Soncini Research Group

CURRENT POSITION Associate Professor and ARC Future Fellow at the University of Melbourne. EDUCATION • PhD in Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy (2003). Supervisor: Prof. Paolo Lazzeretti. • Laurea in Chimica cum laude (MSc Chemistry), University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy (1999). Supervisors: Prof. Paolo Lazzeretti and Prof. Riccardo Zanasi. WORK EXPERIENCE • 2019-present, Associate Professor (tenured), School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne. • 2019-present ARC Future Fellow • 2015-2018, Senior Lecturer (tenured), School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne. • 2011-2014, Lecturer (tenure-track), School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne. • 2009-2010, Research Fellow of the Institute for Nanoscale Physics and Chemistry (Flemish Centre of Excellence), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium). • 2008-2009, Forsker (Researcher), Centre for Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Norwegian Centre of Excellence led by Prof. Trygve Helgaker. University of Oslo (Norway). • 2006-2007, Franqui postdoctoral fellow, Division of Quantum Chemistry, in the group of Prof. Liviu F. Chibotaru. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium). • 2003-2005, Postdoctoral researcher in the group of Prof. Patrick W. Fowler, FRS. School of Chemistry, University of Exeter (UK). RESEARCH INCOME (> $2.3M in the last 6 years) • Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Grant DP210103208 ($330 K). Investigators: Soncini (Lead CI, U Melb), Overgaard (U Aarhus). Y:2021-2024. • Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship FT180100519 ($843 K) + Uni Melb Estab. Grant ($200 K). Investigators: Soncini (Lead CI). Y:2018-2022 • Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Grant DP170100034 ($403 K) + ANSTO ($127 K). Investigators: Boskovic (Lead CI, U Melb), Soncini (U Melb) et al. Y:2017-2020 • Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Grant DP150103254 ($445 K). Investigators: Soncini (Lead CI), Affronte (U Modena). Y:2015-2018. • LIEF Grant to purchase Magnetometry Facility for Molecular and Nanoscale Materials, Grant LE210100009 ($ 620 K). Investigators: Boskovic (Lead CI), Soncini et al. • Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering (formerly Bragg Institute), Neutron Beam Instrument time for a total of $280 K (in-kind). 2018-2020. • External collaborator (non-EU) in 7th EU Framework STREP proposal FPT7-ICT-2013-10, MoQuaS: Molecular Quantum Spintronics (>EUR 2 M). Y:2013-2016. • McKenzie Fellowship, awarded by Uni. Mel. to Dr Van den Heuvel in Soncini’s research group Y: 2013-2015. • Early Career Researcher Grant (A$40 K), awarded by University of Melbourne. (Lead CI: Soncini/sole investigator). Year: 2012. • Selby Research Award ($14 K), awarded by the University of Melbourne. Year: 2011. • Fondation Francqui-Stichting Research Fellowship, sole investigator, Belgian fellowship funding Soncini’s postdoctoral salary at KULeuven (Belgium). Y: 2006-2007. SCIENTIFIC HABILITATIONS • Italian national scientific habilitation (ASN, bando 2012, DD n. 222/2012) as Associate Professor in Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics (Fisica Teorica della Materia, 02/B2). • Italian national scientific habilitation (ASN, bando 2012, DD n. 222/2012) as Associate Professor in Physical Chemistry (Modelli e Metodologie per Le Scienze Chimiche, 03/A2). • Italian national scientific habilitation (ASN, bando 2012, DD n. 222/2012) as Associate Professor in Inorganic Chemistry (Fondamenti Scienze Chimiche e Sistemi Inorganici, 03/B1). METRICS 91 journal articles, 2 book chapters, 2 peer-reviewed conf. proceedings. 4,854 citations, h-index = 34 REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS • C. Gao, A. Genoni, S. Gao, S. Jiang, A. Soncini, J. Overgaard, Observation of the asphericity of 4f-electron density and its relation to the magnetic anisotropy axis in SMMs, Nature Chemistry 2020, 12, 213-219. Cited 7 times. • S. Calvello, M. Piccardo, S. V. Rao, A. Soncini, CERES: An ab initio code dedicated to the calculation of the electronic structure and magnetic properties of Ln complexes. J. Comp. Chem. 2018, 39, 328. Cited 13 times. • KR Vignesh, A Soncini, SK Langley, W Wernsdorfer, KS Murray, G Rajaraman, Ferrotoroidic ground state in a heterometallic CrDy6 complex displaying slow magnetic relaxation. Nature Comm. 2017, 8,1023. Cited 55 times. • W. Van den Heuvel, S. Calvello, A. Soncini, Configuration-averaged 4f orbitals in ab initio calculations of low-lying crystal field levels in lanthanide(III) complexes. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2016, 18, 15807. Cited 16 times. • A. Soncini and S. Calvello, “Room Temperature Chiral Discrimination in Paramagnetic NMR Spectroscopy”, Physical Review Letters 2016, 116, 163001. Cited 10 times. • NF Chilton, D Collison, E. J. L. McInnes, R. E. P. Winpenny, A. Soncini, An electrostatic model for the determination of magnetic anisotropy in dysprosium complexes. Nature Comm. 2013, 4, 2551. Cited 433 times. • NF Chilton, RP Anderson, LD Turner, A Soncini, KS Murray, PHI: A powerful new program for the analysis of anisotropic monomeric and exchange-coupled polynuclear d-and f-block complexes. J. Comp. Chem. 2013 34, 1164. Cited 1,116 times. • A. Soncini and W. Van den Heuvel, “Communication: Paramagnetic NMR chemical shift in a spin state subject to zero-field splitting”, The Journal of Chemical Physics 2013, 138, 021103. Editors’ Choice 2013. Cited 65 times. • W. Van den Heuvel and A. Soncini, “NMR chemical shift in an electronic state with arbitrary degeneracy”, Physical Review Letters 2012, 109, 073001. Cited 63 times. • L. F. Chibotaru, L. Ungur, A. Soncini, The origin of nonmagnetic Kramers doublets in the ground state of dysprosium triangles: evidence for a toroidal magnetic moment. Angew. Chemie Int. Ed. 2008, 120, 4194. Cited 500 times. PHD SUPERVISION (11 students led to completion) • Dr Jared M. Ashtree, University of Melbourne. Thesis: “Magnetisation and Transport Dynamics of Nanomagnets with Toroidal Ground States”. Supervisors: A/Prof Soncini (principal), A/Prof Boskovic. Submitted 7/2/2021, under examination. • Dr Kieran Hymas, University of Melbourne. Thesis: “Quantum Spin Dynamics of Molecular Spintronics Devices Based on Single-Molecule Nanomagnets”. Supervisor (sole): A/Prof Soncini. Date of completion: 25/09/2020. • Dr Shashank V. Rao, University of Melbourne. Thesis: “Development and Application of Theoretical Models for Molecular Magnetism”. Supervisor (sole): A/Prof Soncini. Date of completion: 3/02/2020. • Dr Gemma K. Gransbury, University of Melbourne Thesis: “Valence Tautomerism and exchange interactions in cobalt-dioxolene complexes”. Supervisors: A/Prof Boskovic (principal), A/Prof Soncini. Date of completion: 22/07/2019. • Dr Haibei Huang, University of Melbourne. Thesis: “Magnetic interactions between lanthanide single-molecule magnets and a magnetic substrate”. Supervisor (sole): Dr Soncini. Date of completion: 21/05/2018. • Dr Michele Vonci, University of Melbourne. Thesis: “Synthesis and investigation of polyoxometalate-supported lanthanoid single-molecule magnets”. Supervisors: A/Prof Boskovic (principal), Dr. Soncini. Date of completion: 16/03/2018. • Dr Simone Calvello, University of Melbourne. Thesis: “Theoretical characterization of electronic and magnetic properties of lanthanide single-molecule magnets”. Supervisor (sole): Dr. Soncini. Date of completion: 22/01/2018. • Dr Xinli Zhang, University of Melbourne. Thesis: “A New Stokes-Einstein Relation for Size Determination of Nanoparticles”. Supervisors: Dr Gray-Weale (former principal supervisor), Dr. Soncini (substitute supervisor in last year). Date of completion: 06/10/2017. • Dr Yecheng Zhou, University of Melbourne. Thesis: “Theoretical Studies of Perovskite Solar Cells”. Supervisors: Dr Gray-Weale (former principal supervisor), Dr. Soncini (substitute supervisor in last year). Date of completion: 22/06/2017. • Dr Mayouan Liu, University of Melbourne. Thesis: “Predicting the Thermodynamic Properties of Liquids from Computer Simulations”. Supervisors: Dr Gray-Weale (former principal supervisor), Dr. Soncini (substitute supervisor in last year). Date of completion: xx/06/2016. • Dr Erik Tellgren, University of Oslo. Thesis: “Quantum-chemical method development for extended and magnetic systems”. Supervisors: Prof. T. Helgaker (principal), Prof. K. Ruud, Dr. A. Soncini. Date of completion: 28/12/2009.