Dr George Fern

Dr. Fern moved to Brunel University in January 2006 and carries out research in the Wolfson
Centre for Materials Processing, as well as holding a lectureship in the School of Engineering
and Design. Before taking up his current post he was a lecturer in Chemistry at the
University of Greenwich (1998-2005). Prior to this he was a research assistant at the
University of Hull (1997-8).

George Fern gained his Chemistry BSc in 1993 and PhD in 1997 both from Essex
University. His PhD was partly industrially sponsored by an EPSRC CASE award with
the Nitrogen Fixation Laboratory, John Innes Centre. His thesis title was ‘Structural
studies on iron sulfur clusters and ferrocenyl compounds, the importance of lattice
effects’. He became a Chartered Chemist and Member of the Royal Society of
Chemistry in 2001. Whilst at Brunel University, he undertook a Post Graduate Diploma
in Higher Education (PGDipHE) and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
(2007). He is also a Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society.

Research Interests

 

Research Activity

George Fern is particularly interested in the structural properties of materials. This
interest started during his PhD investigations using X-ray diffraction measurements
and Mossbauer Spectroscopy and has continued with the utilisation of a range of
techniques, particularly through the study of materials using transmission electron
microscopy and X-ray powder diffraction. He also has interests in the chemical
interaction of materials with surfaces that can be applied to chemical sensors for
environmental and biological sensing. His past work as a research assistant allowed
him to become very familiar with chemical identification methods and his work as a
lecturer in Chemistry enabled him to gain a variety of expertise in chemical synthetic
and analytical and assay methodology which has allowed him to apply his knowledge
in this variety of fields ranging from biomaterials, chemistry and materials chemistry.
He was the Secretary (2002-2006) of the Mössbauer Spectroscopy Discussion Group
of the Royal Society of Chemistry and is currently the Chairman of this Special Interest
Group (2006-present). He was voted onto the international board of Mössbauer
spectroscopists for the years 2007-2013 as one of two UK representatives. He
currently serves on the Dalton Council of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2009-10).