Interfaces – the boundaries only a few molecules thick that divide materials from their surroundings – are simultaneously critically important for the properties of the materials and highly challenging to study. Biologically-relevant and disordered interfaces just add to the challenge of understanding what is happening in these few nanometers. Ironically, some of the best tools for these tiny lengthscales, neutrons and X-rays, are produced at some of the largest research facilities scattered around the world. This talk will discuss my serendipitous wanderings among these facilities to understand the common features of explosives, functional foods, red wine and cell membranes, and also contemplate some of the other boundaries that academics can wander along.

Duncan McGillivray is a physical chemist who focuses on characterisation of complex interfaces. He began as an undergraduate at the University of Auckland, studying a BA/BSc in Latin and Chemistry, before heading overseas for a BSc(Hons) at the Australian National University and a DPhil at the University of Oxford. He then worked at the NIST Center for Neutron Research in the US, before returning south when the Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering and Australian Synchrotron were opened. He finally returned home to the University of Auckland in 2008 when he was awarded an AINSE Research Fellowship. Duncan has also been the Associate Dean (Academic) for the Faculty of Science since 2016 with responsibility for approximately 10,000 students spread across ten widely diverse schools and departments.

Refreshments will be served in the basement foyer of building 303 (303-B00L2) from 5:30pm, prior to the lecture.