Oliver Holton
Graduate trainee at Johnson Matthey
Chemistry can take you around the world and into a
range of careers. Ian Le Guillou finds out about Oliver
Holton's journey through chemistry.
Since first visiting China for the International Chemistry
Olympiad in 2005, Oliver has been fascinated by
the country and its culture. Thanks to his chemistry
knowledge, he has been able to enjoy living and
working there, and will be returning again soon.
Pathway to
success
2012–present
Graduate trainee,
Johnson Matthey, Royston
2011–2012
Chemistry tutor,
Manchester
2009–2011
Lecturer, Tsinghua
University, Beijing, China
2005–2009
MChem, University of
Oxford
2003–2005
A-levels in chemistry,
biology, maths and French
at Manchester Grammar
School
While studying for his chemistry degree he taught
himself Mandarin Chinese, and after finishing university
he went to Beijing to teach English to science students:
‘I taught classes to science majors with the aim of
improving their ability to present their own research,
read research papers and write their own.’
Chemical language
‘I taught quite a lot of organic mechanisms and how to
describe them in English, which is surprisingly tricky...
It's that kind of language which is hard to get from a
normal English teacher. So my advantage was that I
had my chemistry background, as well as being able
to speak English, and that's why I was employed – the
chemistry background clinched it.’
Determination
Graduate trainee
Oliver is now a graduate trainee at Johnson Matthey,
a large chemicals company, in Royston, UK. As part of
the graduate scheme, he has had experience in several
departments within the company. While working in
trading, he had to keep a close eye on metal prices and
quickly react to any breaking news that could affect
them. It is a fast-paced job where the market can change
from minute to minute. In contrast he is now working
in market research, taking the long view and trying to
predict the future of hydrogen fuel cells.
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After teaching in China for two years, Oliver returned to
the UK to look for a long-term job. ‘When I came back, I
knew it would probably take me a while to get a job – it
took about eight months in the end. I didn't want to just
waste that time, so I set up my own chemistry tutoring
business in the area where I live. I had experience of
tutoring and I also knew that there is a demand in the
UK for science teaching. I wandered around the local
area and put out flyers and ended up with a base of
students working towards A-level chemistry.’
‘The first project I worked on was looking at a
distributed hydrogen network – how you would actually
implement the infrastructure you need for hydrogenpowered fuel cell cars. I was looking at the needs of the
system, like distributing hydrogen and whether it should
be produced centrally and then shipped to different
stations, or should it be produced locally? What would
be more efficient and what are the opportunities for our
company in those areas?’
The future and beyond!
‘My second project I can’t talk so much about – I'm
investigating the technology behind fuel cells and how it
might develop in the future.
‘The hydrogen distribution network project looked
ahead until 2050 and the stuff I'm working on now
is looking ahead almost indefinitely at how fuel cell
technology will change and what the demand will be,
in terms of the materials required. It's quite strange
looking at a time frame that's almost longer than my
entire working career will be!’
After finishing his first year at Johnson Matthey in
the UK, Oliver will spend the next two years working
at their factories in Shanghai and Hong Kong. ‘The
business is expanding pretty rapidly now in Asia, so it'll
be interesting when I go over there to see how I can
help out.’ With China as one of the largest and fastestgrowing economies in the world, it's a good time to
continue his Chinese journey through chemistry.
Fuel cell powered taxis
were used at the London
2012 Olympic Games. Find
out more about hydrogen
fuel cells with this article
from Chemistry World:
http://rsc.li/p51miz
March 2013 | The Mole | 11