It struck me as a reassuring image – a place where intellectual ambition did not exclude a sense of fun.

A few months later, in October 2022, I took up a Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), having just completed my PhD in Chemical Engineering at Trinity College, Cambridge – Christ Church’s sister college. College life was returning to its familiar rhythm after Covid-19, and I was fortunate to join at that time. I was very kindly hosted in the group of Professor Dirk Aarts in the Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory. That first impression of warmth and collegiality proved entirely accurate.

From the perspective of a physical chemist, many everyday substances – paints, milk, even blood – share something in common: they consist of tiny solid particles dispersed in a liquid. Understanding how these particles interact is crucial. Do they remain evenly dispersed, giving us smooth paint or stable milk, or do they clump together? My fellowship research focused on measuring and controlling the interactions between such particles, helping us understand and predict when dispersions remain stable and perform as intended.

During my time as a JRF, I extended this work to so-called “active” particles – systems whose components consume energy and move by themselves. In collaboration with Prof. Chantal Valeriani at the Complutense University of Madrid, we adapted techniques developed for passive particles to models of active systems, including those inspired by bacteria. The collective behaviour of such systems is central to many questions in antimicrobial resistance. Unlike paint or milk, these systems are inherently dynamic: the particles propel themselves, interact, and organise in ways that are far from equilibrium. Exploring how to characterise and control interactions in such active systems opened up new questions at the boundary between biology, chemistry, and physics. With generous support from Christ Church and the Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial Research, I spent two weeks working with the group in Madrid, followed by presenting our work at the International Soft Matter Conference 2025 in Crete.

Beyond these specific projects, the fellowship provided something invaluable: the space to pursue new ideas, build wider collaborations, and begin shaping a research direction distinct from my doctoral work. Although my experiments were based in the department, I felt fortunate to belong to more than one academic home. I also valued serving as the JRF representative on the college’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, contributing in a small way to the wider life and governance of the community.

It was often around the dinner table – at High Table, guest nights, or the occasional detective dinner – that I was reminded that academic community is sustained not only by research, but by friendship. I leave with ongoing academic collaborations, as well as close friendships that I hope will endure, and many shared memories. Christ Church has a particularly strong and varied early-career community. JRFs, stipendiary lecturers, and postdoctoral research fellows from across the academic spectrum form a lively intellectual cohort, and it was a privilege to be part of it. The JRF exchange dinners with other colleges provided a particularly enjoyable forum. Before these dinners, we would give short talks on our research; I once gave a short talk with the deliberately unpromising title 'Watching Paint Dry'. The title provoked some laughter, but also a lively and thoughtful discussion. Communicating science beyond specialist audiences has always mattered to me, and during the fellowship I remained involved in school outreach and wrote an article about my research for a professional magazine.

Looking back, the JRF came at a formative moment in my career. Some major awards for my doctoral work – including the IMA Lighthill–Thwaites Prize (2023) and the RSC/SCI Katharine Burr Blodgett Prize (2023) – were announced only after I had taken up the fellowship, and I remain especially grateful that Christ Church’s confidence in me preceded that wider recognition.

I took up a position as Lecturer in Chemical Engineering at the University of Bath in January 2026. While I will miss the daily rhythm of college life – particularly the food – I leave with enduring collaborations, close friendships, and a deep appreciation for the community that shaped this stage of my career. I look forward to returning often and to maintaining my connection with Christ Church in the years ahead.