Ben Woolley

Dr Woolley obtained his MSci in Chemistry from Imperial College London in 2020. His MSci project was under the supervision of Professor George Britovsek and investigated the use of palladium complexes for the oxidation of methane, where he was awarded the HVA Briscoe prize for Excellence in Inorganic Chemistry. Dr Woolley then remained at Imperial College London to undertake his PhD under the supervision of Professor Nicholas Long in molecular imaging chemistry, with his thesis titled "Imaging Probes for Brain Inflammation and Blood-Brain Barrier Penetration” which involved the synthesis and characterisation of a range of organic fluorophores, carbon-11 and fluorine-18 radiochemistry, and the synthesis of a range of transition metal and lanthanide complexes for techniques such as MRI and PET imaging.

Dr Woolley has always been interested in teaching, and was heavily involved in outreach as a student, leading outreach activities, teaching on summer schools, and designing new outreach experiments. As a PhD student, Dr Woolley was heavily involved in demonstrating synthetic undergraduate laboratories, including working as a student partner in the design of a 1st year synthetic chemistry practical experiment focusing on supporting the transition from school- to university-level chemistry, as well as leading workshops on transition metal chemistry and mass spectrometry. Dr Woolley has also completed school teaching placements at Plantsbrook School and Harris Westminster Sixth Form as well as having over 10 years private tutoring experience.

Before moving to the University of Reading in 2025, Dr Woolley was previously a Teaching Lecturer in Chemistry at Lancaster University where he taught across a range of topics including: transition metal coordination chemistry, crystal field theory, transition metal colour and magnetism, organometallic chemistry and catalysis, main group chemistry, lanthanide chemistry, spectroscopy and analytical chemistry, and kinetics. Dr Woolley was also the Synthetic Laboratory Coordinator and was a key member of the curriculum transformation team in the department, particularly focusing on the redesign of the practical chemistry curriculum and assessments, and appropriate progression of theory throughout the years.