Aliaksandr Baidak was born in Minsk, Belarus in 1982. In the period of 1999–2004 he studied chemistry at the Chemistry Department of the Belarusian State University in Minsk. In 2003 he completed his practical work in industrial sector (Belmedpreparaty, Minsk, Belarus) and in 2004 he defended his Diploma Thesis in the Radiation Chemistry Group of Prof. O. I. Shadyro, at the Belarusian State University, Belarus. In 2004 – 2005 he worked as a lab assistant in the Peptide Synthesis Laboratory of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. In 2008 he received his PhD (summa cum laude) in Natural Sciences (doctor rerum naturalium) from the University of Leipzig in Germany for his studies on the electron transfer process in non-polar solvents, in the Group of Time-Resolved Spectroscopy led by Prof. O. Brede. In the period of 2008–2010 he was a Research Scholar in the Radiation Chemistry Group of Prof. J. A. LaVerne in the Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory, Notre Dame, USA, where he investigated radiation-induced degradation mechanisms in aromatic liquids as well as radiolytic decomposition of various types of ion exchange resins. In the period of 2012–2013 he was a Junior Research Associate in the Centre for Nanoscience and Technology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, in Milan, Italy, working with Dr. P. Keivanidis. In Milan Dr. A. Baidak performed delayed luminescence experiments for spectroscopic characterization of potential oxygen barrier materials for organic photovoltaic applications. He also used time-resolved luminescence spectroscopy to correlate the efficiency of charge photogeneration and recombination in organic photovoltaic composites with their morphology. In Italy Dr. Aliaksandr Baidak was involved in a successful collaboration with an industrial partner of IIT–SAES Getters S.p.A. (Lainate). Aliaksandr has published several peer-reviewed articles in the areas of radiation chemistry, time-resolved spectroscopy and organic photovoltaics. His work has been presented at many international conferences, both in Europe and in North America. In August 2013 Dr. Baidak was appointed as a Research Associate at the Dalton Cumbrian Facility (DCF), the Dalton Nuclear Institute, the University of Manchester. In October 2014 Aliaksandr Baidak has been promoted to the Dalton Fellow position. This is a five-year long research and lecturing appointment supported by Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences of The University of Manchester, offered through the Dalton Nuclear Institute. Dr. Baidak’s research projects at DCF focus on: (1) radiolysis of water and of aqueous solutions at high temperature and high pressure; (2) radiation-induced degradation of ion exchange materials and organic polymers in general; (3) effects of ionising radiation on graphene and other 2D materials.

• Radiation-induced decomposition of polymers;
• Radiolysis of aqueous systems under light water reactor operating conditions;
• Radiation effects on graphene and other 2D materials;
• Radiation chemical synthesis of advanced nanomaterials.

Radiation Chemistry

Nuclear Research

Polymers

Nanomaterials

Materials Characterisation

• Dalton Cumbrian Facility
• Dalton Nuclear Institute
• School of Chemistry

Prof. Cinzia Casiraghi

Prof. Fred Currell