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Lab News
This page documents the latest news and updates, be they academic or social, coming out of the SCoTCH group
Mar, 2026
'A Great Day': SCoTCH Winter Research Day
Another excellent research day has come and gone. As always, it was great to see what everyone in the SCoTCH lab had been getting up to, especially to see the work of all the new members of the lab! But it wasn't just research - the lab also got to enjoy the yearly SCoTCHies awards, as well as an excellent evening meal to tie off 'a great day' of research!
Mar, 2026
Collaboration Bears Fruit
Recently, four members of SCoTCH group: Malin Zollner, Ryan Fraser, Nikita Myasnikov and Jack Rodden were awarded for their submission to Strathclyde's 'Images of Collaboration' competition. Designed to celebrate 'how Postgraduate Researchers experience, practise, and value collaboration in their research', the quartet submitted to the Collegiality and Belonging theme, and won the best in theme award! Their submission, 'Fragments of Collaboration', celebrated 'everyday fragments of collaboration within' the SCoTCH lab, and consisted of a patchwork of each of the team's interpretation of the lab. Everyone in the SCoTCH lab warmly congratulates them on their success!
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Feb, 2026
Malin Publishes First Papers
Everyone in the SCoTCH lab gives a massive congratulations to Malin for publishing two first-author papers - her first such publications. The papers, 'Learning the limits: how data, diversity, and representation control machine-learning predictions of reorganisation energy' and 'Artificial intelligence in the discovery and design of molecular semiconductors: a systematic review', were "an important milestone in my research journey" said Malin when asked for comment. It was "an incredibly rewarding experience", and Malin was "very grateful to my supervisors, Dr. Tahereh Nematiaram and Dr. Yashar Moshfeghi, for their guidance, support, and for giving me the opportunity to contribute to [the] work". We all look forward to Malin's next project!
Feb 2026
Bridging the Gap
Last week the SCoTCH lab partook in a team building exercise to build bridges, both physically and socially. The group was divided into small teams, with each given paper, craft sticks, string, and tape to make the best bridge they could. Each construction was then ranked objectively on its carrying capacity, and subjectively based on judging from the other teams. In all, it was a wonderful time, and fun was had by all on an otherwise dreich Thursday afternoon. The team of Ross and Jack, along with one of the lab's Masters' students Eilidh, were the only ones to build a bridge capable of withstanding the entire battery of weights, and thus were deemed the winners of bragging rights. Congratulations to them!
Jan 2026
Ross Celebrates Viva Defence
Congratulations to Dr. Ross Urquhart, who recently celebrated the successful defence of his PhD thesis. Entitled 'Chemical Space Exploration: Beyond Anthropogenic Reaction Features', Ross' viva was examined by Marc Reid (University of Strathclyde) and Fernanda Duarte (University of Oxford), with Sebastian Sprick (University of Strathclyde) acting as Convener. When asked about the defence, Ross said it was 'thought provoking', and stimulated ideas for 'current and future' research. However, he was 'delighted to be done'. Everyone in the SCoTCH lab congratulates Ross and wishes him all the best in his next steps. But he hasn't travelled far at all - Ross is now a postdoc in the Tuttle lab, and so is sitting at exactly the same desk!