Dr Richard M. Parker is a senior research associate in the Bio-inspired research group (University of Cambridge, UK), where he exploits self-assembly within microfluidically-templated droplets to prepare novel material architectures; with interests ranging from supramolecular microcapsules (Adv Funct Mater 2015) and gels (JACS 2015), to bio-inspired photonic microparticles (ACS Nano 2016 & 2019) and structurally-coloured films (Adv Funct Mater 2019).

Richard graduated from the University of Southampton (UK) with a MChem degree in 2007, followed by the award of a Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2011. His Ph.D. studies formed the basis of a new interdisciplinary collaboration between Dr Martin Grossel (Chemistry) and Prof Peter Smith (Optoelectronics Research Centre) that centred on the development of a photonic sensor platform for “lab-on-chip” applications. This focused on embedding a photonic Bragg grating refractometer within a microfluidic network and modifying the sensor surface using supramolecular/polymer chemistry to develop highly-sensitive, chemically-specific sensors. After completion of his doctoral studies, he continued researching in the fields of photonic sensors, fibre optics and supramolecular chemistry at the University of Southampton until 2012. He then joined the Microdroplets research group of Prof Chris Abell (University of Cambridge, UK) to explore how supramolecular interactions can be applied to encapsulate microfluidic droplets. In 2015 he joined the Bio-inspired Photonics group lead by Prof Silvia Vignolini, where he applies his knowledge of microfluidics and photonics to produce photonic pigments.