Piers Townsend

Our ever-evolving modern world is continously faced with new challenges to overcome. In order to collectively and successfully overcome challenges in the chemical sciences, sustainability should sit at the forefront of research - it is with this ethos that I pursue my work.

Broadly speaking, my research focuses on building and applying in silico toxicology models using tools from theoretical and computational chemistry. My research is interdisciplinary in nature, and straddles the borders of chemistry, physics and biology. Although my research interests are varied, I have an over-arching interest in using computational chemistry to solve problems in the field of ecotoxicology and water science. More specifically, covalent bond forming/breaking organic reactions can often underpin chemical change in ecotoxicology, and therefore, I am interested in using transition-state modelling to better understand ecotoxicological phenomena.

Research interests:

• The Application and Development of Quantum Chemical Approaches in Ecotoxicology
• The Development and Use of Predictive Toxicological QSAR Models
• Chemical Reaction Modeling