Dr Carin Johansson Seechurn

Winner: 2020 Applied Catalysis Award

Johnson Matthey

For diligent and passionate work to develop and commercialize precious metal complexes to promote homogeneous catalysis for real world industrial applications.

Celebrate Dr Carin Johannson Seechurn

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I am very lucky that Johnson Matthey has always been extremely flexible and has always supported me to try and accommodate any particular needs so that I have been able to get the best of both worlds; working life and life as a mum.

As Lead Scientist at Johnson Matthey, Dr Carin Johansson Seechurn and her team are working towards the improvement and development of catalysts for chemical reactions. Their work is focused on palladium and iridium which make it possible for pharmaceutical and agrochemical companies to manufacture drugs or herbicides more quickly and cheaply. Furthermore, by using these catalysts less side products are generated as waste alongside the desired product and often result in a more environmentally friendly manufacturing approach.

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Dr Johansson Seechurn was born and raised in Ystad, Sweden. After finishing school, she moved to the UK to undertake her undergraduate studies at U.M.I.S.T. (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology), including a year abroad at CPE (l’Ecole Superieure Chimie, Physique, Electronique de Lyon) in France, to receive her MChem with French in 2003.

She then joined the University of Cambridge, UK, where she received her PhD in the area of organocatalysis working for Professor Matthew Gaunt. After the completion of her PhD studies in 2006, she continued research with Professor Gaunt in the area of palladium catalysis.

In 2008 she joined the Catalysis and Chiral Technologies (now Life Science Technologies) division of Johnson Matthey in the UK, based at Royston. In 2019 she moved to Cambridge.

Dr Johansson Seechurn is involved in the development, scale-up and commercialisation of new homogeneous metal catalysts. She is a co-author of a number of publications, book chapters and patents on the topic of homogeneous catalysis as well as co-editor of the recent book “Organometallic Chemistry in industry – a Practical Approach” (Wiley).

Q+A

What has been your biggest challenge?

To balance a career with being a mother of two and wife to a medical doctor with long and irregular working hours! I am very lucky that Johnson Matthey has always been extremely flexible and has always supported me to try and accommodate any particular needs so that I have been able to get the best of both worlds; working life and life as a mum.

Why do you think teamwork is important in science?

There are so many different aspects to each scientific challenge that it is absolutely impossible for one person to figure out and explain the solution to a problem or issue single-handedly. It is necessary to have more than one pair of eyes to see all sides of a project or task, and more than one brain to puzzle over the answer together.

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