Dr Natalie Fey
B.Sc.(Keele), Ph.D.(Keele)
Expertise
We use computational approaches as a driver for scientific discovery, applying computational and structural chemistry alongside data analysis to the large-scale prediction and design of organometallic catalysts.
Current positions
Associate Professor
School of Chemistry
Contact
Press and media
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Biography
Natalie Fey is an Associate Professor at the University of Bristol. She was born in Frechen, Germany, and has retained her German nationality. After completing a B.Sc. in chemistry and economics in 1997 and a Ph.D. focused on “Molecular Modelling of Ferrocenes and Arylphosphines” with James Howell and Paul Yates in 2001, both at Keele University, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher with Rob Deeth at Warwick University.
She joined the University of Bristol in 2003, initially as a postdoctoral researcher with Guy Orpen and Jeremy Harvey. After an industry-funded postdoctoral position with Guy Lloyd-Jones, Guy Orpen, and Jeremy Harvey (2005−2007), she was awarded a prestigious EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship in 2007, starting her independent career. She was appointed to a temporary lectureship in 2015, made permanent in 2017, promoted to senior lecturer in 2018 and to her current role in 2021.
Research interests
Group webpage:
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
8084 - (OAFI) EP/V050990/1 via Leeds - FLEXICHEM
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of ChemistryDates
01/01/2022 to 31/12/2024
FLEXICHEM: Flexible Digital Chemical Manufacturing Through Structure/Reactivity Relationships
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of ChemistryDates
01/01/2022 to 31/12/2024
FLEXICHEM: Flexible Digital Chemical Manufacturing Through Structure/Reactivity Relationships
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of ChemistryDates
01/10/2021 to 30/09/2024
EPSRC Equipment award 2020 - Multi-user platform for digital chemistry
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Science Faculty OfficeDates
15/11/2020 to 15/05/2022
Supervised learning to support the optimisation of chemical reactions
Principal Investigator
Description
The PI holds experimental data collected as part of a case study during her EPSRC fellowship (2007-2012); we will seek to re-analyse these results with more advanced statistical approaches. In…Dates
17/04/2017 to 31/07/2017
Thesis supervisions
Synthetic and Computational Study Leading Towards Structure-Property Relationships in Poly(aniline)-Based Conjugated Microporous Polymers
Supervisors
Development of Ir(I)-catalysed Hydrofunctionalisation Methodologies
Supervisors
Transition metal catalysis for chemically fuelled rotary molecular-level motion
Supervisors
Leveraging computational chemistry to model photochemical reactions and calculate experimental observables
Supervisors
High-Valent Metal and Hypervalent Iodine Mediated Fluorination
Supervisors
Investigating Functional Organic Molecules in Solution Using Ultrafast Spectroscopy
Supervisors
Small molecule activation on cationic gold(I) centres and porous metal oxides for N2O abatement
Supervisors
Development of Solvent Selection Methods for Functional Materials Preparation
Supervisors
A High-Throughput Virtual Screening Approach for the Discovery of Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Emitters and their Design Rules
Supervisors
Experimental and computational studies of unusual P-donor ligands and their coordination chemistry
Supervisors
Publications
Selected publications
01/02/2012Stable Fluorophosphines: Predicted and Realized Ligands for Catalysis
Angewandte Chemie - International Edition
Expansion of the ligand knowledge base for chelating P,P-donor ligands (LKB-PP)
Organometallics
Expansion of the ligand knowledge base for monodentate P-donor ligands (LKB-P)
Organometallics
The contribution of computational studies to organometallic catalysis: descriptors, mechanisms and models
Dalton Transactions
Recent publications
30/05/2025Cu(I)-Catalyzed Stereoselective Glycosylation of "Electron-Deficient" Glycals
Journal of Organic Chemistry
Illuminating Reactions - a Photoredox Catalysis Experiment for Undergraduate Students
Journal of Chemical Education
Comparison of dimensionality reduction techniques for the visualisation of chemical space in organometallic catalysis
Artificial Intelligence Chemistry
Virtual Ligand-Assisted Optimization
ACS Catalysis
Computational mechanistic study in organometallic catalysis
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Computational Molecular Science
Teaching
I have experience of teaching chemistry at all levels and in a range of different settings, including the development of laboratory classes applying computational methods to analyse organometallic and coordination compounds. I have completed UoB’s CREATE Level 2 programme and was awarded Fellow of the Higher Education Academy status in 2018.
Related people
Professor Charl FJ Faul
Associate Pro Vice Chancellor (Global Engagement)
Science Faculty Office
Professor Adrian Mulholland
Professor
School of Chemistry
Professor Varinder Aggarwal
Alfred Capper Pass Chair of Chemistry
School of Chemistry
Professor Paul Pringle
Professor of Inorganic Chemistry
School of Chemistry
Dr Reynier Suardiaz del Rio
Honorary Senior Research Fellow
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