Dr Gemma Shearman

About

I am the Course Leader for the undergraduate Chemistry courses (BSc and MChem) at Kingston University, and am also a Senior Lecturer in Physical / Computational Chemistry. Additional responsibilities include a module leadership for CH4001 (Foundation Organic and Physical Chemistry, Level 4), having also previously led both CH5003 (Physical Chemistry, Level 5) and CH6004 (the final year Project module, Level 6). I received an MChem (Master of Chemistry) degree from the University of Oxford (2000), during which time I was also awarded the Turbett Prize in Chemistry (practical organic chemistry). Following this, I gained a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Imperial College London.  My research interests broadly revolve around soft condensed matter and the democratisation of science but I also have specific pedagogic research interests in inclusivity and student project allocation.

Academic responsibilities

Senior Lecturer

Qualifications

  • PGCert. (Postgraduate Certificate in Learning & Teaching in Higher Education), London Metropolitan University
  • PhD., Imperial College London
  • M.Chem., University of Oxford

Teaching and learning

 Innovations and Initiatives in Learning, Teaching and Student Experience

  • PI on SADRAS22-12 Student parents: Current and Future support (2022/23)
  • Staff partner on SADRAS22-05 The identification of student carers and the burden of their caring responsibilities on academic engagement and student life (2022/23)

External Examiner and Validation Activities

  • External Examiner for the Chemistry suite of programmes (‘Biochemistry and Biological Chemistry' and ‘Chemistry for Drug Discovery') at Canterbury Christ Church University (2018 – 2023)
  • External Assessor for Middlesex University Science & Technology / Law Foundation Year Review (2021)

Learning and Teaching Awards

  • Teaching Innovation award from Learning Science, together with Dr Neil Williams & Dr Richard Singer (2021)
  • Nominated for the Kingston University Academic Impact Awards, Outstanding Contribution to Teaching & Learning category (2020)
  • Shortlisted for a London Metropolitan University Student Union Award, which celebrates outstanding teaching and support (2014)

Qualifications and expertise

  • Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)

Undergraduate courses taught

Postgraduate courses taught

Research

My research interests are varied but mainly fall within the broad umbrellas of soft condensed matter and biological physics. Key research areas include:

  • Engineering principles in membrane biophysics
  • Designer lipids and mesoscale materials for future drug delivery
  • Tools and technologies for health-related applications
  • The application of molecular dynamics to membrane biophysics, including drug translocation

Historically, these mostly stem from my final year undergraduate research project, which was on the Marangoni effect of dilute surfactant solutions with Professor Colin Bain (now based at Durham University). This in turn then led to a PhD funded by Unilever on the lyotropic phase behaviour of charged amphiphiles (in essence, surfactants comprising fabric softeners) in the Membrane Biophysics group at Imperial College. Post-doctoral research in a range of closely related areas such as drug-lipid membrane interactions consolidated my interests in biophysics.

Research External Examining Experience

  • External Assessor for MRes Pharmaceutical Sciences, MRes Chemistry and MRes Stress, Ageing and Chronic Disease courses at the University of Brighton  (2021 – current)

Research Grants and Awards

Grants:

  • STFC Facility Access (ISIS Neutron & Muon Source) in 2020 "Environmental effects on muonium adducts of lidocaine using avoided level crossing muon spin resonance" £40862 research income in-kind as PI (RB2010608)
  • STFC Facility Access (ISIS Neutron & Muon Source) in 2019 "Partitioning of lidocaine into a model lipid system using avoided level crossing muon spin resonance" £130530 research income in-kind as PI (RB1910116)
  • Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Undergraduate Summer Research Bursary in 2014, £1520 as PI

Awards:

  • Won Imperial College ‘President's Award for Outstanding Research Team', as a member of the Membrane Biophysics Platform team (2015)

Scholarly affiliations

  • Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC)

Publications

Number of items: 26.

Article

Furse, Samuel, Martel, Carlos, Yusuf, Abdikarim, Shearman, Gemma C., Koch, Hauke and Stevenson, Philip C. (2023) Sterol composition in plants is specific to pollen, leaf, pollination and pollinator. Phytochemistry, p. 113800. ISSN (print) 0031-9422 (Epub Ahead of Print)

Furse, Samuel and Shearman, Gemma C. (2018) Do lipids shape the eukaryotic cell cycle? Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids, 1863(1), pp. 9-19. ISSN (online) 1388-1981

Illangakoon, U. Eranka, Gill, Hardyal, Shearman, Gemma C., Parhizkar, Maryam, Mahalingam, Sunthar, Chatterton, Nicholas P. and Williams, Gareth R. (2014) Fast dissolving paracetamol / caffeine nanofibers prepared by electrospinning. International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 477(1-2), pp. 369-379. ISSN (print) 0378-5173

Lopez, Felipe L., Shearman, Gemma C., Gaisford, Simon and Williams, Gareth R. (2014) Amorphous formulations of indomethacin and griseofulvin prepared by electrospinning. Molecular Pharmaceutics, 11(12), pp. 4327-4338. ISSN (print) 1543-8384

Tyler, A.I.I., Shearman, G.C., Brooks, N.J., Delacroix, H., Law, R.V., Templer, R.H., Ces, O. and Seddon, J.M. (2011) Hydrostatic pressure effects on a hydrated lipid inverse micellar Fd3m cubic phase. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 13(8), pp. 3033-3038. ISSN (print) 1463-9076

Shearman, Gemma C., Brooks, Nicholas J., Tiddy, Gordon J. T., Sztucki, Michael, Templer, Richard H., Law, Robert V., Ces, Oscar and Seddon, John M. (2011) A lyotropic inverse ribbon phase in a branched-chain polyoxyethylene surfactant : pressure effects. Soft Matter, 7(9), pp. 4386-4390. ISSN (print) 1744-683X

Shearman, G.C., Tyler, A.I.I., Brooks, N.J., Templer, R.H., Ces, O., Law, R.V., Seddon, J.M. and (2010) Ordered micellar and inverse micellar lyotropic phases. Liquid Crystals, 37(6-7), pp. 679-694. ISSN (print) 0267-8292

Shearman, Gemma C., Ces, Oscar and Templer, Richard H. (2010) Towards an understanding of phase transitions between inverse bicontinuous cubic lyotropic liquid crystalline phases. Soft Matter, 6, pp. 256-262. ISSN (print) 1744-683X

Shearman, Gemma C., Ugazio, Stephane, Soubiran, Laurent, Hubbard, John, Ces, Oscar, Seddon, John M. and Templer, Richard H. (2009) The lyotropic phase behaviour of ester quaternary surfactants. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 331(2), pp. 463-469. ISSN (print) 0021-9797

Shearman, Gemma C., Tyler, Arwen I. I., Brooks, Nicholas J., Templer, Richard H., Ces, Oscar, Law, Robert V. and Seddon, John M. (2009) A 3-D hexagonal inverse micellar lyotropic phase. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 131(5), pp. 1678-1679. ISSN (print) 0002-7863

Shearman, Gemma C., Ugazio, Stephane, Soubiran, Laurent, Hubbard, John, Ces, Oscar, Seddon, John M. and Templer, Richard H. (2009) Factors controlling the stability of a kinetically hindered lamellar-lamellar transition. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 113(7), pp. 1948-1953. ISSN (print) 1520-6106

Shearman, Gemma C., Yahioglu, Gokhan, Kirstein, Johanna, Milgrom, Lionel R. and Seddon, John M. (2009) Synthesis and phase behaviour of [beta]-octaalkyl porphyrins. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 19(5), pp. 598-604. ISSN (print) 0959-9428

Lydon, Donocadh P., Albesa-Jove, David, Shearman, Gemma C., Seddon, John M., Howard, Judith A.K., Marder, Todd B. and Low, Paul J. (2009) The synthesis and liquid crystalline behaviour of alkoxy-substituted derivatives of 1,4-bis(phenylethynyl)benzene. Liquid Crystals, 35(2), pp. 119-132. ISSN (print) 0267-8292

Casey, Duncan R., Sebai, Sarra C., Shearman, Gemma C., Ces, Oscar, Law, Robert V., Templer, Richard H. and Gee, Antony D. (2008) Formulation affects the rate of membrane degradation catalyzed by cationic amphiphilic drugs. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, 47(3), pp. 650-655. ISSN (print) 0888-5885

Shearman, Gemma C., Khoo, Bee J., Motherwell, Mary-Lynn, Brakke, Kenneth A., Ces, Oscar, Conn, Charlotte, Seddon, John M. and Templer, Richard H. (2007) Calculations of and evidence for chain packing stress in inverse lyotropic bicontinuous cubic phases. Langmuir, 23(13), pp. 7276-7285. ISSN (print) 0743-7463

Shearman, G.C., Attard, G.S., Hunt, A.N., Jackowski, S., Baciu, M., Sebai, S.C., Mulet, X., Clarke, J.A., Law, R.V, Plisson, C., Parker, C.A., Gee, A., Ces, O. and Templer, R.H. (2007) Using membrane stress to our advantage. Biochemical Society Transactions, 35(3), pp. 498-501. ISSN (print) 0300-5127

Baciu, Magdalena, Sebai, Sarra C, Ces, Oscar, Mulet, Xavier, Clarke, James A., Shearman, Gemma C, Law, Robert V, Templer, Richard H, Plisson, Christophe, Parker, Christine A and Gee, Antony (2006) Degradative transport of cationic amphiphilic drugs across phospholipid bilayers. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 364(1847), pp. 2597-2614. ISSN (print) 1364-503X

Shearman, G C, Ces, O, Templer, R H and Seddon, J M (2006) Inverse lyotropic phases of lipids and membrane curvature. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 18(28), S1105-S1124. ISSN (print) 0953-8984

Seddon, John M, Squires, Adam M, Conn, Charlotte E, Ces, Oscar, Heron, Andrew J, Mulet, Xavier, Shearman, Gemma C and Templer, Richard H (2006) Pressure-jump X-ray studies of liquid crystal transitions in lipids. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 364(1847), pp. 2635-2655. ISSN (print) 1364-503X

Valkovska, Dimitrina S., Shearman, Gemma C., Bain, Colin D., Darton, Richard C. and Eastoe, Julian (2004) Adsorption of ionic surfactants at an expanding air-water interface. Langmuir, 20(11), pp. 4436-4445. ISSN (print) 0743-7463

Battal, Turgut, Shearman, Gemma C., Valkovska, Dimitrina, Bain, Colin D., Darton, Richard C. and Eastoe, Julian (2003) Determination of the dynamic surface excess of a homologous series of cationic surfactants by ellipsometry. Langmuir, 19(4), pp. 1244-1248. ISSN (print) 0743-7463

Book Section

Gordon, Vernita D., Beales, Paul A., Shearman, Gemma C., Zhao, Zhijun, Seddon, John M., Poon, Wilson C.K. and Egelhaaf, Stefan U. (2014) Solid-like domains in mixed lipid bilayers : effect of membrane lamellarity and transition pathway. In: Iglic, Ales and Kulkarni, Chandrashekhar V., (eds.) Advances in Planar Lipid Bilayers and Liposomes. Amsterdam, Netherlands : Academic Press. pp. 137-154. (Advances in planar lipid bilayers and liposomes, 20(20)) ISSN (print) 1554-4516 ISBN 9780124186989

Conference or Workshop Item

Mulrooney, Hilda, Shearman, Gemma and Page, Nigel (2023) Using a design thinking approach to re-imagine provision of large first-year bioscience modules. In: Horizons in STEM Higher Education Conference : Making Connections, Innovating and Sharing Pedagogy; 28-29 Jun 2023, Swansea, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Page, Nigel, Mulrooney, Hilda, Shearman, Gemma, Wason, Hilary, Yilmaz, Aybige and O'Keefe, Nicola (2023) A collaborative School and LTEC ‘design thinking’ approach to support staff and students in re-imagining learning. In: Festival of Learning 2023; 22 Jun 2023, Kingston upon Thames, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Page, Nigel, Shearman, Gemma, Wason, Hilary and Mulrooney, Hilda (2023) Using a design thinking approach to support staff and students in re-imagining provision of large first-year bioscience modules. In: Evolving molecular bioscience education; 25-26 May 2023, Manchester, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Williams, Neil, Singer, Richard [Researcher] and Shearman, Gemma [Researcher] (2017) Teaching and assessment of good laboratory technique: pre-lab activities and digital badging. In: Horizons in STEM Higher Education Conference 2017: Making Connections, Innovating and Sharing Pedagogy; 29-30 Jun 2017, Edinburgh, U.K.. (Unpublished)

This list was generated on Wed Sep 13 07:19:12 2023 BST.

Professional practice, knowledge exchange and impact

Kingston University Civic Reception: led activity on sustainability (identification and valorisation of waste plastics for recycling through infrared spectroscopy (2017)

Leadership and management

Contributions to Cross Institution Groups

  • Member of the Kingston University Design Thinking Community of Practice; previously known as the KU22 Portfolio Group on the Future of Blended Learning, then subsequently Reimagining Learning (2020 – current)
  • Member of the Kingston University Microsoft Teams Teaching Stream Task and Finish Group (2020) (prior to this, also contributed to the ‘Lecture Capture' pilot)
  • Member of the KU School (of Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Chemistry) Strategy Working Group (2020)

Discipline Leadership

  • Member of the RSC Directors of Undergraduate Teaching policy group (2018 – current)

Other

  • KAPS (Kingston Academic Standards Framework) Panel Assessor (2020/21 – current)
  • Regular KU academic misconduct panel membership (both as the Chair and as a panel member) (2019 – current)

Social media

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