Max García-Melchor Assistant Professor

Dr. Max García-Melchor is an Ussher Assistant Professor in Chemical Energy Systems in the School of Chemistry of Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), and Principal Investigator in the Advanced Materials and Bioengineering Research (AMBER) Centre. He obtained his PhD in Chemistry at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, followed by four years of postdoctoral experience at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) and Stanford University.

Since 2016, he leads the very active Computational Catalysis and Energy Materials (CCEM) Group, which strives to use advanced computational methods and artificial intelligence to accelerate the discovery of cost-effective materials for the sustainable production of chemicals and fuels. His research has contributed to several breakthroughs in the field, including the elucidation of complex reaction mechanisms in C–H activation and C–C coupling processes, the development of machine learning models to predict the activity of molecular water oxidation catalysts, and the design of some of the most active electrocatalysts reported to date for this process in alkaline media.

The impact of his work has been recognised with several international awards (e.g. RSEQ Young Group Leader Award, RSC Roger Parsons Medal, RSEQ/GEQO Young Investigator Award), and has been featured heavily in journal front covers and international media. He is member of the Editorial Board of several international scientific journals, Irish Representative at the European Federation of Catalysis Societies, and Course Director of the MSc in Energy Science at Trinity College Dublin.