Dr Guilhem De Hoe

As a Research Fellow within the SMI Hub, Guilhem works predominantly under the ‘Innovate’ strand on next generation sustainable materials. He is responsible for developing core innovations and translating them into practice through engaging in a portfolio of projects co-developed with SMEs across Greater Manchester and beyond.

Guilhem has a strong background in organic chemistry but developed an interest in materials early on in his scientific career, which eventually guided him to a doctoral program focused on sustainable plastics at the University of Minnesota in the United States. During this time, Guilhem refined his synthetic polymer skills and gained new expertise in the biodegradation and recycling of plastics. After completing his Ph.D. in 2019, he branched out from his chemistry roots and took on a post doc position in the Center for Molecular Engineering at Argonne National Lab in Chicago, where he designed systems to understand the physical origins of anti-biofouling behaviour for polymer-coated surfaces.

Though research was going well in Chicago, Guilhem could not pass up the opportunity to work in the SMI Hub and apply his knowledge to real-world ‘sustainable plastic’ scenarios. He therefore decided, in the middle of a global pandemic, to embark on a journey to the UK and contribute all he can to this valiant effort. Through these exciting collaborations with SMEs, Guilhem is keen to design cutting-edge translational research and hone his ability to view (and solve) problems from a systems-level perspective.