Ross Jansen-van Vuuren is a EUTOPIA Science and Innovation (SIF) MSCA Fellow in the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology at the University of Ljubljana. Although he grew up in Zimbabwe, he left for Australia in 2008 and completed a PhD in Organic Chemistry at the University of Queensland (UQ) in 2012, focusing on the synthesis of organic semiconductor materials for organic electronics. Following this, as a postdoc at UQ, Ross synthesized poly(dendrimer)s for OLED applications. Ross then qualified to teach secondary school Science and Chemistry in Australia before he and his wife moved to Kingston, Canada, to enable her to study towards a Ph.D. During this time (2017-2021), Ross worked as a postdoc at Queen’s University in Canada, firstly developing CO2-responsive polymers and gels (Philip Jessop) before investigating metalation chemistry for the synthesis of deuterated compounds and functional materials (Victor Snieckus). During his time in Canada, Ross gained an interest in Green Chemistry and new approaches to the synthesis of isotope-labelled compounds, combining the two interests to develop a successful EUTOPIA SIF proposal (2021). He moved to Slovenia to work on his project which focuses on finding new ways to immobilize catalysts for the preparation of isotope-labelled organic compounds. He also has numerous global collaborations. Ross was recently awarded a 3-year grant to continue this research by the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency at the University of Ljubljana.
