Dr Gemma Shearman
Faculties, deparments and locations
- Faculty of Health, Science, Social Care and Education
- Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences
- School of Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Chemistry
- Penrhyn Road
Senior Lecturer in Physical / Computational Chemistry
- Email:
- g.shearman@kingston.ac.uk
About
I am a Senior Lecturer in Physical / Computational Chemistry. My responsibilities include acting as one of the School of Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Chemistry Sustainability Leads as well as a module leadership for CH4001 (Foundation Organic and Physical Chemistry, Level 4), having also previously led both CH5003 (Physical Chemistry, Level 5) and CH6004 (the final year Project module, Level 6). I also acted previously as the Course Leader for the undergraduate Chemistry courses (BSc and MChem) at Kingston University until 2023.
I received an MChem (Master of Chemistry) degree from the University of Oxford (2000), during which time I was also awarded the Turbett Prize in Chemistry (practical organic chemistry). Following this, I gained a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Imperial College London. My research interests broadly revolve around soft condensed matter and molecular dynamics but I also have specific pedagogic research interests in inclusivity (especially for student parents) and student project allocation.
Qualifications
- PGCert. (Postgraduate Certificate in Learning & Teaching in Higher Education), London Metropolitan University
- PhD., Imperial College London
- M.Chem., University of Oxford
Domains
Innovations and Initiatives in Learning, Teaching and Student Experience
- PI on SADRAS22-12 Student parents: Current and Future support (2022/23)
- Staff partner on SADRAS22-05 The identification of student carers and the burden of their caring responsibilities on academic engagement and student life (2022/23)
External Examiner and Validation Activities
- External Examiner for the undergraduate Chemistry courses (physical chemistry specifically) at the University of Bath (2023 - current)
- External Examiner for the Chemistry suite of programmes (‘Biochemistry and Biological Chemistry' and ‘Chemistry for Drug Discovery') at Canterbury Christ Church University (2018 – 2023)
- External Assessor for Middlesex University Science & Technology / Law Foundation Year Review (2021)
Learning and Teaching Awards
- Teaching Innovation award from Learning Science, together with Dr Neil Williams & Dr Richard Singer (2021)
- Nominated for the Kingston University Academic Impact Awards, Outstanding Contribution to Teaching & Learning category (2020)
- Shortlisted for a London Metropolitan University Student Union Award, which celebrates outstanding teaching and support (2014)
Qualifications
- Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
Courses taught
My research interests are varied but mainly fall within the broad umbrellas of soft condensed matter and biological physics. Key research areas include:
- Engineering principles in membrane biophysics
- Designer lipids and mesoscale materials for future drug delivery
- Tools and technologies for health-related applications
- The application of molecular dynamics to membrane biophysics, including drug translocation
Historically, these mostly stem from my final year undergraduate research project, which was on the Marangoni effect of dilute surfactant solutions with Professor Colin Bain (now based at Durham University). This in turn then led to a PhD funded by Unilever on the lyotropic phase behaviour of charged amphiphiles (in essence, surfactants comprising fabric softeners) in the Membrane Biophysics group at Imperial College. Post-doctoral research in a range of closely related areas such as drug-lipid membrane interactions consolidated my interests in biophysics.
Research External Examining Experience
- External Assessor for MRes Pharmaceutical Sciences, MRes Chemistry and MRes Stress, Ageing and Chronic Disease courses at the University of Brighton (2021 – current)
Research Grants and Awards
Grants:
- STFC Facility Access (ISIS Neutron & Muon Source) in 2020 "Environmental effects on muonium adducts of lidocaine using avoided level crossing muon spin resonance" £40862 research income in-kind as PI (RB2010608)
- STFC Facility Access (ISIS Neutron & Muon Source) in 2019 "Partitioning of lidocaine into a model lipid system using avoided level crossing muon spin resonance" £130530 research income in-kind as PI (RB1910116)
- Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Undergraduate Summer Research Bursary in 2014, £1520 as PI
Awards:
- Won Imperial College ‘President's Award for Outstanding Research Team', as a member of the Membrane Biophysics Platform team (2015)
Scholarly affiliations
- Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC)
Kingston University Civic Reception: led activity on sustainability (identification and valorisation of waste plastics for recycling through infrared spectroscopy (2017)
Contributions to Cross Institution Groups
- Member of the Kingston University Design Thinking Community of Practice; previously known as the KU22 Portfolio Group on the Future of Blended Learning, then subsequently Reimagining Learning (2020 – current)
- Member of the Kingston University Microsoft Teams Teaching Stream Task and Finish Group (2020) (prior to this, also contributed to the ‘Lecture Capture' pilot)
- Member of the KU School (of Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Chemistry) Strategy Working Group (2020)
Discipline Leadership
- Member of the RSC Directors of Undergraduate Teaching policy group (2018 – current)
Other
- KAPS (Kingston Academic Standards Framework) Panel Assessor (2020/21 – current)
- Regular KU academic misconduct panel membership (both as the Chair and as a panel member) (2019 – current)
Publications
The identification of student carers and the burden of their caring responsibilities on academic engagement and student life
James, Jewel, Bellaouane, Lydia, Ottley, Chyrell, Shearman, Gemma, Whiting, Karen, Elbediwy, Ahmed and Gould, Simon, 2024, New Directions in the Teaching of Natural Sciences (19)
Sterol composition in plants is specific to pollen, leaf, pollination and pollinator
Furse, Samuel, Martel, Carlos, Yusuf, Abdikarim, Shearman, Gemma C., Koch, Hauke and Stevenson, Philip C., 2023, Phytochemistry, pp 113800
Do lipids shape the eukaryotic cell cycle?
Furse, Samuel and Shearman, Gemma C., 2018, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids (1863), 1, pp 9-19
Fast dissolving paracetamol / caffeine nanofibers prepared by electrospinning
Illangakoon, U. Eranka, Gill, Hardyal, Shearman, Gemma C., Parhizkar, Maryam, Mahalingam, Sunthar, Chatterton, Nicholas P. and Williams, Gareth R., 2014, International Journal of Pharmaceutics (477), 1-2, pp 369-379
Amorphous formulations of indomethacin and griseofulvin prepared by electrospinning
Lopez, Felipe L., Shearman, Gemma C., Gaisford, Simon and Williams, Gareth R., 2014, Molecular Pharmaceutics (11), 12, pp 4327-4338
Hydrostatic pressure effects on a hydrated lipid inverse micellar Fd3m cubic phase
Tyler, A.I.I., Shearman, G.C., Brooks, N.J., Delacroix, H., Law, R.V., Templer, R.H., Ces, O. and Seddon, J.M., 2011, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (13), 8, pp 3033-3038
A lyotropic inverse ribbon phase in a branched-chain polyoxyethylene surfactant : pressure effects
Shearman, Gemma C., Brooks, Nicholas J., Tiddy, Gordon J. T., Sztucki, Michael, Templer, Richard H., Law, Robert V., Ces, Oscar and Seddon, John M., 2011, Soft Matter (7), 9, pp 4386-4390
Ordered micellar and inverse micellar lyotropic phases
Shearman, G.C., Tyler, A.I.I., Brooks, N.J., Templer, R.H., Ces, O., Law, R.V., Seddon, J.M. and , 2010, Liquid Crystals (37), 6-7, pp 679-694
Towards an understanding of phase transitions between inverse bicontinuous cubic lyotropic liquid crystalline phases
Shearman, Gemma C., Ces, Oscar and Templer, Richard H., 2010, Soft Matter (6), pp 256-262
The lyotropic phase behaviour of ester quaternary surfactants
Shearman, Gemma C., Ugazio, Stephane, Soubiran, Laurent, Hubbard, John, Ces, Oscar, Seddon, John M. and Templer, Richard H., 2009, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science (331), 2, pp 463-469
A 3-D hexagonal inverse micellar lyotropic phase
Shearman, Gemma C., Tyler, Arwen I. I., Brooks, Nicholas J., Templer, Richard H., Ces, Oscar, Law, Robert V. and Seddon, John M., 2009, Journal of the American Chemical Society (131), 5, pp 1678-1679
Factors controlling the stability of a kinetically hindered lamellar-lamellar transition
Shearman, Gemma C., Ugazio, Stephane, Soubiran, Laurent, Hubbard, John, Ces, Oscar, Seddon, John M. and Templer, Richard H., 2009, The Journal of Physical Chemistry B (113), 7, pp 1948-1953
Synthesis and phase behaviour of [beta]-octaalkyl porphyrins
Shearman, Gemma C., Yahioglu, Gokhan, Kirstein, Johanna, Milgrom, Lionel R. and Seddon, John M., 2009, Journal of Materials Chemistry (19), 5, pp 598-604
The synthesis and liquid crystalline behaviour of alkoxy-substituted derivatives of 1,4-bis(phenylethynyl)benzene
Lydon, Donocadh P., Albesa-Jove, David, Shearman, Gemma C., Seddon, John M., Howard, Judith A.K., Marder, Todd B. and Low, Paul J., 2009, Liquid Crystals (35), 2, pp 119-132
Formulation affects the rate of membrane degradation catalyzed by cationic amphiphilic drugs
Casey, Duncan R., Sebai, Sarra C., Shearman, Gemma C., Ces, Oscar, Law, Robert V., Templer, Richard H. and Gee, Antony D., 2008, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research (47), 3, pp 650-655
Calculations of and evidence for chain packing stress in inverse lyotropic bicontinuous cubic phases
Shearman, Gemma C., Khoo, Bee J., Motherwell, Mary-Lynn, Brakke, Kenneth A., Ces, Oscar, Conn, Charlotte, Seddon, John M. and Templer, Richard H., 2007, Langmuir (23), 13, pp 7276-7285
Using membrane stress to our advantage
Shearman, G.C., Attard, G.S., Hunt, A.N., Jackowski, S., Baciu, M., Sebai, S.C., Mulet, X., Clarke, J.A., Law, R.V, Plisson, C., Parker, C.A., Gee, A., Ces, O. and Templer, R.H., 2007, Biochemical Society Transactions (35), 3, pp 498-501
Degradative transport of cationic amphiphilic drugs across phospholipid bilayers
Baciu, Magdalena, Sebai, Sarra C, Ces, Oscar, Mulet, Xavier, Clarke, James A., Shearman, Gemma C, Law, Robert V, Templer, Richard H, Plisson, Christophe, Parker, Christine A and Gee, Antony, 2006, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A (364), 1847, pp 2597-2614
Inverse lyotropic phases of lipids and membrane curvature
Shearman, G C, Ces, O, Templer, R H and Seddon, J M, 2006, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter (18), 28, pp S1105-S1124
Pressure-jump X-ray studies of liquid crystal transitions in lipids
Seddon, John M, Squires, Adam M, Conn, Charlotte E, Ces, Oscar, Heron, Andrew J, Mulet, Xavier, Shearman, Gemma C and Templer, Richard H, 2006, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences (364), 1847, pp 2635-2655
Adsorption of ionic surfactants at an expanding air-water interface
Valkovska, Dimitrina S., Shearman, Gemma C., Bain, Colin D., Darton, Richard C. and Eastoe, Julian, 2004, Langmuir (20), 11, pp 4436-4445
Determination of the dynamic surface excess of a homologous series of cationic surfactants by ellipsometry
Battal, Turgut, Shearman, Gemma C., Valkovska, Dimitrina, Bain, Colin D., Darton, Richard C. and Eastoe, Julian, 2003, Langmuir (19), 4, pp 1244-1248
Solid-like domains in mixed lipid bilayers : effect of membrane lamellarity and transition pathway
Gordon, Vernita D., Beales, Paul A., Shearman, Gemma C., Zhao, Zhijun, Seddon, John M., Poon, Wilson C.K. and Egelhaaf, Stefan U. (2014). In: Iglic, Ales, (eds.) and Kulkarni, Chandrashekhar V., (eds.), Advances in Planar Lipid Bilayers and Liposomes. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Academic Press, pp 137-154
Using a design thinking approach to re-imagine provision of large first-year bioscience modules
Mulrooney, Hilda, Shearman, Gemma and Page, Nigel(2023). In: Horizons in STEM Higher Education Conference : Making Connections, Innovating and Sharing Pedagogy, 28-29 Jun 2023 :Swansea, U.K.
A collaborative School and LTEC ‘design thinking’ approach to support staff and students in re-imagining learning
Page, Nigel, Mulrooney, Hilda, Shearman, Gemma, Wason, Hilary, Yilmaz, Aybige and O'Keefe, Nicola(2023). In: Festival of Learning 2023, 22 Jun 2023 :Kingston upon Thames, U.K.
Using a design thinking approach to support staff and students in re-imagining provision of large first-year bioscience modules
Page, Nigel, Shearman, Gemma, Wason, Hilary and Mulrooney, Hilda(2023). In: Evolving molecular bioscience education, 25-26 May 2023 :Manchester, U.K.
Teaching and assessment of good laboratory technique: pre-lab activities and digital badging
Williams, Neil, Singer, Richard and Shearman, Gemma(2017). In: Horizons in STEM Higher Education Conference 2017: Making Connections, Innovating and Sharing Pedagogy, 29-30 Jun 2017 :Edinburgh, U.K.