Avtar Singh Matharu is professor of green chemistry and deputy head of department at the University of York in the UK. He received an MBE for his services to equality, diversity and inclusion, community cohesion and interfaith dialogue across both the university and wider community.
I was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and I am the youngest of five. My family moved to Zambia and then again, when I was six, we moved en masse to Leicester in the UK in the 1970s.
I faced a lot of challenges with racism, purely because of the way I look. Growing up in that period meant making new friends, learning and seeing obstacles. And at that time, not knowing how to navigate those obstacles, apart from just keeping your head down and staying out of trouble.
That built up resilience and courage. But I’m now trying to encourage resilience in other people, resilience that also comes with using your voice. You have a say in this world.
Neither of my parents went to university. I didn’t have the social capital to understand a life beyond school. My brother and his wife, affectionately known as Paaji and Phabi-ji, were living in Nottingham at the time. They said: ‘Come to Nottingham Trent University’. They provided pastoral support – and lots of food.
I started working on liquid crystals during my PhD, where I was introduced to the field by my mentors David Byron and Larry Wilson. At the time, the liquid crystal industry was buoyant with liquid crystal displays (LCDs). It was an exciting phase in my career.
The challenge was how to recycle these materials. The success of LCDs created vast amounts of electronic waste. LCDs are essentially two pieces of glass separated by the width of a hair. In that gap, there’s a mixture of several different organic compounds carefully blended to create a liquid crystal formulation.
When thinking about this problem, I made myself a cup of decaffeinated coffee by mistake. It got me thinking about how we decaffeinate coffee. I reached out to my third mentor, James Clark, another green chemist here at York. Together, we used the same method used to decaffinate coffee to separate liquid crystals from waste LCDs. That was my first entry point into the world of green and sustainable chemistry.
I make sure that there is time for rest and recovery for everyone in the team
People often ask me: what’s green chemistry? My definition is that it’s simply chemistry that is good for me, good for you, good for the environment and good for the planet. Green chemistry is a practical subject. It has to work, it’s not a fashion trend, it’s here to stay and growing.
As chemists, we’ve engineered ourselves into a problem. We have been brilliant at manufacturing many of the goods and products in use today, but many of these contribute to climate change – the biggest challenge facing humanity. I believe chemists can engineer ourselves out of this problem.
Not many people look like me in the chemistry world in the UK. I still remember the slogan ‘not all chemists wear white coats’. But I’m proud of who I am. I’m proud of my background and proud of my culture. I’ve never hidden from the way that I look. Being a visible role model is really important.
I have a platform. I have a voice and I want to use that to the best of my ability to make science an inclusive place. We’re all human beings – let’s have a conversation and look beyond whatever you see externally.
My advice to students would be to remain authentic. Don’t ever lose who you are. If you start doing that, you’ll just move with the latest trend. Also, find a good mentor, someone who’s doing it not for themselves, but for you. I have been privileged to be surrounded by brilliant mentors – from my family to my peers.
When I started university, I didn’t have a clear pathway. I now say to students that it’s fine if you don’t know what you want to do. Things will fall into place naturally, providing you have good mentors.
I love coming into work. I have an open-door policy so my research group can come and chat to me at any time. But I make sure that there is time for rest and recovery for everyone in the team, which is important.
I do a lot of volunteering. It’s not all about chemistry. It’s about people, understanding and respect. I’m chair of York Indian Cultural Association, I am involved with the York interfaith group, City of York Council and North Yorkshire Police. I also coach hockey and umpire cricket. The overall message is to be a visible role model, remain authentic and inspire others to be good people.
This article has been edited for clarity and brevity
