Professor William Harrison

Professor William Harrison
Professor William Harrison
Professor William Harrison

MA (Oxon), DPhil (Oxon), FHEA

Personal Chair

About
Email Address
w.harrison@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone Number
+44 (0)1224 272897
Office Address
G30 Meston Building
Old Aberdeen Campus
Meston Walk
AB24 3UE

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School/Department
School of Natural and Computing Sciences

Biography

Bill Harrison grew up in southern England and was the first in his family to enter higher education.  He graduated with first-class Honours in Chemistry from University College, Oxford in 1982.  He stayed in Oxford to study for his DPhil (PhD) under the supervision of Prof Tony Cheetham, FRS, investigating the magnetic behaviour of transition-metal oxides. He then worked as assistant instrument scientist on the high resolution powder diffractometer (HRPD) at the ISIS spallation neutron source and a highlight of that time was the determination of the crystal structure of the high-temperature superconductor YBa2Cu3O7–δ, which featured on the cover of Nature.  Following that, in 1988 he headed for sunnier climes for a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Santa Barbara (supervisor Galen Stucky) where he studied advanced materials by state-of-the-art diffraction techniques. A second postdoc followed at the University of Houston (Texas), where a highlight was the study of layered hybrid perovskites as potential solar cell materials (Nature cover).  His first ‘real’ academic position in 1995 was a lecturer at the University of Western Australia, where he discovered his previously unsuspected enthusiasm for teaching.  He was appointed as lecturer in chemistry at the University of Aberdeen in 1998, promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2000 and to Personal Chair in 2018. He currently serves as Director of Education in the School of Natural and Computing Science and sits on a number of University committees.  He teaches at all levels of the Chemistry programme and his University awards for teaching include ‘most accessible lecturer’ (2015), ‘best lecturer’ (2017) and ‘most supportive lecturer’ (2020).   His independent research in synthetic and structural chemistry focuses on undergraduate research projects.  His interests outside the University include photography, walking the dog, objecting to planning applications, and family activities.

Internal Memberships

School Director of Education; personal tutor; member of the retention task group; positive outcomes task group; student survey working group...  

Latest Publications

View My Publications

Research

Research Overview

Synthetic and structural inorganic chemistry: 632 publications, 11733 citations, Hirsch h-index 52 (data retrieved from Web of Science, 8 March 2024).

 

Teaching

Teaching Responsibilities

Bill Harrison is Course Coordinator for Level 1 Chemistry (CM1020, CM1021, CM1512 and CM1513) and teaches on the following courses: 

  • CM1020 Chemistry for the Life Sciences 1
  • CM1021 Chemistry for the Physical Sciences 1
  • CM1022 Elements of Chemistry 1
  • CM1512 Chemistry for the Life Sciences 2   
  • CM1513 Chemistry for the Physical Sciences 2
  • CM1522 Elements of Chemistry 2   
  • CM2519 Inorganic Chemistry
  • CM3037 Inorganic and Solid-State Chemistry 
  • CM4037 Advanced Inorganic and Physical Chemistry
  • CM4028/CM4036/CM4535 project supervision
  • CM5003 MChem Chemistry Applications
Publications

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  • Barium oxalates combined with oxo-anions and organic cations: Syntheses and structures of Ba2(C2O4)(H2PO3)2 and C2H10N2·Ba(H2O)2(HC2O4)4

    Iveson, S. J., Johnston, C. B., Harrison, W. T.
    Crystals, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 59-68
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Short Intramolecular N-H⋯C(carbonyl) Interactions in mixed-ligand molybdenum hexacarbonyl derivatives

    Budge, M. G., Muir, K. J., McQuillan, G. P., Harrison, W. T.
    Crystals, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 47-58
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Chaxamycins A-D, Bioactive Ansamycins from a Hyper-arid Desert Streptomyces sp

    Rateb, M. E., Houssen, W. E., Arnold, M., Abdelrahman, M. H., Deng, H., Harrison, W. T. A., Okoro, C. K., Asenjo, J. A., Andrews, B. A., Ferguson, G., Bull, A. T., Goodfellow, M., Ebel, R., Jaspars, M.
    Journal of Natural Products, vol. 74, no. 6, pp. 1491-1499
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Binding of fluoroanions by a cationic cobalt(III) complex: syntheses, characterization and single crystal X-ray structure determination of [Co(phen)2CO3]BF4 and [Co(phen)2CO3]PF6·3H2O

    Sharma, R. P., Singh, A., Venugopalan, P., Harrison, W. T. A.
    Journal of Molecular Structure, vol. 994, no. 1-3, pp. 6-12
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Synthesis and characterisation of a new polycyclic phenazine from 1,4-naphthoquinone

    da Silva, M. J., Pinto, M. d. C. F. R., de Simone, C. A., Soares, J. G., Machado Reys, J. R., de Souza Filho, J. D., Harrison, W. T. A., Carvalho, C. E. M., Goulart, M. O. F., da Silva Junior, E. N., Pinto, A. V.
    Tetrahedron Letters, vol. 52, no. 18, pp. 2415-2418
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • The cyclo-propylammonium cation as a templating agent for inorganic networks: synthesis and structure of (C3H8N)(2)center dot Zn-3(HPO3)(4)

    Harrison, W. T. A., McNamee, P. M.
    Journal of Chemical Research, vol. 34, no. 11, pp. 641-642
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • (2E)-1-(3-Bromo­phen­yl)-3-(6-meth­oxy-2-naphth­yl)prop-2-en-1-one

    Harrison, W. T. A., Mayekar, A. N., Yathirajan, H. S., Narayana, B.
    Acta Crystallographica Section E: Structure Reports Online, vol. E66, O2552
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • (2E)-3-(1,3-Benzodioxol-5-yl)-1-(3-bromo-2-thienyl)prop-2-en-1-one

    Harrison, W. T. A., Kumar, C. S. C., Yathirajan, H. S., Ashalatha, B. V., Narayana, B.
    Acta Crystallographica Section E: Structure Reports Online, vol. 66, no. 10, o2477
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • (E)-1-(2,5-Dichloro-3-thienyl)-3-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)prop-2-en-1-one

    Harrison, W. T. A., Kumar, C. S. C., Yathirajan, H. S., Mayekar, A. N., Narayana, B.
    Acta Crystallographica Section E: Structure Reports Online, vol. 66, o2479
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • 1-(2,5-Dichloro-3-thienyl)ethanone: infinite sheets mediated by O...Cl halogen bonds

    Harrison, W. T. A., Kumar, C. S. C., Yathirajan, H. S., Mayekar, A. N., Narayana, B.
    Acta Crystallographica Section E: Structure Reports Online, vol. 66, o2480
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
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