Research highlights

home of big ideas

At the heart of St John’s is an international community of leading academics who, across the sciences and the humanities, are pushing at the frontiers of knowledge

From left: Professor Deborah Prentice, Professor Mete Atatüre, Dagmar Dolby and Lord Spencer Livermore at the official opening
Unlocking the secrets of life in the universe with opening of Cambridge’s Ray Dolby Centre

A state-of-the-art facility designed to push the boundaries of what is possible.

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Wheat in a field
Expert awarded one of USA’s highest honours in science

“I feel an immense gratitude to my team for all the wonderful science that we do together”

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Professor Laura Torrente and Dr Collin Smith have published a study that challenges assumptions about how renewable sources are best used in green ammonia production
Study prompts rethink over cost of renewables in green ammonia production

New research by a College Fellow is challenging assumptions about how best to use renewable electricity in green ammonia production, offering ways that could make it more cost-effective.

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A teenager with their hand covering their face looks at a mobile phone in a darkened room
Harmful effects of digital tech – the science ‘needs fixing’, experts argue

Online technologies from social media to AI are changing too fast for scientific infrastructure to gauge their public health harms, say two leaders in their field.

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X-ray diffraction patterns, recorded, solved illustration
Spinning, twisted light could power next-generation electronics

"It’s like working with a Lego set with every kind of shape you can imagine, rather than just rectangular bricks"

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An illustration of the copper nano-flowers on a tree. Credit: Virgil Andrei
Tiny copper ‘flowers’ bloom on artificial leaves for clean fuel production

Tiny copper ‘nano-flowers’ have been attached to an artificial leaf to produce clean fuels and chemicals that are the backbone of modern energy and manufacturing.

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Portrait of Ritwick Sawakar
St John’s academic awarded £4 million to ‘think big’

This grant will allow us to understand how our bodies react to these modern medicines

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Professor Erwin Reisner, left, and Dr Sayan Kar in the lab.
Solar-powered device captures carbon dioxide from air to make sustainable fuel

Cambridge researchers have developed a reactor that pulls carbon dioxide directly from the air and converts it into sustainable fuel, using sunlight as the power source.

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Pratyush Ghosh
PhD student awarded 2025 Cavendish Prize for study that ‘rewrites a law of physics’

A PhD student from St John’s has won a 2025 Cavendish Annual Thesis Prize for his achievements in quantum physics that could advance display and solar technology.

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