Professor Peter Cormack
Pure and Applied Chemistry
Personal statement
Peter Cormack was raised in Fankerton (a small village situated in the upper reaches of the Carron Valley in Stirlingshire, Scotland) and schooled in nearby Denny (at Denny Primary School and Denny High School). He graduated from the 聽with a聽BSc in Chemistry with First Class Honours in 1992, and gained pre-graduation and post-graduation industrial research experience with Raychem Ltd. in Swindon, UK, working on high-performance, thermoplastic polymers for the aerospace sector.
Electing to stay at 吃瓜tv to pursue his scientific interests further, he graduated with a聽PhD聽in Polymer Chemistry in 1996 under the supervision of聽Professor David C. Sherrington and . His PhD research work, funded by Merck Ltd. and the SERC, focussed upon the design and the solid-phase synthesis of monodisperse liquid crystalline peptides, as well as the synthesis of thermotropic polypeptides via the anionic ring-opening polymerisation of mesogenic N-carboxyanhydrides.
In February 1996, Peter moved to the University of Cambridge to take up a position as Post-Doctoral Research Associate in the , working with Dr Joachim H.G. Steinke on the synthesis of hyperbranched vinyl polymers. He then moved to Lund University, Sweden, in March 1997, to work with in the area of molecularly imprinted polymers, initially as a Post-Doctoral Fellow within the (Till盲mpad Biokemi) and latterly as Vice-Director of Research in the Center for Molecular Imprinting and Molecular Recognition.
In September 1998, Peter returned to the Department of Pure & Applied Chemistry at 吃瓜tv to take up a position as Lecturer in Polymer Chemistry, a position that was sponsored by ICI for the first three years. Subsequently, he was promoted to Senior Lecturer in Polymer Chemistry in April 2004, and awarded the RSC/SCI Macro Group UK Young Researchers' Medal for 2005 in recognition of his contributions to polymer science and his research potential. Thereafter, Peter was promoted to Reader in Polymer Chemistry in 2007 and to Professor of Polymer Chemistry in 2009.
Peter was Scientist in Residence at the Centre for Self-Assembled Chemical Structures, Montr茅al, Canada in 2008, and has held Visiting Professorships in Canada (2008), Malaysia (2011) and Poland (2015). He served as Associate Dean for International Research in the Faculty of Science at 吃瓜tv from March 2015 until September 2018, and was Deputy Head of the Department of Pure & Applied Chemistry at 吃瓜tv from 2016-2017. Since November 2017, he is Head of Materials and Computational Chemistry in the Department of Pure & Applied Chemistry.
Peter鈥檚 research interests lie predominantly in the areas of synthetic polymer chemistry and materials science, with special emphasis on the design, the synthesis and the applications of functional organic polymers.
Please click on the Research tab for further details.
Prize And Awards
- Recipient
- 2025
- Recipient
- 2025
- Recipient
- 2025
- Recipient
- 2024
- Recipient
- 2022
- Recipient
- 2019
Publications
- Bhuiyan Md Masud Rana, , Saha Basudeb
- ChemEngDayUK 2025 (2025)
- Borrull Francesc, , , , Fontanals N煤ria, Marc茅 Rosa Maria, Moral Alberto, Smith Greg
- Polymer Chemistry Vol 16, pp. 751-761 (2025)
- Moral Alberto, , Borrull F, , Fontanals N, Marc茅 R M
- Advances in Sample Preparation Vol 12 (2024)
- Wesseler Justus P, Cameron Grant M, ,
- Polymer Chemistry Vol 14, pp. 1456-1468 (2023)
- Nadal Joan Carles, Dargo Stuart, Borrull Francesc, , Fontanals N煤ria, Marc茅 Rosa Maria
- Journal of Chromatography A Vol 1661 (2022)
- , Erdemli Omer Can, Sankey Stephen W
- Arkivoc, pp. 315-330 (2021)
Research Interests
Within the Cormack Group at the 吃瓜tv, we are particularly interested in the synthesis and use of functional organic materials, especially materials based upon macromolecules, with a variety of end applications in mind (including high performance chemical separations, bioanalysis, environmental and forensic analysis, ion-exchange, metrology, films, coatings, biomedical devices, sensors, proteomics and diagnostics). Typically, the materials are prepared using a broad-range of synthetic methodologies, including radical polymerisation, step-growth polymerisation, template-directed synthesis and solid-phase synthesis. The development and exploitation of molecularly imprinted polymers, microporous solids, functionalised polymer microspheres, branched polymers, and self-assembling systems are of special interest.
At the time of last updating of this section (1st November 2025), recruitment onto a previously advertised industrially-funded PhD scholarship was complete (candidate appointed). However, 2 additional PhD vacancies at 吃瓜tv - DC3 and DC11 - suitable for highly-qualified Doctoral Candidates (DCs), have arisen on the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Doctoral Network (DN) "MIPrecise" and are now open for applications from eligible candidates. (N.B. A further 11 MIPrecise DC positions are open for applications at the same time as the 吃瓜tv positions, in the groups of collaborating partners in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Italy and Germany.) For further information about the MIPrecise DN, the eligibility criteria, and application procedures, please visit the MIPrecise homepage - ). Please note that MIPrecise applications submitted directly to Professor Cormack will NOT be considered - applications for DC3 and DC11 MUST be made through the . The deadline for the submission of applications for the MIPrecise DC vacancies is 30th November 2025.
If you wish to join the Cormack Group as a postgraduate or postdoctoral researcher and you have your own external funding in place, or if you are a highly-qualified individual who wishes to discuss the potential for a joint studentship/fellowship application on a mutually-interesting topic to to a suitable funding body, then please contact Professor Cormack directly.
Professional Activities
- Invited speaker
- 22/10/2025
- Invited speaker
- 20/6/2025
- Examiner
- 4/2025
- External Examiner
- 3/2025
- Invited speaker
- 16/1/2025
- External Examiner
- 1/2025
Projects
- Cormack, Peter (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2025 - 30-Jan-2029
- Cormack, Peter (Principal Investigator) Liggat, John (Co-investigator) Haworth, Leah (Research Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2025 - 01-Jan-2029
- Cormack, Peter (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2025 - 30-Jan-2030
- Cormack, Peter (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2024 - 30-Jan-2025
- Cormack, Peter (Principal Investigator) Liggat, John (Co-investigator) Corrigan, Alan (Research Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2022 - 01-Jan-2026
- Liggat, John (Principal Investigator) Cormack, Peter (Co-investigator) Oliveira, Monica (Co-investigator) Yang, Liu (Co-investigator)
- 09-Jan-2022 - 08-Jan-2024
Contact
Professor
Peter
Cormack
Pure and Applied Chemistry
Email: peter.cormack@strath.ac.uk
Tel: Unlisted