Core Technical Modules
Physical Properties of Polymers
Dimitrios Papageorgiou
Personal Profile: https://www.sems.qmul.ac.uk/staff/d.papageorgiou
Convenor for Physical Properties of Polymers. Dr. Dimitrios Papageorgiou studied Physics and Materials Science and obtained his PhD in Polymer Nanocomposites from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He then moved to The University of Manchester as a Research Associate working under the Graphene Flagship project, investigating the use of graphene and other 2D materials as reinforcements for multifunctional, polymer-based nanocomposites. His work also explores the application of strain on nanomaterials and nanocomposites for the understanding of their deformation mechanisms, their intrinsic mechanical properties and their phase changes under strain. His research interests include high-performance nanocomposites, bio-based polymers and composites, energy generation and storage, sensitive sensors and actuators.
Zhang Han
Personal Profile: https://www.sems.qmul.ac.uk/staff/han.zhang
Dr Han Zhang is a Senior Lecturer in Physical Properties of Polymers at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and heads the Composites research group at QMUL. He obtained his BEng from Beihang University and Ph.D. from QMUL. His expertise in the field of composites range from design and manufacturing to characterisation of advanced composites and nanocomposites, especially of multifunctional composites for future lightweight structural applications. Han received research funding from various sources including EPSRC, Royal Society, EU, Innovate UK, and UK industries.
Han’s current research focuses on the sustainable development of advanced composites, including energy efficient sustainable manufacturing, integrated health monitoring and easy repairing functionalities for extended components’ life. Han has more than 60 publications in peer-reviewed journals including Advanced Functional Materials, and Composites Science and Technology. Han is the recipient of the 2010 RH Craven Award from Institute of Materials, Mineral and Mining (IOM3) for his excellence in polymer materials.
Polymer Chemistry
Yamin Abdouni
Personal Profile: https://www.sems.qmul.ac.uk/staff/yamin.abdouni
Lecturer in Polymer Chemistry. Dr. Yamin Abdouni received his bachelor's degree in chemistry in 2014 at Ghent University (Belgium) and his master's degree in chemistry at the same university in 2015. He moved to the United Kingdom to undertake a PhD at Queen Mary University of London under the supervision of Dr. Remzi Becer, mainly focusing on the development of novel glycopolymers with controlled sequence and architecture. After receiving his PhD in 2020, Yamin decided to work at QMUL teaching Chemical Engineering modules.
Chemistry for Materials
Yamin Abdouni
Personal Profile: https://www.sems.qmul.ac.uk/staff/yamin.abdouni
Lecturer in Chemistry for Materials. Dr. Yamin Abdouni received his bachelor's degree in chemistry in 2014 at Ghent University (Belgium) and his master's degree in chemistry at the same university in 2015. He moved to the United Kingdom to undertake a PhD at Queen Mary University of London under the supervision of Dr. Remzi Becer, mainly focusing on the development of novel glycopolymers with controlled sequence and architecture. After receiving his PhD in 2020, Yamin decided to work at QMUL teaching Chemical Engineering modules.
Materials Science 1
Tom Macdonald
Personal Profile: https://www.sems.qmul.ac.uk/staff/t.j.macdonald
Course leader of Material Science 1. Dr.Tom is an 1851 Research Fellow in the School of Engineering and Materials Science at Queen Mary. He also holds an Honorary Visiting Researcher position at Imperial College London. From 2017-2019, he was a Ramsay Memorial Fellow at University College London (UCL) developing new nanomaterials for solar energy conversion. He obtained his Ph.D. at the University of South Australia in 2016 developing new synthetic pathways for heavy-metal-free nanocrystals. He has extensive experience in the synthesis of functional nanomaterials and the fabrication of third-generation photovoltaics.
Giuseppe Viola
Personal Profile: https://www.sems.qmul.ac.uk/staff/g.viola
Giuseppe Viola obtained his first degree in Materials Engineering in "Federico II" University of Naples in 2004. In 2005, he joined QMUL as a PhD/Teaching Assistant in the Department of Materials, and he obtained his PhD and PGCAP certificate in 2009. After spending few years of postdoctoral research activities at QMUL, he moved to Politecnico di Torino for his Marie Curie Fellowship, and subsequently to UCL as a researcher at the Faculty of Medical Science and then at the Institute for Materials Discovery as a teaching fellow. Since November 2021, he is back at QMUL.
Experiments in Materials 1
Deng Xinru
Personal Profile: https://www.sems.qmul.ac.uk/staff/deng.xinru
Convenor for Experiments in Materials Modules. Dr. Deng Xinru holds a Bachelor's Degree from Xiamen University, China, a MEng Degree and a Doctor of Biomedical Materials Degree from Queen Mary University of London, UK. During her PhD, her research mainly focused on biomineralization and developing different approaches to control/guide the nucleation and hierarchical growth of hydroxyapatite crystals at different length-scales.
Engineering Design Method
Li Wang
Personal Profile: https://www.sems.qmul.ac.uk/staff/l.wang
Convenor for Engineering Design Method. Dr Li Wang obtained her PhD of Structural Mechanics at University of the West of England. She spent most of her career in industry, including Roll-Royce and Unilever. In 2022, Dr Li Wang joined SEMS at QMUL as a Senior Lecturer. She teaches topics on personal development plan and engineering design. Her research interests are on material development and applying technologies in education.
Surfaces and Interfaces
Colin Crick
Personal Profile: https://www.sems.qmul.ac.uk/staff/c.crick
Senior Lecturer in Surfaces and Interfaces. Dr. Colin Crick’s research interests include: water repellent materials, water purification, and anti-biofouling surfaces. Additionally, he is the Chair of Undergraduate Subject Examination Board at QMES.
Materials Selection in Engineering Design
Andrew Spowag
Personal Profile: https://www.sems.qmul.ac.uk/staff/a.spowage
Senior Lecturer of Materials Selection in Engineering Design Module. Dr. Andrew Spowage’s engineering work focuses on the performance of materials, specifically selecting materials for a given application and investigating them when they fail in service. His scholarship portfolio covers university transitions, engineering and project management and how to integrated professional practice into engineering programmes. His administrative roles cover quality and teaching excellence for QMUL Engineering Programmes at NPU as well as Industrial Relations in China. Andrew’s teaching and research interests contain two broad areas: 1) The Performance of Materials 2) Education and Engineering Management.
Adijat Omowumi INYANG
Personal Profile: https://www.sems.qmul.ac.uk/staff/a.inyang
Lecturer of Materials Selection in Engineering Design Module. Dr. Wumi received her MSc in Materials Engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. Dr, Wumi was doing her post-Doctoral research in Cape Peninsula University of Technology and University of Cape Town between 2015-2020. Research project on the synthesis of nanomaterials; fabrication of metal oxide non-enzymatic glucose biosensors and anatomical shoulder biomechanics.
Advanced Ceramic and Glass Materials
Salvatore Grasso
Personal Profile: https://www.sems.qmul.ac.uk/staff/s.grasso
Lecturer in Advanced Ceramic and Glass Materials Module. Research areas: Interaction between matter and electromagnetic fields at high temperature, thermokinetic effects and metastability in ultrafast processing, 1D and 3D texturing of materials. Structural ceramics for ultrahigh temperature, ultra-hard materials, nuclear ceramics Functional ceramics for energy storage, transparent ceramics, semiconductors, and ceramics for environment.
Advanced Polymer Chemistry
Sulafudin Vukusic
Personal Profile: https://www.sems.qmul.ac.uk/staff/s.vukusic
Senior lecturer in Advanced Polymer Chemistry Module. Sulafudin Vukusic holds a Master's degree in Polymer Science and Technology from the University of Manchester and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Leeds. After that, he worked as a postdoctoral research assistant at the University of Leicester. Then worked as a lecturer in chemistry at Jubail University of Technology, and Khalifa University in the UAE since 2013. Main research fields: organic chemistry, polymer chemistry, polymer chemistry and reaction engineering, polymer processing, polymer science and engineering, etc.
Materials and Sustainability
Maria Romero-Gonzalez
Personal Profile: https://www.sems.qmul.ac.uk/staff/m.romero-gonzalez
Senior Lecturer in Materials and Sustainability. Dr. Maria Romero-Gonzale’s main research areas are biomineralization, surface chemistry, biomaterials, environmental chemistry, engineering and sustainability. She concentrates on the flipped learning, student centred learning, and curriculum design.
Charles Ijogbemeye Oseghale
Personal Profile: https://www.sems.qmul.ac.uk/staff/c.oseghale
Dr. Charles' area of expertise includes Electrochemical power sources (Batteries, Fuel cells characterisation), Material Chemistry (Nanomaterial/Bioinspired synthesis), and Surface Science (Microscopy, Spectroscopy). He has taught courses and supervised academic research projects in clean sustainable energy technologies, catalysis, materials science and engineering thematic areas at the graduate & undergraduate levels.
Renewable Energy Materials
Li Zhe
Personal Profile: https://www.sems.qmul.ac.uk/staff/zhe.li
Senior Lecturer in Renewable Energy Materials at QMUL. Dr. Li Zhe received his PhD from Cavendish Laboratory at University of Cambridge in 2012 and worked as a research associate/research fellow/junior group leader at Imperial College London (2012-2015) and Swansea University (2015-2017), and as a Lecturer of Energy Materials at School of Engineering, Cardiff University (2018-2019).
Polymer Devices
Annalisa Bruno
Personal Profile: https://www.sems.qmul.ac.uk/staff/a.bruno
Senior lecturer of Polymer Devices. Dr. Bruno received her B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. Degrees in Physics from the University of Naples Federico II, Italy. Dr. Bruno worked at Chemistry Department of Imperial College London, at the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy, and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) and at Energy Research Institute at Nanyang Technological University (ERI@N). She currently holds a Senior Lecturer position at the School of Engineering and Material Science at QMUL..
