RACI- The D.R. Stranks Memorial Lecture 2026

Name: RACI- The D.R. Stranks Memorial Lecture 2026
Start: 2026-05-26T16:30:00+09:30
End: 2026-05-26T16:30:00+09:30
Location: Adelaide University, Napier Building LG28 Lecture Room.

About

The Stranks Memorial Lecture is designed for senior secondary Chemistry students and their teachers.

This presentation relates to Topic 1 – Monitoring the Environment and Topic 4- Managing Resources in the SACE Stage 2 Chemistry subject outline. The discussion will focus on the next generation of solar cells, including topics on renewable energy, global warming & climate change, materials including nanomaterials and polymers, including concepts such as ionic bonding, hydrogen bonding and oxidation.

About the Lecturer:
This lecture will be presented by Professor Sam Stranks- the grandson of the D.M Stranks- the individual the lecture is named in honour of. Sam is a Professor of Energy Materials and Optoelectronics and Royal Society University Research Fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology and a Cavendish Joint Member in the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge.

Sam graduated from the University of Adelaide in 2007 with a BA, BSc Hons (Physics and Physical Chemistry) and a University Medal. He completed his PhD as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, receiving the 2012 Institute of Physics Roy Thesis Prize. From 2012-2014, he was a Junior Research Fellow at Oxford University and Worcester College, Oxford, before holding a Marie Curie Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2014-2016). Sam established his research group Strankslab in Cambridge in 2017.

Sam's research focuses on the optical and electronic properties of emerging semiconductors including halide perovskites, carbon allotropes and organic semiconductors for low-cost electronics applications such as photovoltaics, lighting and detectors.