Dr John Ward is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Liverpool. He obtained his PhD from the University of Manchester in 2010, before holding postdoctoral positions at the University of Edinburgh (2010–2014) and the University of Bristol (2014–2018). He then joined the Leverhulme Research Centre for Functional Materials Design at the University of Liverpool as a Research Fellow and Theme Leader (2018–2022), before taking up a Lectureship in Chemistry in 2023. His research group develops digital and automated approaches to address key challenges in organic synthesis and catalysis. By integrating laboratory automation with data-driven and machine-learning methods, his work aims to accelerate reaction development, process optimisation, and catalyst discovery.

Innovate UK funded Research Fellow in collaboration with Prof. Andy Cooper & Dr Gabriella Pizzuto

2023 - 2025 Research Associate – Robotics & Automation, Cooper Group, Materials Innovation Factory, University of Liverpool, UK

2021 - 2023 Research Associate - Robotics, Centre for IROHMS, Cardiff University, UK

2018 - 2021 PhD, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing, Kancheepuram, India

Innovate UK funded PDRA in collaboration with Prof. Andy Cooper & Dr Gabriella Pizzuto

EPSRC iCASE PhD student sponsored by GSK supervised by Prof. Andy Cooper and Dr John Ward.

MChem: University of Oxford

EPSRC-DTP PhD student

MChem: University of Manchester

EPSRC-Leverhulme Trust CASE PhD student in collaboration with AstraZeneca supervised by Prof. Andy Cooper and Dr John Ward.

MSc: University College London

BSc: University of Leeds

EPSRC-CDT PhD student in collaboration with AstraZeneca co-supervised by Prof. Alessandro Troisi.

MChem: University of Liverpool

Self-funded PhD student

MSc: Nanyang Technological University

BSc: University College London

EPSRC iCASE PhD student in collaboration with AstraZeneca co-supervised by Prof. Anna Slater & Prof. Richard Bourne at University of Leeds

AstraZeneca Graduate Scheme 2023-2024

MChem: University of Birmingham

EPSRC-CDT PhD student supervised by Dr Matthew Dyer and Dr John Ward.

MChem: University of Liverpool

4th Year MChem student at the University of Liverpool

3rd Year MChem student at University of Liverpool

Leverhulme Trust Summer Intern 2024 from the University of Oxford

4th Year MChem student 2023-2024

4th Year MChem student 2023-2024

Visiting PhD student Jan-Feb 2024 from Blight group at New Brunswick University, Canada

3rd Year MChem student 2023-2024

4th Year MChem student at the University of Liverpool 2024-2025

3rd Year MChem student at the University of Liverpool 2024-2025