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Biography

Dr Reshma R Rao MRSC obtained her PhD in 2019 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her MEng from the University of Southampton in 2014. She is currently an assistant professor and Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow in the Department of Materials and the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London, where she leads the Sustainable Electrochemical Technologies Group. Her research tackles a central challenge for the chemicals and energy industries: designing catalytic materials and processes that can efficiently, selectively, and scalably convert renewable electricity into fuels and chemicals. In addition to her research, she serves as the national research area lead for electrochemical systems at the Henry Royce Institute.

Dr Rao’s achievements have been widely recognised. In 2023, she received the Clara Immerwahr Award for outstanding achievements in catalysis research from the UniSysCat Cluster of Excellence, as well as the India–UK Achievers Honours and the Asian Women of Achievement Award. She was featured in Matter’s article ‘35 Challenges in Materials Science Being Tackled by Principal Investigators Under 35’ (2023) and was named one of the Women Scientists at the Forefront of Energy Research by ACS Energy Letters (2020). In 2025, she was invited to speak at the Nobel Symposium on ÉîÒ¹¸£Àû¹ú²ú¾«Æ· for Sustainability in Sweden and was an inaugural signatory of the Stockholm Declaration on ÉîÒ¹¸£Àû¹ú²ú¾«Æ· for the Future.

Science is an evolving and humbling process, and maintaining the same level of enthusiasm, creativity, and dedication in the face of setbacks is both demanding and essential.

Reshma Rao

Q&A

Can you tell us more about your work?

My research develops cleaner, more sustainable ways to produce the fuels and chemicals that underpin modern life. Today, most of these are made from fossil fuels, driving significant greenhouse gas emissions. My group investigates how renewable electricity such as that generated from wind and solar can instead power these processes. We design electrocatalysts that steer reactions toward the desired products with high efficiency and selectivity. Central to this work is uncovering the fundamental mechanisms that govern these reactions; by understanding exactly how and why they occur, our team creates improved catalysts that are faster, more precise, and viable at industrial scale.

Who or what first sparked your interest in chemistry, and how has that interest evolved over time? 

My undergraduate degree is in mechanical engineering, with a specialisation in sustainable energy systems. During my studies, as I learned more about the energy transition and the enabling technologies, it became increasingly clear to me that many of the key bottlenecks are fundamentally rooted in materials chemistry. This realisation marked the beginning of my journey into chemistry and inspired my doctoral research in electrocatalyst design for the conversion of renewable energy into valuable fuels and chemicals. I find it fascinating that processes at the atomic scale can hold the key to addressing some of humanity’s most pressing challenges.

What have been the biggest challenges that you have faced over the course of your time in science, and what have you learned from those experiences? 

The biggest challenge I have faced is dealing with failure. As a scientist, failure is part of the daily experience: you develop an idea, feel excited to test it in the lab, only to find that it doesn’t work as expected. Science is an evolving and humbling process, and maintaining the same level of enthusiasm, creativity, and dedication in the face of setbacks is both demanding and essential.

What future directions or opportunities do you see for your work? 

Electrochemistry is becoming increasingly important in a net-zero future, as it provides a critical link between renewable energy and the production of the fuels and chemicals our society relies on. I am particularly excited about the rapidly evolving field of electrosynthesis. For example, producing chemicals such as urea, a widely used fertiliser, as well as amides and amines, requires precise control over reaction pathways to couple carbon- and nitrogen-based intermediates on a catalyst surface. Developing catalysts capable of enabling these processes efficiently and at scale will be key to decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors.

How important would you say collaboration is for producing high quality science? How has collaboration influenced your work? 

Collaboration is critical for producing high quality science. Most of the challenges we face today are inherently interdisciplinary, and approaching the same problem from different perspectives fosters creativity, deeper understanding, and better solutions. Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of working with exceptional colleagues who have not only strengthened my scientific thinking but also shaped my growth as an individual.