Rate My Professor Philip Sharpe

Dr Philip Sharpe is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, Faculty of Science, at the University of Queensland. He earned his Bachelor of Science (Advanced Honours), Bachelor of Laws (Honours), and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Queensland. As a teaching-focused academic, he coordinates courses including CHEM1090, CHEM1100 (Semester 2), BIOC2052, and CHEM6520 Chemical Biology. He lectures across first-year chemistry (CHEM1090, CHEM1100, CHEM1221), second-year chemistry (CHEM2054, BIOC2052), biological inorganic chemistry at second and Masters levels, and the ethics of chemistry. Sharpe is a member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and the American Chemical Society. His teaching innovations have been recognized with the Faculty of Science Teaching Excellence Award in 2016 and the 2017 Australian Awards for University Teaching for Programs that Enhance Learning as part of the First Year Chemistry Team.

Sharpe's research centers on chemistry education, exploring how students learn in laboratory settings, barriers to success, and mathematical foundations for chemistry study. Previously, his research spanned coordination chemistry, macrocyclic chemistry, and medicinal inorganic chemistry, contributing to projects like ARC Discovery grants on peptide helix-sheet-nanofibre equilibria (2005-2007) and Technology-Enhanced Learning grants for online and adaptive learning in first-year chemistry (2015-2016). He has supervised PhD theses as associate advisor, including on iron chelators for cancer treatment (2009) and tuning redox potentials of conducting polymeric films (2011). With 48 works documented in UQ eSpace, key publications include books such as Chemistry for Queensland Units 1 & 2 (Oxford University Press, 2018, co-author; 2020 workbook, co-author), Chemistry for Queensland Units 3 & 4 (Oxford University Press, 2019, co-author; workbook, co-author); journal articles like "Synthetic and natural products as iron chelators" (Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, 2011), "Chemistry for the masses" (International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education, 2014), "Electrochemically mediated enantioselective reduction of chiral sulfoxides" (Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, 2014), and "Novel mechanism of cytotoxicity for the selective selenosemicarbazone, 2-acetylpyridine 4,4-dimethyl-3-selenosemicarbazone (Ap44mSe)" (Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2016). His contributions enhance chemistry education and laboratory learning at UQ and beyond.