Nanoengineer joins Fellowship after 25 years at Cambridge 

St Catharine’s is delighted to welcome Professor Colm Durkan (2022) as our newest Professorial Fellow as he celebrates 25 years at the University of Cambridge. Professor Durkan was formally admitted to the College on 2 December 2022.

Originally from Dublin, Professor Durkan graduated with an undergraduate degree and a PhD in Physics from Trinity College Dublin. As a nanoengineer, he is interested in how nanostructured materials behave, and how the properties of matter can be tailored by controlling geometry and size at the nano-scale – taking advantage of quantum effects. He moved to Cambridge in 1997 to take up a postdoctoral position with Professor Sir Mark Welland (2016), and went on to be appointed a University lecturer with full tenure in 2000, a Reader in Nanoscale Engineering in 2010 and Professor of Nanoengineering Science in 2020. 

Professor Welland, as Master of St Catharine’s, commented:

“It gives me great pleasure to welcome Professor Durkan as the newest member of our Fellowship. Having seen him flourish as a nanoengineer in his 25 years at Cambridge, I have every faith that St Catharine’s will benefit from his outstanding teaching and scientific expertise. It is an exciting time for him to join the College as he turns his attention to energy transition and how to increase the efficiency of hydrogen generation – with the potential for this cutting-edge research to benefit communities far beyond our gates.”

Professor Durkan is Deputy Head (teaching) at the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge and is eager to contribute to teaching at St Catharine’s:

“I enjoy managing the undergraduate teaching programme in my department and I have already started supervising first-year Engineering undergraduates at Catz. Once I find my feet, I hope to be more closely involved with the world-class educational and tutorial provision here.

“Catz represents a new challenge and offers a central location that enables me to give plenty of time to the College community. I was particularly drawn to the strong emphasis on pastoral support at Catz, thanks to the expertise of our Health & Wellbeing team and a group of tutors who support each other as much as our students.”

Alongside his teaching and research, Professor Durkan is on the editorial board of the Nature journal Scientific Reports. In his spare time, he enjoys karate (he has a black belt) and walking with his dogs, Winnie and Spencer.

The Fellowship of St Catharine’s undertakes all the important pedagogical, research, pastoral and senior administrative work of the College. Our Fellows serve as trustees and make up the Governing Body, which runs the College through its various officers and committees. For the purposes of the College’s statutes, there are three types of Fellowship: Official, Professorial (for individuals holding professorships in the University) and Research.