University of Oxford logo

Past members

Chloe Bernard (2023)

was a master's student working on understanding and improving the performance of tumble dryers, with a particular focus on the efficient collection of lint. This project was in collaboration with Beko. Chloe was co-supervised by Colin Please.

Ilann Thomas (2023)

was a summer intern who visited from ENS Paris-Saclay. He worked on understanding how liquids leave containers, in order to answer questions such as how one can squeeze out ketchup from a squeezy bottle in an optimal way. Ilann was co-supervised by Dominic Vella.

Ellen Luckins (2021–2023)

was a postdoctoral researcher who worked on a broad range of filtration and decontamination challenges that are inspired by industrial challenges. Prior to her postdoctoral position, Ellen worked on a mini-project through InFoMM in collaboration with DEFRA on the clean-up of contaminant spills. Ellen was co-supervised by Chris Breward and Colin Please.

Andrea Giudici(2022)

was a postdoctoral researcher who studied how slender elastic structures interact with their environments. The motivation for this work stems from many natural scenarios, from the packing of RNA within virus capsids to the jumping of the click beetle. Similar behaviour is at play in manufacturing technologies including soft robotics, flexible electronics devices like bendable smartphones, and in multifunctional soft materials for bioengineering and healthcare applications, such as materials for tissue engineering. Andrea was co-supervised by Dominic Vella and Janine Nunes.

Attila Kovács (2022–2023)

was a postdoctoral researcher working on tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, in collaboration with the Welsh Government. Attila worked on developing a mathematical framework for rapid prediction of the spread of Covid-19 in indoor spaces. Attila was co-supervised by Katerina Kaouri.

Oliver Whitehead (2018–2022)

was an InFoMM CDT student who worked on liquid crystals in collaboration with materials company Merck.

Zechariah Lau (2020–2022)

was a research scholar who worked on tackling the Covid-19 pandemic. His work was in collaboration with the Welsh Government and Smart Separations. Zechariah worked on a reduced model for virus transmission that allows for rapid predictions of safe occupancy times in rooms. The work is hoped to help as the world reopens. Zechariah was co-supervised by Katerina Kaouri.

Aaron Pim (2022)

was a postdoctoral researcher studying the behaviour of particles in liquid crystals. The aim of his work was to understand how one can control microcargo in liquid crystal microfluidic flows. Aaron was co-supervised by Apala Majumdar. You can view Aaron's LinkedIn profile here.

Lucy Auton (2019–2022)

was a postdoctoral researcher studying the removal of fluoride from water in India, in collaboration with IIT Kharagpur. She now works with Tim Myers at the CRM, Barcelona.

Connor McAllister (2022)

was a master's student working in collaboration with W.L. Gore & Associates to understand the blocking behaviour of filters by using network models. Connor was co-supervised by Chris Breward.

Tori Pereira (2020–2021)

was a postdoctoral researcher who worked on challenges in filters, in collaboration with Smart Separations. You can watch her 2020 Division of Fluid Dynamics presentation here. You can view Tori's LinkedIn profile here.

Xander Ramage (2021)

was a postdoctoral researcher working on tackling the Covid-19 pandemic. His work was in collaboration with the Welsh Government and Smart Separations who have developed a novel anti-viral coating that neutralizes coronavirus. The coating is used in a new air-purifier, Gino. Xander worked to understand how covering surfaces with the antiviral coating can help to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. Xander was co-supervised by Katerina Kaouri.

Raquel Gonzalez Farina (2021)

was a postdoctoral researcher working on tackling the Covid-19 pandemic. Her work was in collaboration with the Welsh Government and Smart Separations who have developed a novel anti-viral coating that neutralizes coronavirus. The coating is used in a new air-purifier, Gino. Raquel worked to understand the role of droplet dispersal in virus transmission. Raquel was co-supervised by Katerina Kaouri. You can view Raquel's LinkedIn profile here.

Aaron English (2021)

was a postdoctoral researcher working on tackling the Covid-19 pandemic. His work was in collaboration with the Welsh Government and Smart Separations who have developed a novel anti-viral coating that neutralizes coronavirus. The coating is used in a new air-purifier, Gino. Aaron worked to understand how placement of these air purifiers can help to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. Aaron was co-supervised by Katerina Kaouri. You can view Aaron's LinkedIn profile here.

Kris Kiradjiev (2016–2020)

was a postdoctoral researcher working in collaboration with polymer and textile company W.L. Gore and Associates, developing mathematical models for the removal of sulphur dioxide from flue gas. Prior to this, he was a DPhil student, also working with Gore on filtration challenges. He was the winner of the 2019 STEM for Britain award for his work in this area. You can view Kris' LinkedIn profile here.

Georgia Brennan (2020)

was a D.Phil. mini-project student as part of the InFoMM CDT who worked with domestic appliance and consumer electronics brand Beko, to develop a mathematical model to improve the filters in washing machines. You can view Georgia's LinkedIn profile here.

James Harris (2020)

was a D.Phil. mini-project student as part of the InFoMM CDT who worked with polymer and textile company Gore, developing mathematical models for reactive cleaning in porous materials. James was co-supervised by Chris Breward. You can view James' LinkedIn profile here.

Jakub Kory (2018–2020)

was a postdoctoral researcher who studied the effects of compression in filters on their filtration performance.

Michael McPhail (2016–2019)

was a D.Phil. student on the InFoMM CDT. Michael worked on a mathematical model to predicts how to make different shaped Cheerios. His work was in collaboration with Nestle. You can view Michael's LinkedIn profile here.

Ousmane Kodio (2016–2019)

was a D.Phil. student who worked on the analogies between elastic and hydrodynamic instabilities, to understand how wrinkles form. Ousmane was co-supervised by Dominic Vella. He subsequently moved to MIT as a postdoctoral researcher.

Guannan Chen (2019)

was an MSc student who worked on the mathematics of decontamination and was co-supervised by Mohit Dalwadi.

Meredith Ellis (2019)

is an InFoMM CDT student who worked on the mathematics of filtration in collaboration with Smart Separations. You can view Meredith's LinkedIn profile here.

Zach Wilmott (2019)

was a postdoctoral researcher who worked on challenges in the manufacture of glass sheets. You can view Zach's LinkedIn profile here.

Maria Crespo Moya (2015–2016)

Maria Crespo Moya was a visiting researcher to our group. She completed her Ph.D. in the Complutense University of Madrid and is now based in the University of Montpellier. Her research interests lie in bioremediation for water cleaning processes. In Oxford she works on liquid crystal microfluidics along with visitor Apala Majumdar. You can view Maria's LinkedIn profile here.

Graham Baird (2017–2019)

was a postdoctoral researcher who worked on global challenges concerning the removal of arsenic from water, with particular application to India. You can view Graham's LinkedIn profile here.

Galina Printsypar (2017–2019)

was a postdoctoral researcher who worked in collaboration with Dyson trying to improve filter performance in vacuum cleaners. Galina was co-supervised by Maria Bruna. You can view Galina's LinkedIn profile here.

Armin Krupp (2013–2018)

was a postdoctoral researcher working on developing models to understand and optimize the behaviour of filters. Prior to this he completed his D.Phil. in our group, working on water filters in collaboration with Pall Corporation.

Dhaval Desai (2018)

was a summer intern, who worked on challenges concerning the removal of heavy metals and fluoride from water.

Sourav Mondal (2015–2018)

was a postdoctoral researcher who worked on an array of challenges in membrane filtration and water purification. He also worked with the LoFFI. He was a finalist in the IChemE Young Chemical Engineer in Research Award 2016 . You can see his entry video here. Sourav has since taken a faculty position in IIT Kharagpur's department of Chemical Engineering where he remains a close collaborator. You can view Sourav's LinkedIn profile here.

Raka Mondal (2016–2018)

was a postdoctoral researcher who worked on Mathematical modelling of contaminant percolation through soil beds in India. This project was in collaboration with Sirshendu De based in IIT Kharagpur. Raka is now a faculty member at the Indian Institute of Petroleum Engineering. You can view Raka's LinkedIn profile here.

Doireann O'Kiely (2013–2018)

was a D.Phil. student who worked on understanding the physical processes that take place when glass sheets are drawn from a furnace. These glass sheets can be made into a range of high-quality goods such as computer tablet screens. Doireann's project was in collaboration with Ulrich Lange from Schott AG where she spent some time each year working at their base in Mainz, Germany. Doireann was co-supervised by Chris Breward and Peter Howell. Doireann is now a faculty member at the University of Limerick. You can read more about what she is up to here. You can view Doireann's LinkedIn profile here.

Abir Boualaoui (2017)

was a visiting student from Paris ENSTA. She developed models to describe compression in filtration processes and supported her results with experiments that she conducted in the Mathematical Institute's experimental observatory. Abir also worked with Armin Krupp and Finn Box. You can view Abir's LinkedIn profile here.

Florian Charlet (2017)

was a visiting student from Paris ENSTA who studied and contrasted the Leslie-Ericksen and Beris-Edwards models for nematic liquid crystals. He was co-supervised by Apala Majumdar. You can view Florian's LinkedIn profile here.

Christiana Mavroyiakoumou (2017)

was an MSc student developing mathematical models that predict how to make microstructured glass optical fibres, which are used in the communications industry for data transfer. To understand this problem she studied how a complex network of connected viscous sheets evolve with time. Christiana also worked with Peter Howell on this project. Christiana subsequently studied for her PhD at the University of Michigan.

Scott Marquis (2017)

was a CDT student who worked on understanding the instabilities that arise when glass sheets are drawn from a preform in the Redraw Process. These glass sheets can be made into a range of high-quality goods such as computer tablet screens. Scott was co-supervised by Doireann O'Kiely and Ulrich Lange from Schott AG where Scott spent time working. You can view Scott's LinkedIn profile here.

Davin Lunz (2016)

worked in collaboration with Schott AG on understanding how fractures can arise in the manufacture of glass vials. You can view Davin's LinkedIn profile here.

Caoimhe Rooney (2016)

is our blenders expert. She worked on developing mathematical models that predict how to make the best smoothie, in collaboration with SharkNinja. She was co-supervised by Colin Please. She subsequently worked for NASA. In her spare time, she co-runs the website Mathematigals.com, with ex-Oxford DPhil graduate Jessica Williams, which promotes women in science and contains highly creative YouTube videos. You can view Caoimhe's LinkedIn profile here.

Mylene Wang (2016)

was a summer student visiting us from ENSTA ParisTech. She worked on understanding and modelling blocking of membranes in cross-flow filtration and was co-supervised by Sourav Mondal. You can view Mylene's LinkedIn profile here.

Yiliu Wang (2016)

was a summer student working on species transport in microfluidic flows and was co-supervised by Sourav Mondal.

Lewis Gaul (2015)

was our undergraduate expert in cycling science. He developed models that predicted how to make the best use of your energy when cycling. You can view Lewis' LinkedIn profile here.

James Herterich (2011–2015)

completed his D.Phil. in 2015 on developing mathematical models for new water purification techniques. James' expertise lies in asymptotic analysis. He was co-supervised by Dominic Vella in Mathematics and Robert Field and Nick Hankins in Engineering Science to ensure his models capture the important engineering design requirements. James is now a postdoctoral research associate in University College Dublin. You can view James' LinkedIn profile here.

Mo Dalwadi (2014–2015)

was a postdoctoral researcher from 2014-2015 and worked on developing mathematical models for the flow of particles through inhomogeneous porous media, with specific application to filtration. Mo has expertise in homogenization theory and asymptotic analysis. The project he worked on was through 2020 Science and he was co-supervised by Maria Bruna. Mo is now an assistant professor at UCL.

Almut Eisentraeger (2012–2014)

was a postdoctoral researcher in our group from 2012-2014. Here she worked on developing mathematical models for water purification using magnetic separation. Almut's expertise lies in numerical computation and she was co-supervised by Dominic Vella. Her research was in collaboration with the Laboratory of Fields, Flows, and Interfaces at Ryerson University, who conducts complementary experiments on lab-scale devices. Almut now works in ITWM. You can view Almut's LinkedIn profile here.

Cara Morgan (2008–2012)

was a D.Phil. student from 2008-2012. Cara worked on mathematical modelling of surfactant systems. She was co-supervised by Chris Breward and Peter Howell and worked in collaboration with The Thomas/Penfold group. You can read more about her research here. Cara is now a Clinical Fellow in Great Ormond Street. You can view Cara's LinkedIn profile here.

Michele Taroni (2011)

was a postdoctoral researcher in our group from 2011-2012. Here he worked on developing mathematical models for water purification and on models for glass sheet manufacture. Michi was co-supervised by Dominic Vella. You can view Michele's LinkedIn profile here.

Anthony Lock (2011)

was a postdoctoral researcher in 2011 who worked on the ITER Project. You can read more about his research here. You can view Anthony's LinkedIn profile here.