Dr Cox is now based at Durham University. You can find his profile and more information here.

Research Interests

The behaviour of liquids and their interfaces underlies many important phenomena across the biological and physical sciences. I use molecular simulations and statistical mechanics to elicit the microscopic details of interfacial systems, with an emphasis on perhaps the most important of all liquids: water and its salt solutions. 

Recent research has focused on improving simulations methods to give a better description of ions adsorbed to charged interfaces [1], which is important for tackling complex problems such as ice nucleation [2]. I also have a keen interest in understanding dielectric response in water [3,4] and its implications for aqueous ion solvation [5].

[1] T Sayer & SJ Cox, J. Chem. Phys. 153, 164709 (2020) [publisher,arXiv]

[2] T Sayer & SJ Cox, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 21, 14546 (2019) [publisher,arXiv]

[3] SJ Cox, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 117, 19746 (2020) [publisher,arXiv]

[4] SJ Cox & M Sprik, J. Chem. Phys. 151, 064506 (2019) [publisher,arXiv]

[5] SJ Cox, DG Thorpe, PR Shaffer & PL Geissler, Chem. Sci. 11, 11791 (2020) [publisher,arXiv]

Biography

• 2021-present: Royal Society University Research Fellow, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, UK
• 2017-2021: Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Research Fellow, visiting Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, UK
• 2018-present: College lecturer, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, UK
• 2020-2021: Undergraduate Tutor, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, UK
• 2015-2017: Postdoctoral research fellow, Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Ca. USA
• 2010-2014: PhD student, Department of Chemistry, University College London, UK

Awards

• 2020 Journal of Chemical Physics Best Paper by an Emerging Investigator