About
Robert Raja is Professor of Materials Chemistry and Catalysis at the University of Southampton and co-founder and Chief Scientific Advisor of ViridiCO2, a spin-out company from the Raja lab.
The focal theme of research within his Group entails the discovery, design and fabrication of novel catalytic materials, for application as single-site heterogeneous catalysts, in chemical, pharmaceutical, fine-chemical and environmental sectors for developing sustainable technologies. The diversity of his research has also been pivotal in establishing a predictive design platform for the discovery of advanced catalytic materials, expanding scope to the rational design of hybrid materials and photonic fibres for hydrogen generation and CO2 storage and utilisation.
His research includes funding from UKRI (EPSRC), Royal Society, European Commission Horizon 2020 programme, core membership to the EPSRC UK Catalysis Hub as a co-investigator, and framework grants with industrial partners (Total Research and Technology (Europe), Honeywell (USA), UOP (USA), Signa Chemistry (USA), Bayer (Germany)). His research has been instrumental in licensing catalytic technology to the chemical and pharmaceutical industries and his IP portfolio in the sustainable manufacture of polymers and nylon is being developed for pilot studies.
Author of over 225 research publications in peer-reviewed journals (h-index 48; www.scopus.com) and inventor on 50+ International Patents.
Notable accolades include: The 2020 Emerging Technologies Award in Energy and Environment (Royal Society of Chemistry), The Honeywell Inventor Award, Erskine Fellowship awarded by the University of Canterbury (New Zealand), the Santander Universities Entrepreneurial Award, and the Barrer Award by the Royal Society of Chemistry ‘in recognition of outstanding contributions to preparative materials chemistry and their application to industrial catalysis’. He is also a Visiting Professor at several universities worldwide.