Research themes

The Universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh formed EaStCHEM in 2004 to combine the research activities of two of Scotland’s leading schools of chemistry. EaStCHEM is now recognised for excellence in both core and interdisciplinary chemistry with its wide-ranging research themes reflecting the relevance of modern chemistry in solving important global challenges and improving lives.

EaStCHEM ranked second in the REF 2014 'Power Table' with 80 academics submitted and 95% of research papers classed as world-leading or internationally excellent. The collaborative environment provided by EaStCHEM was assessed as excellent with all aspects rated as internationally or nationally leading.

The strength and ethos of EaStCHEM is particularly evident in the complementary instrumentation provided by both schools of chemistry resulting in the provision of exceptional state-of-the-art facilities and instrumentation.

Research within the School of Chemistry is focused around five broad themes.