Dr Samuel Coles 

Sam is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Theoretical Chemistry, working in the research group of Angelos Michaelides as part of the n-Aqua ERC synergy grant. Sam’s research currently focuses on stabilising superionic ices. This rare, highly conductive form of ice is only known to exist in the cores of some of the outer planets. Sam’s work looks at methods of stabilising this behaviour at industrially relevant conditions by confining water into channels so narrow only a singular layer of water molecule can fit within them.

Sam grew up in Gloucester in the South West of England and obtained his MChem and PhD at the University of Oxford. Prior to moving to Cambridge, Sam worked at the University of Bath and as a Marie Curie Fellow at Université Sorbonne. Sam’s broader academic interests include statistical mechanical methods, battery materials and the fundamental physics of liquids.