Richard Eric Parry Winpenny - Biography#

R. E. P. Winpenny (REPW) received his B.Sc. degree in Chemistry from Imperial College London (1985) and his PhD on metal-organic frameworks under supervision of D. M. L. Goodgame at Imperial College London (1988). REPW then joined J. P. Fackler Jr.’s group at Texas A&M working on gold clusters (1988-1989).

REPW joined the University of Edinburgh in 1990 and developed a research programme on molecular nanomagnets (MNMs). This coincided with the discovery of single molecule magnets by Gatteschi’s group and REPW’s team rapidly developed much synthetic chemistry around MNMs. REPW became involved in multiple European collaborations including with Benelli and Gatteschi (Florence, funded by NATO) and with Mallah (Paris, funded by The British Council).

In 2000 REPW moved to the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry at Manchester, building a world-leading team in molecular magnetism. European collaborations continued, funded by Marie-Curie Training Networks, and REPW was a key member of the Network of Excellent “MAGMANet” (2005-2010). This led to the establishment of the European Institute of Molecular Magnetism, of which REPW is a Director. REPW also led two INTAS networks (2001-03 and 2003-06) involving groups from Germany, Moldova, Ukraine and Russia. REPW has hosted five Marie-Curie Fellows and has trained 49 post-doctoral researchers and 50 PhD students. Over 30 years REPW has trained over 70 Masters students in research projects. Former group members hold academic positions in the UK(7 former colleagues), Spain(3), Denmark(1), France(3), India(6), China(1) and Panama(1).

REPW holds an ERC Advanced Grant (2018-2023), and Proof-of-Concept Grant (2020-22). REPW’s current group contains nine post-doctoral researchers and seven PhD students.

REPW has organised several conferences and is organising the International Conference on Molecule-Based Magnets in Manchester in 2021.

REPW’s prize-winning spin-out Sci-Tron (https://sci-tron.com) has three employees at post-doctoral level.