Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment

School of Life and Environmental Sciences

Prof Neil Barnett
  Phone   +61 3 522 71409
Email   neil.barnett@deakin.edu.au
Position   Personal Chair
Campus   Geelong
Research grouping   Chemistry and Forensic Sciences

Neil graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Applied Chemistry) from the Royal Melbourne
Institute of Technology in 1978. The previous year, he joined the laboratories of Carlton and United
Breweries to work in analytical and process chemistry. In late January 1981 he departed Australia to
begin a PhD with Professor Gordon Kirkbright in the newly established Department of Instrumentation
and Analytical Science at the University of Manchester; graduating in December 1986. He was appointed
lecturer in inorganic/analytical chemistry at Plymouth Polytechnic in September 1985, and within three
years he was a senior research scientist at ICI Chemicals and Polymers, Runcorn UK.

However, by 1991, the overwhelming appeal of academe lured him to Deakin University as a senior
lecturer. Currently, he is privileged to be a member of one of Australia’s leading analytical chemistry
research groups. In 2004 he was appointed to a personal chair and the following year was awarded a
DSc from Deakin University for his contributions to analytical chemistry. Neil is a fellow of both the
Royal Society of Chemistry and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. He has co-authored more than
one hundred and sixty papers, is one of the eleven editors of Analytica Chimica Acta and has served on
the ARC Future Fellowships Panel and the ERA 2012 Research Evaluation Committee.

Research interests

  1. Fundamental chemistry, spectroscopy and analytical utility of chemiluminescence
  2. Two-dimensional HPLC, and microfluidics
  3. Identification, isolation and purification of naturally occurring bioactives


Career

1991 to date: Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor, and Professor, Deakin University
1988 to 1991: Senior Research Scientist, ICI Chemicals and Polymers, Runcorn, UK
1985 to 1988: Lecturer, Plymouth Polytechnic, UK
1981 to 1985: Postgraduate Research Student, University of Manchester, UK
1977 to 1981: Analytical Chemist, Carlton and United Breweries, Melbourne

Key publications

E.H. Doeven, E.M. Zammit, G.J. Barbante, C.F. Hogan N.W. Barnett and P.S. Francis (2012) Selective Excitation of Concomitant Electrochemiluminophores: Tuning Emission Colour via Electrode Potential Angewante Chemie International Edition 51, 4354 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

G.P. McDermott, J.M. Terry, X.A. Conlan, N.W. Barnett and P.S. Francis (2011) Direct Detection of Biologically Significant Thiols and Disulfides with Manganese(IV) Chemiluminescence Analytical Chemistry 83, 6034 The American Chemical Society, USA

C.M. Hindson, P.S. Francis, G.R. Hanson, J.L. Adcock and N.W. Barnett (2010) The Mechanism of Permanganate Chemiluminescence Analytical Chemistry 82, 4174 The American Chemical Society, USA

R. Bos, S.A. Tonkin, G.R. Hanson, C.M. Hindson, K.F. Lim and N.W. Barnett (2009) In Search of a Chemiluminescence 1,4-Dioxy Biradical Journal of the American Chemical Society 133, 2770 The American Chemical Society, USA

J.M. Terry, J.L. Adcock, D.C. Olson, D.K. Wolcott, C. Schwanger, L.A. Hill, N.W. Barnett and P.S. Francis (2008) Chemiluminescence Detector with a Serpentine Flow-Cell Analytical Chemistry 80, 9817 The American Chemical Society, USA

View entire list of audited publications

Professional activities

2006 to 2010 Chair: Analytical and Environmental Chemistry Division, Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI)
2009 to 2010 ARC: Future Fellowships Selection Advisory Committee
2010 to date Editor: Analytica Chimica Acta
2012 ARC: ERA Research Evaluation Committee

 

Postdoctoral fellows

NameProject title
Dr Jessica Michele TerryChemiluminescence and Microfluidics Dr Paul StevensonTwo- Dimensional HPLC  

 

Teaching areas

Separation Science
Spectroscopy


Deakin University acknowledges the traditional land owners of present campus sites.

8th February 2013