Gunnar Olsen joined Manchester Metropolitan University as a Lecturer in Chemistry, and he will teach Chemistry related courses at Manchester-Met Hubei Joint Insitute. His research is broadly classed as synthetic organic chemistry more specifically synthesis of novel materials for molecular electronics. Current focus is on organic materials for single molecule thermoelectric materials and investigating how synthetic modification can improve thermoelectric properties. The potential application for thermoelectric materials range from: Energy recovery from waste a possible way to tackle the increasing energy demands of the world; heat management which is becoming an ever-increasing problem in data storage and computing; to nanoscale thermometers required as heat safeguards for microchips.

Dr Gunnar Olsen Completed his Undergraduate degree in chemistry at University of Southern Denmark (SDU) with research focused on synthetic supramolecular chemistry in 2012. He subsequently moved to Technical University of Denmark for a PHD in the chemistry department under the supervision of Professor Jens Ulstrup and Associate professor Qijin Chi; which was focused on functionalization of Graphene for chemical sensing. During his PhD Dr Olsen collaborated on EU-China Networking Project ELECTRONANOMAT and visited multiple Chinese partners. After his PhD finished in 2016 he join Professor Jan O. Jeppesen at SDU for a 2-year Postdoc working on synthesis rigid rotaxanes as molecular muscle mimics. In 2018 Dr Olsen moved to Durham University to continue his postdoctoral training working with Professor Martin R. Bryce expanding his work into synthesis of novel materials for molecular electronics and single molecule junctions in chemical and thermal control within the EU consortium “QuIET”. In 2019 Dr Olsen was awarded an international postdoc grant to further work on molecular electronics in collaboration with Professors Martin R. Bryce, Jan O. Jeppesen and Wenjing Hong (Xiamen University).

Manchester Met full-time employee and will teach at Manchester Metropolitan Joint Institute, Hubei University.