AJF-Chemistry

Ph.D. Anthony J. Fernandes

Anthony received his Ph.D. in 2018 at the University of Bordeaux, under the supervision of Prof. Yannick Landais and Dr. Frédéric Robert. He moved to the University of Strasbourg and the University of Poitiers, for a postdoctoral position in collaboration with Dr. Frédéric Leroux and Prof. Sébastien Thibaudeau. He then joined the University of Vienna, where he undertook postdoctoral studies in the group of Prof. Nuno Maulide and in collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim. In 2022, he was the recipient of a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Postdoctoral Fellowship and a SNSF Postdoctoral Fellowship, and is currently leading his research in the group of Prof. Dmitry Katayev (University of Bern, Switzerland). In 2023 and 2025, he embarked on research stays in the group of Prof. K. N. Houk (UCLA, United States), contributing to cutting-edge research in the field of computational chemistry. His research interests revolve around synthetic organic chemistry harnessing highly reactive species and computational chemistry to deepen the understanding of reaction mechanisms.

Academic background:

  • 2026–present: Senior Scientist, Universität Bern, Switzerland (Prof. D. Katayev)
  • 2025: Holcim Research Fellow, Universität Bern, Switzerland (Prof. D. Katayev)
    • Sept.-Oct. 2025: Visiting Assistant Project Scientist (1.5 month), UCLA, United States (Prof. K. N. Houk)
  • 2022–2025: SNSF Postdoctoral Fellow, Universität Bern, Switzerland (Prof. D. Katayev)
    • Sept. 2023: Research stay (1 month), UCLA, United States (Prof. K. N. Houk)
  • 2020–2022: Postdoctoral researcher, Universität Wien, Austria (Prof. N. Maulide and collaboration Boehringer Ingelheim)
  • 2019–2020: Postdoctoral researcher, Université de Strasbourg, France (Dr. F. Leroux) // Université de Poitiers, France (Prof. S. Thibaudeau)
  • 2015–2018: PhD fellow, Université de Bordeaux, France (Prof. Y. Landais & Dr. F. Robert)
  • 2013–2015: MSc in organic chemistry, Université de Bordeaux, France
  • 2009–2013: BSc in chemistry, Université de Bordeaux, France (incl. 3rd year BSc Chemistry and Pharmacology, University of Birmingham, England)

Fellowships and awards:

  • 2025: SNSF Scientific Exchange fellowship (Research stay in Prof. K. N. Houk Group, UCLA, United States)
  • 2024: Holcim Stiftung (Universität Bern, Switzerland)
  • 2023: Best poster presentation award, ICOS 2023 (Shanghai, China)
  • 2023: Open Round 2023 (Research stay in Prof. K. N. Houk Group, UCLA, United States)
  • 2023: Best poster presentation award, SCS Fall Meeting 2023 (Bern, Switzerland)
  • 2022: SNSF Postdoctoral Fellowship (Universität Bern, Switzerland)
  • 2022: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Postdoctoral Fellowship (Université de Fribourg, Switzerland // CNRS-Université de Poitiers, France)
  • 2015: MESR PhD fellowship (Université de Bordeaux, France)
  • 2011: ERASMUS scholarship (University of Birmingham, England)