Current Group
Prof. Stuart Batten was born and raised on a farm in country Victoria. He completed his BSc(Hons) (1990) and PhD (1996) at the University of Melbourne with Richard Robson and Bernard Hoskins. This was followed by postdoctoral positions at Bristol, Melbourne and Monash, including two Australian Research Council Fellowships. He commenced a Lectureship at Monash in 2006, and has been a full Professor since 2012.
In addition to his research and numerous publications, he has also had a long and ongoing commitment to education at all levels. As well as his extensive undergraduate teaching, he has made significant and lasting contributions to postgraduate training, in particular through co-founding the Australasian Crystallography School in 2008 (to which he still contributes), and reviving the then defunct Victorian RACI Inorganic Symposium Day in 2004. Both these activities target postgraduate students and continue to run and prosper to this day. At the other end of the education timeline, he has also made substantial and unique contributions to STEM education at primary and secondary school level through his numerous outreach projects (described here), representation of Monash on the Chemistry Education Association committee, and coordination and running of most of the School of Chemistry’s school outreach activities.
Awards: Rennie Memorial Medal (RACI, 2002) • Edgeworth David Medal (Roy Soc NSW, 2003) • HG Andrewartha Medal (Roy Soc SA, 2005) • Vice-Chancellor’s ECR Award (Monash, 2006, inaugural award) • Victorian Young Tall Poppy Science Award (2006) • Cosmos Bright Sparks (Cosmos Magazine, 2007) • Le Fèvre Memorial Prize (AAS, 2008) • Thomson Scientific Citation Award (2008) • Fellow RACI (2008) • Ollé Prize (RACI, 2009) • Highly Cited Researcher (Thomson Reuters, 2014, 2015, 2016) • Fellow RSC (2017) • Hartung Lecturer (RACI, 2019) • Australian research field leader, Crystallography & Structural Chemistry (The Australian newspaper, 2019, 2020, 2021)
Selected other activities: Co-chair of inaugural Australasian Crystallography School (2008) • President of Society of Crystallographers in Australia and New Zealand (2014-2016) • Member of National Committee for Crystallography, Australian Academy of Science (2015-2023) • Chair of the International Union of Crystallography Commission on Structural Chemistry (2014-2017) • Chair of Vic Inorganic Chemistry Group (RACI, 2004-2010) • Member of three IUPAC task groups • Member of Editorial & Advisory Boards of Inorg Chim Acta, Polyhedron, ChemPlusChem, Acta Cryst Sect E • Associate Editor, Aust J Chem (2008-)
Links: Web of Science • Google Scholar • Orcid • Monash research profile • CV (pdf) • Academic Genealogy
Previous Group Members
Students
Jade Ang
• Amine-based coordination polymers: design, synthesis, and application (PhD 2023)
Ali Chahine
• Crystal Engineering and Coordination Polymers to Discover New Materials for Gases Storage (PhD 2020)
Adrian Emerson
• Amine-Based Porous Materials for Carbon Dioxide Capture (Hons 2013)
• Amine-Based Porous Materials for Carbon Dioxide Capture (PhD 2019)
Yuniar Ponco Prananto
• Synthesis and Structure of Metal Complexes and Coordination Polymers of 3-Pyrazol-1-yl Based Ligands (MSc 2009)
• Metal Complexes Containing Cyanoacetamide and Its Derivatives (PhD 2019)
Sam Cohen
• N,N’-Bis(4-pyridyl-methyl)diaza-18-crown-6 Variable Length Ligands for Coordination Polymers (Hons 2019)
Caspar Schneider
• Studies in Polynuclear Iron(II) Spin-crossover Complexes (PhD 2018)
Emily Mensforth
• Dithiocarbamate, Cubanedicarboxylate and Mixed Ligand Coordination Polymers (PhD 2017)
Gordon Wearing-Smith
• Synthesis of novel scorpionate ligands (Hons 2017)
Luke Giles
• Synthesis of Coordination Polymers using Soft Matter Supramolecular Templates (Hons 2017)
Lauren Macreadie
• Synthesis of Single Source Molecular Precursors for the Development of Metal Sulfide Thin Films for Photovoltaic Applications (PhD 2016)
Greg Hall
• Design, Synthesis and Investigation of Supramolecular Nanoballs (Hons 2009)
• Functional Coordination Materials from Scorpionate and Heterotopic Ligands (PhD 2015)
Christin Patzschke
• Amine Functionalised Metal-Organic Frameworks for Carbon Dioxide Capture (PhD 2015)
Nur Hafizah
• Nanoball Networks (Hons 2015)
Hayley Scott
• Spin Crossover in Iron(II) and Cobalt(II) Complexes Including Multifunctional Materials (PhD 2014)
Anna Ahveninen
• Multifunctional Metallosupramolecules (Hons 2014)
Mohd Rizal Rizali
• Metal Complexes of Small Cyano Anions and their Derivatives (PhD 2013)
Anthony Chesman
• Pseudohalide Complexes of Lanthanoid and Transition Metals (Hons 2006)
• Metal Complexes Containing Dicyanonitrosomethanide and its Derivatives (PhD 2011)
Tamsyn Ross
• Magnetostructural studies of some mono- and polynuclear FeII spin crossover compounds containing new 2,2’-dipyridylamino-substituted s-triazine ligands (PhD 2011)
Nick Chilton
• Synthesis, Structure and Magnetic Anisotropy of Lanthanoid-Based Single Ion Magnets (Hons 2011)
Melina Nematirad
• Variable Length Ligands in Supramolecular Chemistry and Crystal Engineering (Hons 2010)
Martin Duriska
• Incorporation of Scorpionate Ligands into Coordination Polymers and Supramolecules (Hons 2003)
• Introducting Multiple Functions into Discrete Supramolecules and Coordination Polymers (PhD 2008)
Madleen Busse
• New Trigonal Ligands for Crystal Engineering and Metallosupramolecular Chemistry (MSc Pt 1 2006)
Anna Kutasi
• Synthesis, Structural and Magnetic Properties of Coordination Polymers using Dicyanamide and Nitrogen-Donor Heterocyclic Ligands (Hons 2001)
• Synthesis, Structure and Magnetism of Metal Complexes Containing Organocyano Ligands (PhD 2006)
Postdocs
Dr. Will Gee
Dr. Martin Grannas
Dr. Chris Hawes
Dr. Jamie Hicks
Dr. Paul Jensen
Dr. Solomon Kelemu
Dr. Jinzhen Lu
Dr. Jon MacLellan
Dr. Laura McCormick
Dr. Adarsh Narayanan
Dr. David Turner
Dr. Aron Urbatsch