Education

Fernando Vidal obtained a BS in Chemistry from the University of Almería (2011) and an MSc in Organometallic Chemistry from the University of Alcalá (2012). In 2017, he earned his PhD in Inorganic and Polymer Chemistry at Colorado State University in the group of Prof. Eugene. Y.-X. Chen. His thesis work focused on the controlled polymerization of multifunctional methacrylates with group (IV) organometallic complexes, which eventually led to the development of stereocomplex-based thermoplastic elastomers. 

He then joined the group of Prof. Frieder Jäkle at Rutgers University-Newark as a postdoctoral research assistant and laboratory manager of the PolyRUN facility for the thermomechanical characterization of soft materials. His research targeted main-group polymers exploiting the Lewis acidity of boron for applications in supramolecular polymer networks and catalysis.

In 2020, he joined the group of Prof. Charlotte K. Williams at the University of Oxford as a Newton International Fellow, and then as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellow. His research revolved around functional polyesters and polycarbonates from ring-opening copolymerization of epoxides, anhydrides, and carbon dioxide. He has also been a leading researcher of the Future of Plastics program at the Oxford Martin School, a project in collaboration with Prof. Cameron Hepburn (Environmental Economics) and Prof. Catherine Redgwell (International Law). 

Honors and awards

2025 - Ramón y Cajal Fellowship, Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (Spain)

2022 – Researcher Development Grant, Royal Society of Chemistry (UK)

2022 – Recognition Award, University of Oxford (UK)

2021 – Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship, European Commission (EU)

2020 – Newton International Fellowship, Royal Society (UK)

2012 – Fulbright Scholarship, Spanish Fulbright Commission and Junta de Andalucía (USA-Spain)

2011 – Collaboration Grant, Ministry of Education and Culture (Spain)

2010 – Technical Support for Research Grant, University of Almería (Spain)

Research

His research interests expand the synthesis of new sustainable polymers by controlled polymerization reactions, using both renewable resources, catalytic syntheses, and attending to the end-of-life fate of materials by depolymerization. He also has ample experience in the study of polymer thermoplastics, elastomers, and dynamic covalent and supramolecular networks by rheological, thermal, and mechanical methods. 

Polymer Recycling

Publications