Professor Richard Catlow has long been engaged in computational and experimental studies of complex inorganic materials. By integrating advanced computational methods with experiments, he has made significant contributions to fields such as catalysis and mineralogy. In 2004, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) for his pioneering role in advancing the development and application of computer modelling in solid-state and materials chemistry.His research covers oxides, sulfides, silicates, and molecular materials, with applications in energy and catalysis. Specific areas include simulating the structure and energetics of disordered materials, particularly those used in energy storage devices and transparent conductive oxides; modeling and predicting the structures of crystals, surfaces, and nanoparticles; combining computational modelling with synchrotron radiation and neutron scattering spectroscopy to gain deep insights into the structure and mechanisms of catalytic processes, especially in oxide and microporous catalytic systems; and simulating the properties of photoactive oxides.Professor Catlow has led his team in developing a range of important advanced research tools, platforms, and applications. These include deriving interatomic potential models for inorganic materials and quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) techniques for accurately predicting local properties in solids; software for high-performance computing platforms; and in situ synchrotron and neutron scattering techniques for studying catalytic mechanisms. Among these, computational simulation technologies for materials have been widely adopted in the chemical industry.

Professor Catlow has published over 1,200 papers with more than 60,000 citations and an h-index of 117, and has authored 12 monographs. He has secured over £6 million in research funding as principal investigator and more than £13 million as co-investigator. To date, he has supervised 120 PhD students, with over 50 graduates working in academia—including 20 full professors.