Dr Tippu Sheriff

Profile

Dr Tippu Sheriff is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, and is the Director of Teaching and Learning for Chemistry undergraduate programmes.

Tippu previously taught at the University of Hertfordshire, where he first became involved in the Royal Society of Chemistry's 'Chemistry At Work' exhibitions developing demonstrations around the title 'The Tail of the Beetle and Poisoned Blood'.

Tippu is passionate about chemistry and carrying out outreach activities, and he particularly enjoys the wow factor that students get from doing fun experiments using liquid nitrogen and cardice (solid carbon dioxide) and demonstrating the explosive chemistry associated with the defence mechanism of the bombardier beetle. Tippu has developed new themes for these lecture demonstrations including 'The Air We Breathe' and 'Chemistry is Kool!', which are delivered both at QMUL and in schools. In addition to this, Tippu participates in a range of other outreach activities for the Department and the college including the Salters’ Festival of Chemistry, the RSC’s Schools’ Analyst Competition, the Festival of Communities, and Spectroscopy Masterclasses where students can see practical infra-red and NMR demonstrated.

Tippu is a STEM ambassador and gives research talks in the area of dioxygen (O₂) - its discovery by Joseph Priestley and origin and properties, the activation of O₂ and its reduction for the in-situ generation of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), and applications in the areas of bleaching, disinfection and selective oxidation. Tippu also give career talks especially for students who are not sure of their future career plans.

More recently, Tippu has become passionate about the need for an inclusive curriculum in chemistry and has been awarded a number of grants from the RSC to co-create with UG students, resources for teachers at KS5 that are available to freely download.