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Ian Griffiths

I am a Professor of Industrial Mathematics and a Royal Society University Research Fellow in the Mathematical Institute at the University of Oxford. I am a Professorial Fellow in Industrial Mathematics at Mansfield College. I have a collaborative network with Howard Stone and the Complex Fluids Group at Princeton, and the Laboratory of Fields, Flows, and Interfaces at Ryerson University in Toronto. Prior to my current position I was a postdoctoral research associate in the Complex Fluids Group, Princeton, and in OCCAM at Oxford. I completed my doctorate in Oxford in glass tube manufacture.

Our group

Postdoctoral researchers

Andrea Giudici

is a postdoctoral researcher studying 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 is co-supervised by Dominic Vella and Janine Nunes.

Attila Kovács

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

Ellen Luckins

is working on filtration and decontamination challenges. Her work is 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 is co-supervised by Chris Breward and Colin Please.

Abel Valverde

is a postdoctoral researcher studying the behaviour of bed filters, in collaboration with Tim Myers and experimentalists at the University of Girona.

Master's students

Chloe Bernard

is our 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 is in collaboration with Beko. Chloe is co-supervised by Colin Please.

Summer interns

Ilann Thomas

is our summer intern. Ilann is based in ENS Paris-Saclay. He is working 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 is co-supervised by Dominic Vella.

Doctoral researchers

Nicholas Ryan

is a DPhil student working on modelling the manufacture of glass sheets. He is co-supervised by Chris Breward and Peter Howell.

Torin Fastnedge

is a DPhil student working on modelling microplastics and microfibre filters in washing machines. This project is in collaboration with Beko. Torin is co-supervised by Chris Breward.

Daniel Booth

is a doctoral researcher working in collaboration with the Laboratory of Fields, Flows, and Interfaces (LoFFI) to derive mathematical models to understand a new method that has been discovered for creating nanobubbles for medical applications. He is co-supervised by Peter Howell and in collaboration with Scott Tsai.

Arkady Wey

is an InFoMM CDT student who is working on the mathematics of filtration in collaboration with Gore. Arkady won the 2023 STEM for Britain Gold Award. You can listen to him speaking out this work here. Prior to this he worked on the manufacture of glass fibres in collaboration with glass company Schott AG.

Oliver Whitehead

is an InFoMM CDT student who is working on liquid crystals in collaboration with materials company Merck.

Zechariah Lau

is a research scholar working on tackling the Covid-19 pandemic. His work is 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. Zechariah is working 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 is co-supervised by Katerina Kaouri.