Rob Atkin is a physical chemist with research interests that span fundamental to applied areas including ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents, surfactant and polymer adsorption, surface coatings, lubricants, electrolytes, production of biofuels from coal and biomass, microencapsulation, preparation of 2D materials, and protein droplet formation in cells. Rob makes extensive use of cutting edge facilities in the UWA Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, such as atomic force microscopy and external radiation scattering facilities such as ANSTO and the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source. Rob has collaborations with academics and industry partners in Australia and internationally.

Rob was awarded his PhD in 2003 and has formerly held an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Newcastle Research Fellowship, and Australian Research Council Future Fellowship. Rob has attracted more than $13M in research funding over the course of his career including $6M from the Australian Research Council (8 Discovery Projects and 7 Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities grants) and $1.5M from industry focussed grants. Rob has also been awarded neutron beam time grants worth over $2.5M.