomena was recently recognised as an illustration of the spin-Dicke effect. He remained in Oxford to carry out postdoctoral projects in both the physics and chemistry departments. Using EPR spectroscopy, Chris demonstrated how chemical modifications can tune the relaxation properties of molecular magnets proposed as electron spin qubits and reduce detection limits when studying magnetic field effects by developing a fluorescence microscope-based approach probing femtolitre volumes.

In 2013, Chris moved to the University of Warwick, where he was course leader for the Integrated Magnetic Resonance CDT. Alongside his highly rewarding primary role of working with PhD students from across the UK, Chris developed his independent research, achieving the proof of principle of a new optical method for sensitivity enhancement in liquid-state NMR.

Chris was appointed Senior Lecturer in Physical Chemistry at the University of Huddersfield in 2016, where he remained until September 2023. During this period, he continued developing the optically enhanced NMR technique. His PhD students developed the first numerical simulations of the method and translated the experimental approach onto a benchtop NMR system.

He has served on the ESR Spectroscopy Interest Group committee since 2015, becoming webmaster in 2016 and secretary in 2021, and plays a key role in the organisation of their multi-day annual international conference. He is also keen to promote public engagement in science and enjoys participating in school outreach events at Warwick and leading the practical sessions of the local Top of the Bench heats with his Huddersfield Local Section colleagues. Chris is currently an academic visitor at the EPSRC National Research Facility for EPR at The University of Manchester, and a remote tutor delivering HNC Applied Sciences.

Q&A

What inspired or motivated you to volunteer with the RSC?

I first became involved in the RSC ESR Spectroscopy Group as a DPhil student, helping my supervisor to host the 40th Annual International Conference in Oxford in 2007. Since then, I’ve only missed two of the RSC ESR conferences (both in London), and it is one of my favourite meetings. Having been warmly welcomed into the friendly ESR community and enjoyed so many wonderful conferences, I was delighted to be nominated to serve on the committee in 2015, little realising I would still be involved almost a decade later.

A persuasive former colleague can take credit for me joining the local section committee at Huddersfield. I’d always thought of the local sections as mostly arranging lunches for retired members and tried to say I was too busy with my interest group work. Then, the opportunity came up to be involved in running heats for Top of the Bench and the obvious importance of inspiring the next generation of chemists motivated me to get involved, working with a diverse and committed team on the committee.

Tell us about any highlights or memorable experiences you have had as a volunteer?

There were a few ups and downs through COVID that were particularly memorable. In March 2020, the committee debated whether to cancel our forthcoming conference, with our local organiser in Manchester, Professor Eric McInnes taking the brave decision to prioritise our health over group finances, little knowing that a fortnight later the first UK lockdown would be announced to come into force just days before the conference's scheduled start.

Just a couple of months later, we managed to run a very successful online version of the JEOL student prize talk competition, ensuring those already selected to compete at the conference didn’t miss out. That was a foretaste of an amazing online conference the following year attracting 52 delegates from 24 countries, by far the biggest reach the conference has ever had.

Pre-recorded video lectures exceeded 7,000 views, and despite many of the winners being in the US, we managed to arrange the scheduling over time zones to enjoy the Bruker Prize and Bruker Thesis Prize lectures from the 2020 and 2021 winners. As webmaster at the time, everything running smoothly was a huge relief to me, but the credit for the organisation has to go to Dr Emma Richards from Cardiff, who made such an impact we subsequently recruited her as treasurer.

Do you have any advice for managing volunteering commitments alongside a busy work life?

Knowing how to manage your time is important and volunteering will inevitably make you more busy, but it is also refreshing to have a break from your routine to do something different. Socialising with volunteer colleagues also means it isn’t all hard work.

What impact has volunteering with the RSC had on you, either personally or professionally?

I’ve met some amazing people on RSC committees, made some very good friends and important professional connections.

What advice would you give to somebody contemplating volunteering with the RSC?

I would definitely encourage potential volunteers to get involved. The RSC member networks run a lot of great events, but we can’t continue to do so without new volunteers. The more volunteers we have, the easier it is to spread the load across different people. I’ve been fortunate enough to be actively involved in organising Top of the Bench while letting others use their local knowledge and contacts to arrange local section social events such as walks and beer-tasting evenings. If you do volunteer, the RSC networks team are very supportive whenever you have a question or problem, and if you read the member networks handbook your committee colleagues will revere you as a fount of all knowledge!

Tell us about something you are excited for/would like to see next (either in the RSC member networks, or more widely in science).

I’m looking forward to the next RSC ESR group meeting, which is returning to London again in 2025; hopefully, this time, I will finally make a London meeting. In science, I’m excited to already be seeing photoexcited ESR being used more widely to investigate organic electronics and photovoltaics, and hope our community can continue to contribute to the much-needed technologies necessary to tackle climate change.