As NATURE-ITN comes to an end, we wanted to take a moment to introduce you to our talented PhD students. Over the past three years, they’ve made remarkable achievements, and we’re excited to share their current work and future aspirations!

Let’s start with ESR 1 Flore Kilens!

Flore comes from France and did a double master’s degree between the ECPM in Strasbourg in France and the UPV/EHU in Spain. She joined POLYKEY in September 2021 to work on the development of biobased poly(ester-ether) block copolymers and the study of their complex structures.

During her first year, she visited the ICIQ in Tarragona to learn about heterogeneous catalysis for a couple of months before moving to the University of Birmingham in October 2022 where she joined the Dove group to enrich her skills in air-sensitive chemistry.

In 3 years, Flore acquired a deep understanding of polymer synthesis and organocatalysis, working on both polycondensation and ring-opening polymerisation processes. She notably won the best poster prize for her work on organocatalysis for polycondensation during the GEP-SLAP conference in 2022 in San Sebastian. 🥇 She also had the opportunity to broaden her knowledge in polymer physics by studying crystallisation behaviour and self-assembly of block copolymers. 👩‍🔬🧬

📝 You can find Flore’s last published work in ChemCatChem, more articles are in preparation, so stay tuned!

After 3 years of exciting and challenging science, 4 labs, and 2 countries visited, amazing people met and a thesis to defend in February 2025, Flore’s next project is to take a gap year to cycle through Europe. 🚲 ✨

Good luck Flore! 🍀