Ruairí completed his degree in Chemical and Pharmaceutical studies at Dublin City University (2011), before undertaking an industrially sponsored PhD in Polymer Chemistry at the University of Warwick, entitled ‘Design of novel monomers for applications in hydrolytically degradable thermoplastic elastomers’. After completing his PhD in 2015, Ruairí undertook a short Research Assistant position with Critical Pharmaceuticals Ltd investigating the synthesis of degradable particles from supercritical carbon dioxide for sustained release applications, before beginning a Leverhulme Trust funded Postdoctoral position at the University of Reading. While at the University of Reading, Ruairí worked on the synthesis and design of novel mucoadhesive materials, and developed a novel family of mucoadhesive polymer formulations. In 2017, Ruairí was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions individual fellowship and was featured as one of the 30 promising researchers in Europe after attaining the highest grading for the Chemistry strand. Ruairí conducted his MSCA fellowship in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) developing next generation biomaterials through the synthesis of polyester-peptide hybrid materials. Upon completion of his MSCA fellowship, Ruairí held a Senior Postdoctoral position at RCSI and played a central role in the attainment of an Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Fund (StarMat).  

In 2021, Ruairí commenced a HCI funded Assistant Professor position in DCU in Materials Chemistry. Ruairí is attracted to the challenges faced in bridging the gap between pragmatic monomer design, synthetic polymer chemistry and materials science in the control of bulk properties of advanced materials for biomedical, agricultural and packaging industries. His current research strands focus on (i) sustainable monomer feedstocks for the synthesis of biodegradable and bio-absorbable polymers and (ii) bioadhesive elastomers for post-operative wound healing. 

External Website: https://www.branniganlab.com/