News

This year Stuart was invited to the biennial Clustertreffen meeting located in the Black Forest, Germany. He gave a (tremendous) talk about the group's recent work studying CO₂ activation at metal clusters, and Peter tagged along to present a poster. Of course, no visit to the Schwarzwald is complete without a breathtaking (literally) hike!

Truly the end of  an era. We wave goodbye to Chris as he leaves his postdoc position here in the cluster group and joins the group of Dr Jemma Gibbard at Durham University. It has been an excellent, and productive, three years and we all wish you the very best!

As part of the New Directions in Molecular Scattering programme grant, a collaboration between the Mackenzie group and those at Heriot-Watt University has lead to a new publications in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C. This study investigates how laser ablated aluminium atoms and ions can be used to probe the surfaces of ionic liquids.

At the start of this month we had a visit from Boris Heeb, a PhD student in the group of Prof. Jennifer Meyer at RPTU Kaiserslautern. This was a great opportunity to find out more about each other's research, and we encourage any keen students to reach out to Stuart for similar opportunities!

Continuing our collaboration with Dr. Joost Bakker at HFML-FELIX, the group has published a new article in JACS investigating CO₂ activation on anionic rhodium clusters. Interesting size-selective activation of CO₂ was observed. 

Three Vivas completed in one (very hot) day, congratulations all round!

Applause all round for Dan who completed his DPhil Viva today, congratulations on becoming Dr. Cubbin!

Well done to all the Part II students this year in the Mackenzie-Timmel group, all that hard work paid off! 

Another year, another beamtime. The group is back at HFML-FELIX working with Dr. Joost Bakker to investigate carbon dioxide activation on metal clusters. A few late night repairs didn't stop us coming back with a great data set!

The cluster team (Peter, David, and Christian) attended the 2026 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Molecular and Ionic Clusters, along with the associated seminars (GRS) in Tuscany! This meeting was chaired by both Stuart and Dr. Laura McCaslin, and was a great opportunity to hear about the forefront of science in the field of clusters.

The group heads to Edinburgh for the showcase meeting which marks the end of the New Directions in Molecular Scattering (NDMS) EPSRC programme grant! This was another great opportunity for the group, especially newer members, to familiarise themselves with the grant-associated labs in Heriot-Watt University. 

The start of 2026 sees the Mackenzie group attending the RSC Spectroscopy and Dynamics Group meeting at the University of Warwick. David gave a fantastic talk on his work looking at carbon dioxide binding to rhodium clusters while Peter, Alex, and Isabel presented posters on recent work done at FELIX and in the laboratory here in Oxford.

A huge well done to David for also winning a prize for his talk, very well deserved!

Another year, another fantastic Mackenzie-Timmel Christmas dinner, this time hosted by Prof. Stuart Mackenzie at Magdalen college.

The group has published a new paper investigating neutral tantalum clusters, where photoionization was observed upon absorption of many tens of infrared photons. This data was acquired from our first beamtime at HFML-FELIX and is the second paper published as part of the ongoing collaboration between the Mackenzie group here in Oxford and the group of Dr. Joost Bakker on the FELICE beamline.

A big well done to Dr. Philip Pearcy who completed his viva, some celebrations are in order wethinks!

The group is off to the HFML-FELIX facility in Nijmegen again for another beamtime, working with the group of Dr. Joost Bakker at the FELICE beamline.

Philip Pearcy has published a new paper in the journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics investigating the structures of gas-phase platinum nitrosyl ion–molecule complexes. 

We are pleased to welcome Professor Lai-Sheng Wang this Michaelmas term, as he will be joining the group for his sabbatical as a visiting fellow at Magdalen College.

Peter Watson and Alexander Gentleman, two ex-postdocs of the Mackenzie group, bumped into each other at the University of Adelaide! 

After successfully completing his MChem in the Mackenzie group, David rejoins the cluster team as a DPhil student.

Christian, Peter, and David attended the 2025 HFML-FELIX user meeting this summer in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Christian was invited to give a talk on the groups' past and present studies of molecular activation at metal clusters using free-electron lasers. Peter also gave a talk focussed on the recently published work investigating nitric oxide binding to cationic cobalt clusters, while David presented a poster on the work he carried out for his MChem project looking at carbon dioxide activation on rhodium clusters.

The first paper from beamtime at HFML-FELIX has now been published as part of the Mike Duncan Festschrift special issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry A. The work in this paper was carried out during our first beamtime run at HFML-FELIX, as part of the collaboration between the Mackenzie group here in Oxford and the group of Dr. Joost Bakker on the FELICE beamline. 

A big congratulations to all the Part II students this year in the Mackenzie-Timmel group for working so hard!   

Christian and Peter head to Nijmegen again to work with Dr. Peter Watson and his two Honours students Neve and Cosi on the FELICE beamline in collaboration with Dr. Joost Bakker. This time carrying out a series of IRMPD experiments on astrochemically relevant metal clusters, a beamtime led by Dr. Watson. 

Dr. Peter Watson has published a new paper in the Journal of Physical Chemistry A as part of the Mark A. Johnson Festschrift special issue. This is an IRPD study of cationic NO and NO2 clusters which was part of an ongoing project from Peter's time at the University of Oxford.

Peter Rubli attends the RSC Spectroscopy and Dynamics Group meeting in Leicester at the beginning of January to give a talk on his work looking at nitric oxide binding to cobalt cluster cations. 

The Mackenzie-Timmel group enjoyed a lovely Christmas dinner hosted at New College by Prof. Christiane Timmel. 

Stuart invites Ellen and Dr. Michael Burt to a delicious meal at Magdalen College, where an array of scintillating discussions ensued.  

Stuart and Peter Rubli attend the IR-FEL user meeting for the Max Planck-Radboud University Center for IR-FEL spectroscopy hosted in Schloss Ringberg, a castle located in the Bavarian Alps.

We say a sad goodbye to Dr. Peter Watson who is leaving after an excellent post-doc in the cluster group to start his own group back in Perth, Australia at Curtin University. A crochet Magdalen college crest and deer (made by Peter Rubli) as a leaving present. 

We welcome Ellen Jones into the cluster group after she spent the first years of her DPhil in the Burt group. Our team dynamic is infinitely improved.

Christian and Peter attended the "Infrared Free-Electron Lasers: The State of the Art 2024" conference hosted at the Fritz-Haber-Institut in Berlin. 

The lab move from the PTCL to the CRL is now complete! The end of an era, and the start of a new one.

Well done to Dr. Ed Brewer who completed his viva today, a celebration at Al-Andalus was definitely in order!

Say hello to the newest members of the cluster group: Dr. Christian Haakansson, Peter Rubli (DPhil candidate), and Ruby Spratt (Part II).