Members

Postdocs

Dr Bidhanchandra Garain (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow)

In May 2025, Bidhan joined the Crespo-Otero group at University College London as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, focusing on the development of machine learning strategies to model excited-state dynamics in molecular systems. Prior to this, he spent 1.5 years as a postdoctoral researcher in the Barbatti group at Aix-Marseille University, where he worked on combining trajectory-based nonadiabatic molecular dynamics with active learning and uncertainty quantification. He holds a PhD in Theoretical Chemistry from JNCASR, India, under the supervision of Prof. Swapan K. Pati, where his research revolved around electronic structure and photophysical properties of functional molecular materials. Outside the lab, Bidhan enjoys watching cricket and football

PhD Students

Anant Khanna (PhD student, 4th year)

Anant completed his BSc (Hons) in ‘Chemistry with Spanish’ at the University of Birmingham (UoB) and then went on to do an MSc in Computer Science at the UoB. Following this, he then worked as a software engineer for 3.5 years and joined Rachels’ group in October 2020. In his spare time, Anant enjoys playing the piano, meditating and cooking.

Marco Anselmi (PhD student, 4th year, Co-supervised with Dr Devis Di Tomasso and Prof. Greg Slabaugh )

Michael Ingham (PhD student, 4th year)

Michael joined the group in October 2022, to work on quantum chemical approaches in MOF-based carbon capture and photocatalysis. Previously, he graduated from UCL with an MSci in Chemistry with Mathematics, developing visualisations and animations of quantum chemistry algorithms. Aside from research, he enjoys playing the piano and live music.

Kanyarat (Chereen) Rueangboon (PhD student, 3rd year)

In September 2023, Chereen joined our group as a new PhD researcher with a Development and Promotion of Science and Technology Talents Project (DPST) scholarship from the Thai government. Her research focuses on the excited states of room-temperature phosphorescence. During her undergrad at Chiang Mai University, Thailand, she studied BODIPY derivatives’ quenching phenomenon using density functional theory. The research involved using simple organic molecules to mimic hydrogen sulfide detectors. She later earned an HRH-UCD scholarship to pursue a chemistry master’s at University College Dublin, Ireland, where she explored the CO₂ incorporation mechanism with silver complexes through in silico methods. In her leisure time, Chereen enjoys hiking and watching Korean dramas.

Karolina Kapusta (PhD student, 2nd year)

Karolina joined Rachel’s group in February 2024 to work on modelling excited state dynamics in organic crystals. Previously she graduated with an MSc in Chemical Research from Queen Mary University, London where she studied the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide by metal porphyrin catalysis using density functional theory under the supervision of Dr Devis Di Tommaso.

Marcus Brady (PhD student, 2nd year)

In October 2024, Marcus joined the group with the aim of speeding up nonadiabatic dynamics through machine learning. Prior to this, he gained a Master’s in Research from the University of York, working on machine learning with photolysis at the Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratory, supervised by Prof. Mat Evans. Before this, he completed a BSc in Chemistry with Mathematics at UCL where his final year literature review focused on machine learning within crystal structure prediction, supervised by Dr Miguel Rivera. In his spare time, Marcus enjoys playing and listening to classical music as well as reading with a coffee.

Selin Kilic 1^st year

In October 2025, Selin joined the group to perform data-driven analyses of excited states in metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). She previously completed an MSc in Materials and Molecular Modelling at University College London (UCL). She investigated structures of LiMnO₂ for applications as a Li-ion battery cathode, using digital annealing methods with the aim of future implementation on quantum annealers, under the supervision of Professor Scott Woodley. She also graduated from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) with a BSc in Chemistry. In her final-year project, she employed a computational drug discovery approach to identify myosin-activating ligands to treat congenital myopathies, supervised by Dr Arianna Fonili. She enjoys playing tennis, video games, and learning languages.