Dr Prospero Taroni-Junior

Dr Prospero Taroni-Junior is a Lecturer (Teaching) at the UCL Institute for Materials Discovery (IMD) and Deputy Director for IMD at UCL East.

When did you take up this position? What was your position beforehand?

I joined UCL as a Research Fellow early in 2019 working for a project funded by the European Commission, related to the development of smart advanced multifunctional coatings for ice prevention in marine structures. 

I became a member of teaching staff at IMD towards the end of 2019, to support our planned expansion, with increased student intake. We went from 28 MSc students in 2018/2019 to 157 in 2023/24, despite relentless restrictions imposed by COVID-19 over a big chunk of this time! Our institute has now expanded activities to embrace both contrasting worlds of Bloomsbury and UCL East! 

I had a wide breadth of professional experiences before UCL, from high school science education in Brazil and UK, also some R&D chemistry work at a large multinational corporation. I came into the world of Materials Sciences at a later stage of my career, with a PhD at Queen Mary University of London, paving my way to a multidisciplinary mindset.

Tell us about your work at UCL – how do you spend your days?

I was recently nominated with the enabling role of Deputy Director for IMD at UCL East. I am coordinating the operations of our new research and teaching laboratory spaces, where three of our new MSc programmes are based. 

I have also proposed and designed the new MSc Advanced Materials Science (Sustainability) programme. I’ve created and convene two core modules for this programme: Advanced Materials for Sustainable Energy Technologies, and Advance Topics in Materials Sciences for Sustainable Developments. 

I am also convenor for Literature Project and Research Project since 2020, two instrumental modules for all MSc programmes at IMD. The role involves mentoring staff and supervising a grand total of 74 MSc students to date, supporting their research project activities within our wet and dry laboratory facilities. 

What are some of your favourite things about working at UCL? How have you found it different to previous jobs?

I love working at UCL! It stimulates my neurons every single day in a way that I have never experienced anywhere else! I feel trusted by UCL, and it drives my desire to create impact, with a big bang! 

Every year during induction day I read UCL’s mission statement to students: “our distinctive approach to research, education and innovation will further inspire our community of staff, students and partners to transform how the world is understood, how knowledge is created and shared, and the way that global problems are solved.” 

This statement causes an involuntary contraction of small muscles at the base of my hair follicles (goosebumps!). This is precisely what I aspired to achieve since I was a young toddler, being puzzled by the detrimental way our society has focused purely on economic growth without due regard for environmental and social impacts. 

But now I am part of a top world ranking university and we cannot sit complacently, because we have the tools to generate impact. Within my privileged position at the epicentre of UCL East, I feel alive, urged to create, and disseminate our ethos of disruptive thinking way into the future.

Can you tell us about any projects that you are currently working on?

Complementary to my teaching and leadership commitments at UCL East, I am the first and only Wellbeing Champion at IMD since 2020, acting as a ‘go to’ individual that responds supportively to those in need of a ‘listening ear’, also facilitating implementation of UCL’s health and wellbeing strategy. 

To this end, I designed and deliver yearly Wellbeing seminars, promoting the five ways to mental health and wellbeing to our cohorts. I am very pleased that I also initiated and run an ever-successful drawing competition for the last four years, when students compete by drawing a portrait of me, generating great interest in the topic while helping to combat stigma through fun activities. The image below is a compilation of 2023/24 competition entries. 

Have you always been based in London? If not, when did you move here, and how did you find adapting to living in London?

Most of my adult life was spent in London, but I was born in Brazil, living my youth hopping with my family in a Volkswagen Beetle between a small village, a big city and an organic farm in the state of Minas Gerais, where my father earned his bread, and made the cheese! 

Moving to London was a fascinating contrast. I feel very privileged to have had such a humble beginning immersed in the tropics, but my welcome to London was equally warming!

Finally, tell us about your non-work life. Do you have any hobbies, or favourite places to go in London?

I have a small allotment plot just a mile down my home in South London. Most days when weather permits, I close my work laptop (if working from home) and recharge my battery by digging the soil, tending to Brassicaceaes, Solanaceaes, Asteraceaes, Liliaceaes, Rosaceaes, Cucurbitaceaes, Chenopodiaceaes, Fabaceaes, Poaceaes, and a large family of froggies living in my little pond!