Keith Davidson

My name is Keith Davidson and I am the Director of Natural Sciences at Lancaster University. My lecturing involves giving courses in Physical Chemistry. I am also the Principal of Lonsdale College. I did my BSc, PhD and Post-doctoral research at Heriot-Watt and Edinburgh Universities. I thought Edinburgh was a brilliant place to live and work - and a great place to be a student!

I am married, to Cath and we live in the city of Lancaster in north Lancashire. I have a son, (Alex), a yellow lab (Lizzie) and a goldfish (Horatio). I play badminton and golf and get plenty of exercise walking the dog.

Each year I get to go on a boys only golf holiday with my old pals from University (we have been doing it for 25 years now). We still think we are as good at golf and drinking as used to be but each year we take more shots and drink less beer!

To find out more about my academic interests or my golf society please follow the links at the bottom of the page.

College

I am the Principal of Lonsdale College and represent the interests of over 1200 students in my College. I supervise academic and welfare support and coordinate staff/student events.

Teaching

Physical chemistry, in particular thermodynamics, phase equilbria, photophysics and photochemistry.
Polymer chemistry, Introduction to polymer chemistry, condensation polymerization, polymer modification reactions and electrical and optical properties of polymers.

Research

Unfortunately the administrative load of being Director of Natural Sciences and Principal of Lonsdale College has meant that my research activities are temporarily on hold at the moment. However I have previously published work in several areas of polymer and organic chemistry. My interests involved the synthesis, characterisation and measurement of physical properties of the following materials:

Organic materials having photoconductivity in the near infrared (materials which are photoactive beyond 2 microns have been prepared).

Electroactive polymers for use as polymeric light-emitting diodes, photovoltaics and electrochromic devices.

Electrically conductive adhesives.

Organic ferromagnetic materials.

Water soluble photo-resists for the printing and microelectronics industry.