Dr Aravind Vijayaraghavanis,  School of Materials, University of Manchester

Dr. Aravind Vijayaraghavan is a Lecturer in Nanomaterials in School of Materials at The University of Manchester. He heads the Nano-functional Materials Group. His research involves the science and technology of graphene and carbon nanotubes, particularly for applications in electronics, sensors and biotechnology. He was previously a senior post-doctoral research fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA and an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany. He obtained his MEng (2002) and PhD (2006) in Materials Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA and his BTech (2000) in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology - Madras, India. He has published over 45 papers in international peer reviewed journals. He is active in science communication and public engagement, and was awarded the Joshua Phillips Award for Innovation in Science Engagement in 2013.

Research interests: Aravind’s own research group deals with application-driven research, particularly in the fields of sensors, composites and coatings of graphene. More information on www.nanofunc.com.

Organisations to meet in New Zealand: keen to meet with companies, universities and research institutions in NZ with an interest in graphene applications primarily, with potential contacts in basic research up to early-stage commercialisation (TRL 2 – 5 level) work.

Dr John Hanna (TBC), Dept of Physics, University of Warwick, UK 

The University of Warwick hosts the largest solid state NMR laboratory in the UK. The group has a wide range of solid-state NMR research interests encompassing the development of multinuclear solid-state NMR methodology and pulse-sequences combined with calculations and application to materials science, biological solids and pharmaceuticals and supramolecular chemistry. John is leader of the Materials Solid State NMR Group. His research profile has programmes of research across many spheres of materials science and chemistry; these include:

• solid oxide fuel cell materials
• hydrogen conduction membranes and hydrogen storage materials
• biomaterials
• nuclear immobilization wasteforms including geopolymers, glass, zirconolites,
• hollandites, apatites, etc.
• catalytic materials such as metal nanoparticles (Pt, Pd, Co etc.), CeO2,
• Fischer-Tropsch processes
• battery materials and related

Organisations to meet in New Zealand: the MacDiarmid Institute, from which arrangements with other members of the Institute could flourish, based around the advanced NMR facilities and techniques than Warwick possesses.

Professor Ivan Parkin, University College London  

Professor Parkin's group is concerned with developing innovative routes to technologically important inorganic materials. The group also has a strong interest in the preparation and characterisation of new materials especially aspects of composition and microstructure. The group is involved in research in Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapour Deposition (APCVD), solid state metathesis, self propagating high temperature synthesis, antimicrobial coatings (both hard surfaces and polymers), the formation of gold nanoparticle conjugates and combinatorial CVD. It has also developed projects in frustrated magnetism and metal oxychloride intercalation chemistry, amorphous alloys, chemical synthesis of nano-scaled materials and ELNES. Ivan’s group has a particular interest in antimicrobial surfaces for dairy farmer use.

 Professor Robert Akid, Corrosion & Materials, Manchester University

Professor Akid is the BP/Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Corrosion & Materials. He is a Fellow and Council Member of the Institute of Corrosion (ICorr), a Fellow and Chairman of the Corrosion Committee of the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM³). His principal research activities include the evaluation of localised corrosion in metals/alloys and its implications in the early stages of corrosion and corrosion fatigue damage in which he has over 25 years experience. Since 1993 he has worked on comparing conventional methods of assessing corrosion damage with that of the new electrochemical scanning probe (ESP) techniques. Through this work he became the Co-ordinator of the EPSRC funded UK-based ESP Network which undertook and completed an associated EPSRC-funded Multi-Project Research Equipment programme to initiate University-Industry collaborative studies of localised corrosion of steels, Al alloys and welded systems using these techniques. Recent research council awards include (with Smith) two Medical Research Council grants, a Discipline Hopping Award, assessing (a) encapsulation of antibiotics in sol-gel coatings and (b) potential of enzyme encapsulated sol-gel coatings as biosensors; EPSRC and EPSRC Follow-on fund grants related to the “Development of a functional sol-gel coating system via encapsulation of microorganisms”. Prof Akid is a past Royal Academy of Engineering Senior Research Fellow and recent Yorkshire Enterprise Fellow. Prof Akid has published some 90+ scientific papers covering the above research areas and more recently has published and successfully patented in the area of sol-gel coatings. He is widely connected with industry and has produced over 60 industrial research reports. He is the Technical Editor of the Institute of Corrosion’s bimonthly publication, Corrosion Management, a member of the EPSRC college panel and an Editorial Board member of two International Journals.

His interests lie around the functional coatings Manchester is developing. The key current applications include Anti-fouling, eg. for surfaces exposed to marine environments and Anti-infective for medical implant devices.

Organisations to meet in New Zealand: Robert will be in Nelson from Feb 7-11 and would like to meet researchers and suitable companies in the medical manufacturers and coatings sectors.

Dr Valeska Ting, Smart Nanomaterials, University of Bath

Valeska's research interests lie in the field of sustainable energies. She has extensive experience of a large range of experimental materials characterization techniques including X-ray and neutron diffraction, electron microscopy, thermogravimetric and spectroscopic analysis, gas sorption testing and physical properties testing. She has contributed to the design and development of equipment for in-situ neutron diffraction experiments as well as aiding in the development and testing of high pressure gas sorption apparatus.

Valeska's expertise is in the synthesis, characterisation and application of porous materials. She currently heads a research group at Bath concerned with the understanding of structure-property relationships of functional nanoporous materials and their application to problems in sustainable energies such as H2 storage, CO2 sequestration and biofuel upgrading. Some of her recent research into new characterization methods for porous hydrogen storage materials was awarded the UK's Parliamentary and Scientific Committee's 2013 SET for Britain Gold Medal for Engineering and the Westminster Medal. In addition, her work in sustainable chemical technologies and engineering outreach was recognized by the award of the Institution of Chemical Engineers’ 2013 Sir Frederick Warner medal.

Research Interests:

• Synthesis and testing of nanoporous materials for gas storage
• Development of methods for in-situ characterisation of nanomaterials
• Smart nanomaterials for responsive containment of gases/materials