Alison Downard

Biography

Alison Downard is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Canterbury and a Principal Investigator of the MacDiarmid Institute. She gained her PhD at the University of Otago and undertook postdoctoral research at the University of Southampton with Prof. Derek Pletcher and at UNC-Chapel Hill with Prof. T. J. Meyer. She has an Honorary Doctorate from the Université de Rennes 1, France. Alison has published more than 100 refereed papers on various aspects of electrochemistry. Her current major focus is on electrochemistry for surface engineering. She has undertaken various leadership roles including Associate Dean of Science, University of Canterbury (1999-2004) and Head of Department of Chemistry (2009-2010) and is currently Chair of the Analytical Electrochemistry Division of the International Society of Electrochemistry.

Research Interest

Alison’s research focuses on surface engineering, giving new properties to a surface while maintaining the usual properties of the bulk material. For example, a coating can be applied to improve the biocompatibility, corrosion resistance or self-cleaning properties of a material. A surface can also be modified with small numbers of molecules that act as tethers to anchor functional species such as biomolecules, inorganic molecules or nano-objects for the smart materials of the future. Alison’s group is expert in radical-based grafting procedures that give nanoscale coatings that are extremely strongly attached to the surface. Current research projects include strategies to control the growth of the layers and applications of surface functionalization in energy storage and conversion, and for controlling cell-surface interactions.