Dr Yu Chen

Reader, Nanoscience

I received my PhD from Birmingham University in 2000. After working in Birmingham University as a research fellow and then a principal research scientist, I responded to an advert for a lectureship at the Physics Department at Strathclyde University in 2007. Following a successful interview, I was appointed to a probationary lectureship in molecular nanometrology, funded by an EPSRC Science and Innovation Award. Since then, I have benefited from mentoring and the support provided by senior staff in the Department, especially Prof. David Birch (former Head of the Department, Head of the Photophysics group), Dr Carol Trager-Cowan (mentor), and Prof Robert Martin (former Head of the Department). My appointment as a lecturer was confirmed in 2011, and I was promoted to senior lecturer in 2013, and then to Reader in 2018.

My academic career flourished thanks to the multidisciplinary and collaborative environment within the Department, in particular with the support from Prof David Birch and the Photophysics research group. The supportive environment has enabled me to widen my research expertise and collaborate with other Departments, for example I jointly supervise PhD studentships with staff in the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS) and in the Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.

The ability to work flexibly allows me to balance work and family life. For example, teaching responsibilities are allocated so that colleagues share the responsibility of delivering courses and laboratories to students, and there is always a willing colleague to step in to cover a lecture or lab if a child is sick or an invitation arrives to speak at a prestigious a conference.

I find the range of courses on offer through Strathclyde’s Programme in Research and Leadership very useful and supportive and have attended workshops on preparing grant proposals for example. Such courses together with support from senior members of staff and peer observation helped me secure a research grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and subsequently to a successful case for promotion to senior lecturer in 2013.