Ed was born in Edinburgh but grew up in Hastings on the south coast of England. In 1974 he started his studies in chemistry at St. Catherine’s College, University of Oxford, where in 1978 he obtained his BA in Chemistry. He completed his D.Phil. at Linacre College, University of Oxford, under Professor Kenneth Seddon’s supervision. At that time, he began a love affair with ruthenium chemistry and photochemistry that continued throughout his career. He held several research fellowships at the University of Cambridge before being appointed to a University Lectureship and Fellowship of Robinson College in 1984. He remained at Cambridge until he was appointed Professor of Inorganic Chemistry in Basel. He briefly held positions as Professor of Chemistry and Head of School in Birmingham before returning to the University of Basel. He became an emeritus professor at the University of Basel in 2023.
He has interests and publishes widely in all areas of chemistry including chemical history and the communication of science, with over 600 peer-reviewed publications and is highly cited.
He held an ERC Advanced Grant with his “Li-Lo: Light-in, light-out” project.
He has been Dean of Research of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Vice-President at the University of Basel with responsibility for research, early career development and diversity. He was a member of the steering committee of the European Universities Association Council for Doctoral Education and the executive committee of the Swiss National Science Foundation.
He is currently Vice-President of Division VIII of IUPAC and has recently been elected to the Board of Trustees of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is also president of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences expert group on research integrity and is intensively involved in issues related to scientific integrity, both in Switzerland and worldwide. He is currently a Swiss representative on ENRIO and a member of the ENRIo Elections Committee.
He was appointed a corresponding Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2022 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
He is or has been on the Editorial Boards of numerous journals.
He is currently President of Euresearch in Switzerland, the national organization facilitating the involvement of Swiss researchers with European research programmes.
Edwin has joined Women’s Brain Foundation since 2024.
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