Hulme group alumna Dr Edith Sandström has been recognised for her research accomplishments and contributions to the School community. Congratulations to PhD graduate Edith Sandström, who has been named the winner of the 2024 Fraser and Norma Stoddart PhD Prize. This prestigious prize is awarded annually to PhD graduate who has shown not only excellence in research, but has also contributed to the life of students within the School. Edith completed her PhD research within the Hulme group. She is continuing to develop her skills in analytical chemistry within her current role as postdoctoral researcher at the Maastricht MultiModal Molecular Imaging Research Institute (M4i) at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. In September, she will return to the School of Chemistry to receive her prize and give a presentation on her research. PhD alumna Dr Edith Sandström I was shocked and incredibly thrilled to receive the news that I was the recipient of the Fraser and Norma Stoddart PhD Prize 2024! I feel both honoured and humbled for this recognition of my research and amazed that my name will be on the wall of the corridor I have walked so many times. I would not have been able to achieve anything without the support of all my supervisors, the Hulme group, and my family, so I am very grateful to everyone for their help and encouragement! Dr Edith Sandström 2024 Stoddart prize winner I was delighted to hear that Edith won the 2024 Fraser and Norma Stoddart Prize. It is wonderful to see Edith’s hard work recognised in this way as she has made a huge contribution to the group and the School of Chemistry during her time here. Congratulations, Edith! Professor Alison Hulme Personal Chair of Synthesis and Chemical Biology Research summary Edith describes her successful heritage science research and PhD journey below: “My PhD research was within the field of heritage science which is the scientific study of our collective cultural heritage; combining science and art. Most techniques that do not affect the analysed object are limited in how much information can be gathered, while techniques that are more informative often are destructive and require sampling. The need to analyse objects to better understand our past therefore has to be balanced with the need to preserve the objects for future generations. This challenge requires the continuous development of analytical techniques. My PhD research was focussed on developing analytical approaches that reduced the impact of the analysis on the object while maintaining the level of information collected. The overarching purpose of my research was to analyse the dyes present in a collection of Renaissance embroideries housed at the National Museums Scotland. Dye analysis in historical textiles is important to understand the availability of raw materials and manufacturing processes to the society of production as well as global trade relations. Identifying and understanding the dyes used in fragile objects such as textiles are also important from a museum perspective to inform strategies of conservation, storage, and display. My PhD can be divided into two parts, with the first part being the development of a sample preparation workflow for chromatographic analysis that allowed for simultaneous processing of up to 96 samples and minimised the use of solvents. This optimisation made it possible to reduce the required size of the historical sample up to 10× compared to previous methods. It also made the analysis more reproducible, allowing more sophisticated statistical methods to be used on the data. The second part of my PhD was the development of a desorption electrospray ionisation source for mass spectrometry, which made it possible to analyse early synthetic dyes from a textile without any sample removal and without any visual damage. This technique has not been successfully applied to historical dyestuffs before and its introduction opens up an avenue of informative, non-invasive methods that is only destructive at the molecular level.” Speaking about her ambitions for the future, Edith said: “I hope to proceed to expand the field of heritage science with the development of advanced analytical techniques to better understand our material heritage. I would not have been able to secure and succeed in my current position without the training and experience I received at the University of Edinburgh and National Museums Scotland, so I am grateful for all the opportunities made possible by my PhD.” Find out more about the Hulme group (external link) Dr Edith Sandström conducting dye analysis on historical textiles The Fraser and Norma Stoddart PhD Prize The annual Fraser and Norma Stoddart PhD Prize was established in 2013 by internationally renowned chemist Professor Sir Fraser Stoddart, who studied Chemistry with his wife Norma in Edinburgh in the 1960s. Sir Fraser Stoddart went on to share the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Ben Feringa and Jean-Pierre Sauvage in 2016 for the design and synthesis of molecular machines. This prestigious prize honours PhD students who best remind us of the outstanding science, service and humanity that Fraser and Norma have brought to science. Candidates are expected not only to have demonstrated superior research accomplishments throughout their time at Edinburgh but they should also have contributed to the life of students within the School of Chemistry and beyond. More about the Fraser and Norma Stoddart PhD Prize in Edinburgh Friends This article was published on 2024-06-20
