Dr Ruchi Gupta is an Associate Professor in the School of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham since 2017. Between 2014 and 2016, she was a Lecturer in Analytical Chemistry at University of Hull. Dr Gupta’s research as a Postdoctoral Research Associate and later as a Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) Enterprise Fellow at University of Manchester (UK) developed hydrogel-based optical waveguide sensors, studied mechanisms of light propagation in hydrogels, as well as investigated their applications in healthcare and drug discovery.
Her PhD at the University of Manchester (UK) was funded by Syngenta and focused on developing electroseparation methods for sample preparation and analysis of self-digesting bagasse reliably to produce biofuels from waste (rather than food crops). Dr Gupta attended Nanyang Technological University, Singapore for her undergraduate studies followed by an MASc at McMaster University (Canada) where she developed the basic components of generic and programmable microfluidics. This project bridged chemical, biological and computational sciences.
Grants and fellowships
2021: CRUK Early Detection and Diagnosis Primer Award
2021: Leverhulme Trust Research Grant
2018: EPSRC GCRF PhD studentship
2017: EPSRC NPIF PhD studentship
2017: BRIDGE Seed Fund
2016: EPSRC Healthcare Technologies Challenge Award
2016: RSC Tom West Fellowship
2013: Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellowship
2013: Mini Proof-of-Principle Fund
2012: Investing in Success Fund
Awards and prizes
2021: RSC Joseph Black Award
2021: Featured in SPIE Women in Optics planner
2017: Annual Review Award (University of Birmingham)
2016: Staff Excellence Award (University of Hull)
2010: Virgin Media Pioneer Award
2010: Venture Further (3rd prize)
2010: Runner-up of BioPharm 2020: Bio Business Plan Competition
2010: EMERGE – Social Innovation Ideas Competition
2009: Venture Out
2009: SFI Young Researcher Travel award
2009: RSC Electroseparations prize
2007: Radisav Stevanoic Book prize
2007: First runner-up of the Brian L. Barge Award of Excellence in Microsystems Integration
2005: IEEE Reliability/CPMT/ED Chapter (Singapore) book prize
2001: SIA-NOL scholarship
Committee memberships/ leads
2023: Committee Member of IUPAC’s Analytical Division Prizes
2022 to 2026: Chair and Founder of IUPAC Analytical Division Early to Mid Career Subcommittee
2022 to 2024: Committee Member of RSC Analytical Division Prizes
2022 to 2027: Member of Global Young Academy
2021 to Present: School of Chemistry’s Global Engagement Lead
2020 to Present: School of Chemistry’s International Undergraduate Recruitment Lead
2018 to Present: Member of School of Chemistry’s Health and Safety Committee
2020 to Present: Member of IUPAC’s Analytical Division Project (A Review of Current Status of Analytical Chemistry Education)
2020 to 2024: Elected Member, IOP Instrument Science and Technology Group
2020 to 2023: Appointed Member of RSC’s Analytical Division Council
2016 to Present: Member, Permanent Steering Committee of biennial Europtrode conference
2013 to 2014: Member of 50 Under 30 Initiative by Council for Industry and Higher Education (CIHE)
Chairing/ organisation of scientific meetings
2024: Europt(r)ode 2024
2021: UK-Thailand Webinar on Sensors for Health and Environment
2021: Webinar on Point of Care Testing for Pandemics
2018: IUPAC International Women’s Day Conference
2018: 14th European Biological Inorganic Chemistry Conference
2017: Recently Appointed Academics in Physical Chemistry Meeting
Reviewing activities
2022: Editorial Board, Materials Science Forum
2021: Guest Editor, Gels (special issue on Hydrogel Based Sensors for Biomedical Applications)
2020: Associate Editor, RSC Advances
2020: Scientific Evaluation, Daphne Jackson Trust
2020: Scientific Evaluation, Scleroderma & Raynauds
2018: EPSRC UKRI Innovation Fellowship Interview Panel
2×2017, 2016: Panel Member of EPSRC Prioritization Meetings
2016 – Present: Review panel member, Research Councils
External examiner
2023 to 2026: External examiner of MSc Applied Analytical Chemistry Programme of Loughborough University, UK
2022 to 2026: External examiner of MSc Applied Analytical Chemistry Programme of University College London, UK
Ruchi Gupta Group 