Organizing Committee

Craig is a Reader in Structural and Mechanistic Chemistry and Director of Chemical NMR in the School of Chemistry at the University of Bristol. He obtained his PhD in 1996 working in the group of Professor Michael Hartshorn at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, working on mechanisms of photonitration – a project that involved substantial amounts of compound isolation and structure determination. A post-doctoral stint with Professor Roger Alder at the University of Bristol, from 1996-99 strengthened his structural interests – in this case isolating, characterising and calculating the structures of stable carbenes and their precursors. A Lectureship at Exeter University (1999-2005) was followed by a return to Bristol in 2006 with appointment as Director of NMR and a Readership in 2011.

His research interests focus on the control and elucidation of structure in organic systems, which have included studies of fullerene adducts and his current interests in NMR methodology and structured ionic liquid chemistry. Specialising in NOE-distance determinations, Craig’s group is applying high-accuracy studies of interproton distances to the determination of 3-dimensional structure (conformation and stereochemistry) to complex organic molecules. He is also interested in developing and enhancing NMR experimental techniques to maximise the quality and quantity of data which can be extracted from a single experiment. He has co-authored over 70 publications and presented around 20 scientific talks to international audiences, and joined the SMASH organising committee in late 2011.