News
September 2020 | ||
 Dr Ketao Zhang Honoured with Best Reconfigurable Parallel Mechanism Paper Award of Parallel202011 September 2020Dr Ketao Zhang's work on parallel robot mechanisms - that can change their structure and functionalities like "Transformers" - has been honoured with the Best Reconfigurable Parallel Mechanism Paper of The 4th International Conference on Fundamental Issues, Applications and Future Research Directions for Parallel Mechanisms / Manipulators / Machines. The conference was ... [more] | ||
August 2020 | ||
 Gleb Sukhorukov's H-index reaches 10031 August 2020One measure of the impact of an academic's research is to count the number of citations. Citations refect who thinks our work is of interest and worth referencing. One common measure of this is to use the h-index which is defined as the maximum value of h such that the ... [more] | ||
 Queen Mary researchers launch new competition on low-cost innovation for African scientists and entrepreneurs21 August 2020Researchers from the School of Engineering and Materials Science at Queen Mary University of London have launched a new competition in low-cost technologies that aims to identify and develop the next generation of young scientists, leaders, and entrepreneurs in Africa. This new competition, which is open to all countries in ... [more] | ||
 Thomas Iskratsch is featured in the current issue of the Journal of Cell Science as part of the "Cell Scientist to Watch" series.3 August 2020Thomas Iskratsch is featured in the current issue of Journal of Cell Science as part of the "Cell Scientist to Watch" series. The series looks at "cell biologists who are in the earlier stages of their careers, and who [the Journal of Cell Science think] are making important contributions to ... [more] | ||
July 2020 | ||
 Scientists develop new material for longer-lasting fuel cells23 July 2020In the study, published today in the journal Nanoscale, researchers produced graphene via a special, scalable technique and used it to develop hydrogen fuel cell catalysts. They showed that this new type of graphene-based catalyst was more durable than commercially available catalysts and matched their performance. Hydrogen fuel cells convert ... [more] | ||
 Successful Launch of QMUL Centre for Predictive in vitro Models22 July 2020The Centre for Predictive in vitro Models (CPM) was officially launched on Wednesday 22nd with an successful virtual symposium. More than 330 registrated attendees joined in to celebrate the occasion, listening to talks and participating in stimulating discussions. Introductory words from the vice principal for the faculty of Science and Engineering, ... [more] | ||
 Dr Andrew Spowage Awarded Grant from the Gas Safety Trust21 July 2020Dr Andrew Spowage has been awarded £10k from the Gas Safety Trust (GST) for his research proposal aiming to understand the state of play in carbon monoxide poisoning in the UKs general aviation sector. The Gas Safety Trust, established in 2005 as a registered charitable body, has become the UK’s ... [more] | ||
 Day 3 of QMUL-NPU JRI PhD Workshop 202017 July 2020Day 3 The final day of the three-day workshop brought together research in the growth of macroscopic shapes from single molecules, self-healing materials, shape-changing, and re-processable materials, as well as artificial muscles that respond to various external stimuli. Participants enjoyed the workshops and everyone is looking forward to the 2020 November Sino-UK ... [more] | ||
 Day 2 of QMUL-NPU JRI PhD Workshop 202016 July 2020Day 2 of QMUL-NPU JRI PhD Workshop 2020 Over 100 researchers and PhD students from QMUL and NPU joined the 3 parallel sessions, The presentations covered a wide range of topics from High Entropy Ceramics, Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization to Nano energy. The sessions addressed a diverse range of engineering problems. Day 3: We will ... [more] | ||
 Day 1 of QMUL-NPU JRI PhD Workshop 202015 July 2020Joint Research Institute (JRI) has held PhD workshops between QM SEMS and NPU every year since 2017. This year we introduced a new platform to enable the workshop to carry on as normal despite the Covid-19 Pandemic. Day 1: From 08:00 am to 11:15 am UK time, We had over 50 participants (PhD students and ... [more] | ||
 Collaborating with SMEs to develop sustainable fashion14 July 2020Funded as part of a £1.2m R&D funding award from the Business of Fashion, Textiles and Technology (BFTT) programme, the project will see Queen Mary support Elvis & Kresse to create metal fixtures, such as buckles and zips, from recycled drinks cans. The team hope this innovative project will provide ... [more] | ||
 QMUL-NPU JRI PhD Summer School and Workshop 202014 July 2020We are pleased to announce that the 4th QMUL-NPU Summer School and Workshop will take place from the 15th to 17th July 2020. The NPU-QMUL JRI facilitates collaboration between researchers at the two institutes in areas of mutual interest and complementarity. Its aim is to support new lines of research that ... [more] | ||
 Dr Maria Romero-González features in 1 Million Women in STEM campaign9 July 2020Dr Maria Romero-González has been featured in the 1 million Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) global campaign as a role model for the next generation of girls aspiring to enter these areas. The campaign is seeking to increase the visibility of women working in STEM through showcasing ... [more] | ||
 Tianjun Liu Passes his PhD Viva8 July 2020Tiajun Liu has successfully defended his thesis entitled "Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Thermoelectric Materials". His thesis was already selected as the best in the Materials Division this year and his work has been published in Nature Communications, Nanoscale, Advanced Materials, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces and other journals. Tianjun has been an integral ... [more] | ||
June 2020 | ||
 Thibault Degousée successfully passes his PhD viva30 June 2020Thibault Degousée has successfully defended his PhD thesis on "Organic thermoelectric materials". His work covered structure-property relationships in polymer materials used to convert waste heat into electricity. Thibault was employed on a SEMS studentship, but also travelled to Italy several times to conduct X-ray scattering experiments through the Royal ... [more] | ||
 How the Queen Mary community has contributed to the fight against COVID-1926 June 2020Students and staff from Queen Mary have delivered a multifaceted response to the crisis so far. In recent months, they have volunteered in critical NHS roles, contributed vital resources and equipment, and launched several COVID-19 research projects. Students and staff on the NHS frontline In March, 18 final-year Barts medical students ... [more] | ||
 Queen Mary researcher recognised in WES Top 50 Women in Engineering23 June 2020Now in its fifth year, the 2020 WE50 celebrates women who have made a significant contribution within sustainability. Winning nominees were required to provide evidence of their successful support of UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goals or the Net Zero Carbon Programme, and their responses were judged by a panel of industry ... [more] | ||
 Using Organs-on-chips technology to accelerate COVID-19 research18 June 2020The Queen Mary & Emulate Organs-on-Chips Centre is involved in a new initiative to use miniaturised living systems with human cells, known as organ-chips, in the fight against COVID-19. As part of this initiative, Emulate, Inc have donated blank Organ-Chips to the UK Organ-on-a-chip Technologies Network to support the development of ... [more] | ||
 Building communication skills across Materials and Biomedical Science17 June 2020On 11th June 2020, ICTL funded the project to enhance students' skills in building communication skills across Materials or Polymer Science and Engineering, and Biomedical Science, led by Faith Nightingale (School of Language, Linguistics and Film) and Maria Romero-Gonzalez (School of Engineering and Material Sciences). The aim was for students to ... [more] | ||
 Two SEMS Academics Awarded Grants from the Westfield Fund to Enhance Student Experience12 June 2020Dr Folashade Akinmolayan and Dr Maria Romero-Gonzalez have each been awarded a grant from the Westfield Fund 2020 for Enhancing the Student Experience. The Westfield Fund made six awards to fund projects which will enhance the student experience at Queen Mary. For this year, a range of different types of projects ... [more] | ||
 Queen Mary Confirms Position Among World's Best Universities10 June 2020QMUL has climbed twelve places up the QS 2021 World University Rankings, published on Wednesday 10 June, to confirm its position as one of the world’s top universities. The University placed 114th in the world and remains in the top 20 in the UK. The Complete University Guide for 2021 was also released ... [more] | ||
 Face Shield donations in response to COVID-19 Pandemic8 June 2020The technical team at SEMS-QMUL has been practicing social distancing and working on manufacturing face-shields in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The workshop team consisting of Dennis Ife, James Searles, Mick Etheridge, Clement Cordery, Nick Duggan, and Andrew McDonald have so far produced over 1100 face shields that have been donated ... [more] | ||
May 2020 | ||
 Rejish Jesudasan successfully defends his thesis22 May 2020Rejish Jesudasan successfully defended his thesis on "An Adaptive Parametrisation Method for Shape Optimisation Using Adjoint Sensitivities". Owing to COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2, the viva was conducted over video conferencing, but even with noise of his ceiling fan (essential in his Indian home at this time), the finer details of his algorithm ... [more] | ||
 New state-of-the-art microscope to support research in the School of Engineering and Materials Science20 May 2020Queen Mary underlined its strong commitment to the ongoing research in SEMS by investing into a £375K state-of-the-art super-resolution spinning disc microscope. Microscopy imaging approaches have long been a major research strength within the school, facilitating new collaborative links and supporting significant research funding and outputs in leading journals. The ... [more] | ||
 Renewal of Royal Society University Research Fellowship for Dr Fenwick to study low dimensional energy materials15 May 2020Nanomaterials have dimensions less than 100 billionths of a metre, and on these length scales they can acquire completely new properties. Examples include metal quantum dots less than 10 nanometres in diameter which emit light, or graphene which, being a single layer of carbon atoms, is nano-sized in one dimension and exhibits ... [more] | ||
 SEMS Students Win Global Entrepreneurship Challenge - The Hult Prize 202015 May 2020The Hult Prize is the largest socio-entrepreneurship student competition in the world. The 2019 Hult Prize Challenge was announced by President Bill Clinton at the United Nations. This was an invitation to student teams around the world to develop innovations that can be scaled to improve the lives of millions whilst ... [more] | ||
 Scientists at Queen Mary developed extremely energy-efficient manufacturing for future composites, reported by the Materials World magazine in its latest issue7 May 2020Research led by Dr Han Zhang at the School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, has devised a sustainable manufacturing method for future composites towards the clean growth of the composite sector. An extremely energy-efficient and intrinsically safe curing process has been developed based on nanostructured ... [more] | ||
 Queen Mary + Emulate Organs-on-Chips Centre supports COVID-19 initiative6 May 2020The Queen Mary + Emulate Organs-on-Chips Centre is supporting a new initiative to use predictive in vitro models, also known as organ-chips, in the fight against COVID-19. Emulate, Inc is participating in the Organs-on-Chips against COVID-19 initiative (#OoCovid) and donating a set of Organ-Chips to the UK Organ-on-a-Chip Technologies Network which ... [more] | ||
April 2020 | ||
 Researchers use magnetism to keep drugs at disease sites30 April 2020The researchers were able to use magnetism to hold ‘magnetically responsive’ microscopic drug carriers at chosen sites, even in the presence of external forces, such as flowing liquid, which would normally displace them. They also found that magnetism restricted the movement of cells containing these drug capsules. This suggests that ... [more] | ||
 New study reveals unexpected softness of bilayer graphene30 April 2020In the study, published in the journal Physical Review B, the researchers showed that bilayer graphene, consisting of two layers of graphene, was noticeably softer than both two-dimensional (2D) graphene and three-dimensional (3D) graphite along the stacking direction. This surprising result differs from previous research which showed that 2D graphene, ... [more] | ||
 SEMS student Humaira Patel was a runner up in the The McLaren Future Mobility Challenge24 April 2020Humaira Patel, a second year mechanical engineering student, entered for The McLaren Future Mobility Challenge category of The Telegraph newspaper's STEM Awards 2020. Humaira applied her knowledge of materials engineering, gained from her Engineering Materials for Design module, to propose an idea for the automotive sector - using spider silks as ... [more] | ||
 The Centre for Advanced Robotics @ Queen Mary (ARQ) provides essential support for NHS staff during the COVID-19 crisis21 April 2020Members of the Centre for Advanced Robotics @ Queen Mary (ARQ) provide frames for visors urgently needed by frontline NHS staff at main London hospitals including the newly created Nightingale Hospital. In collaborations with clinicians from the Royal London Dental Hospital, Prof Shakeel Shahdad and Ahmed Din, ARQ have taken on ... [more] | ||
 Queen Mary secure new Knowledge Transfer Partnerships to support industry engagement17 April 2020The new KTPs, which represent funding of over £500,000, will support engineering projects aimed at developing new biomaterials for bone healthcare treatments, and novel woven colour-changing fabrics for clothing. Improving bone healthcare treatments Working with Lucideon, who are a leading organisation in materials development and commercialisation, Queen Mary will develop new ... [more] | ||
 Queen Mary steps up to support its community through coronavirus16 April 2020Community outreach work and engagement have always been intrinsic to what we do at Queen Mary. Now, in the face of the pandemic crisis, our staff and students are finding ways to further support communities at the local and national levels, whether by joining the NHS frontline or volunteering to ... [more] | ||
 SEMS student Mughees Asif awarded Royal Academy of Engineering Scholarships14 April 2020Mughees Asif, a second year Aerospace Engineering student, has been award both the Engineering Leaders Scholarship and the prestigious Sir Ralph Robins Scholarship by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng). The Engineering Leaders Scholarship is awarded to 30 students attending Universities in the UK who have the potential to become leaders ... [more] | ||
 Dr Ralph Stevens8 April 2020It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Dr Ralph Stevens. Ralph arrived to Queen Mary in 1964 as a lecturer in The Department of Mechanical Engineering, from where he went on to help establish the Materials Department. Prof Bill Bonfield (former Head of Materials) notes that, “Ralph ... [more] | ||
 Advanced Energy Materials Cover on 3D Carbon Materials for Efficient Oxygen and Hydrogen Electrocatalysis1 April 2020A review by Ana Jorge Sobrido (QMUL), Rhodri Jervis (UCL), Magda Titirici (ICL) et al. has been featured as the cover for the latest edition of Advanced Energy Materials journal. The cover was designed by PhD student at ICL Jingyu Fen. This review summarises the latest advances in 3D porous ... [more] | ||
March 2020 | ||
 New date for World Biomaterials Congress 2020 announced31 March 2020The World Biomaterials Congress with Liz Tanner as a member of the Executive Committee has been postponed from May to December 2020 due to Covid-19. The new dates are Thursday 11th December to Wednesday 16th December. The programme will be similar but there will be new events announced nearer the time. [more] | ||
 SEMS staff recognised in Education Awards26 March 2020Two of our academic staff have been recognised this year at the QMSU Education Awards. This event is the annual QMUL ‘OSCARS’ ceremony with 12 different award categories. This year James Busfield won the Employability Enhancement Award and Folashade (Shade) Akinmolayan won the Innovative Teaching Award. The citation for Shade states, “... [more] | ||
 First PhD from the Centre for Advanced Robotics @ Queen Mary (ARQ)23 March 2020Alberto Caenazzo successfully defended his PhD studies on "Integrated Hydraulic Steering and Signal Transmission Technologies Applied to Novel MRI-Compatible Intravascular Catheters". Because of the coronavirus crisis, the viva was conducted entirely online. Despite that the viva was completed without a hitch, allowing Alberto to present his novel research in catheter ... [more] | ||
 Michele Ghilardi successfully completes his PhD in the Soft Matter Group16 March 2020Michele Ghilardi became the third of James Busfield's PhD students to pass his PhD already in 2020. Michele completed his PhD viva on the 16th March defending a thesis entitled, "Soft smart machines: electrically tuneable devices made of electro-responsive elastomeric smart materials." Michele was also significantly supported by Prof Federico Carpi ... [more] | ||
 Double Success with KTP Grants Awarded11 March 2020SEMS has secured two new Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTPs) grants this month. This success represents a total of about £500K in grant funding and a doubling of SEMS portfolio to a total of 4 live KTP projects. This is all of the live KTP projects running at QMUL currently. The first ... [more] | ||
 Researchers use microwaves to measure signs of dehydration5 March 2020The researchers are now looking to develop the technology into a wearable device that could be used by athletes, or in healthcare settings, to monitor hydration in real time. For the study, the research team utilised a microwave-based measurement system, developed by NPL, to examine changes to salts and proteins ... [more] | ||
February 2020 | ||
 3rd Year Project Poster Winners Announced26 February 2020The Spring Industrial Liaison Forum one again played host to the 3rd year project student poster showcase. Two winners were selected from the 300+ posters that were submitted. These were from Thomas Kellock for his poster on "Spiral Microfluidics for Circulating Tumour Cell Isolation" who is supervised by Yi Sui and ... [more] | ||
 Another Hugely Successful ILF Completed26 February 2020The School of Engineering and Materials Science hosted another successful Industrial Liaison Forum (ILF) on Wednesday 26th February 2020 which attracted 85 visitors during the day. The focus was on our Taught Programme Student Projects with more than 100 of our students having the opportunity to discuss their projects with each other, QMUL ... [more] | ||
 Caumaghen Sannassy wins the best MSc student Poster Award26 February 2020Caumaghen Sannassy won the best MSc student prize at the 2020 Industrial Liaison Forum in SEMS for his poster called, "Investigation of Air Flows within Urban Landscapes using Open FOAM". His project is supervised by Dr Andrew Buchan. [more] | ||
 Robot Hand Team Wins Top Prize at ILF26 February 2020A team of 4th year MEng students Jamie SENGUN, Ahmed DEIRI, Talha TAILOR, Kai PAGE & Mohammed KHAN who have been working on the "Soft 3D-printed Robotic Hand" project supervised by Dr Lorenzo Jamone & Dr Ketao Zhang won the best MEng group project prize at the Annual SEMS taught student Industrial ... [more] | ||
 Land Speed Record Attempt in Bolivia21 February 2020The findings of our former Aerospace MEng students (Salah Macan Markar, Karan Sumaria, Tanjir Zaman and Banjoab Kantangul) will be incorporated in the future Land Speed Record Streamliner by CMR Motorsport Challenges. The work has been carried out as part of their MEng project entitled "Land Speed Record Aerodynamics Design ... [more] | ||
 First outcome of our 'Hacking Hearts' art and science outreach collaboration with Central Saint Martins released online19 February 2020Central Saint Martins published a first story about the outcome or our art and science collaboration. This fast-paced project saw postgraduate students from across disciplines hack the research of our inaugural Scientists in Residence over the course of a week. You can read here: https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/... [more] | ||
 Join us for Professor Hazel Screen's Inaugural Lecture13 February 2020We are delighted to announce that Professor Hazel Screen's Inaugural Lecture will be taking place on Thursday 19 March. Hazel's research spans from the nano-scale to whole body mechanics, where she utilises a bioengineering approach to explore the relationships between tissue health and disease, and the surrounding mechanical environment. Hazel will ... [more] | ||
 Take the National Student Survey – and claim your £5 SU food outlet voucher!3 February 2020The National Student Survey (NSS) is an annual national survey of final-year undergraduate students in the UK. It gives you an opportunity to tell us what you have enjoyed about your time at Queen Mary as well as about anything you feel could have been improved. The NSS launched here ... [more] | ||
 New paper on the anti-inflammatory effects of low levels of cobalt ions3 February 2020Cobalt ions from some orthopaedic implants induce a dose-dependent cytotoxic and pro-inflammatory response. However, this new paper from Prof Knight and Prof Shelton's groups shows that low levels of cobalt are in fact beneficial and block pro-inflammatory signalling in cartilage. The authors showed that sub-toxic levels of cobalt (50uM) prevented ... [more] | ||
January 2020 | ||
 The Organ-on-a-Chip Shop – a Science Museum highlight!29 January 2020On 29 January, Organ-on-a-Chip Technologies Network scientists and engineers swapped their lab coats for aprons, to run the Organ on a Chip shop at the hugely popular Science Museum Lates in London. This Lates night celebrated the launch of the Museum’s new Medicine Galleries and attracted over 4,000 visitors. Promoted as ... [more] | ||
 Dan Bader Gives His Valedictory Lecture in Technical University of Eindhoven24 January 2020During his time as Professor of Medical Engineering at Queen Mary University of London, Prof Bader was also a part-time visiting professor in the Technical University of Eindhoven (Tu/E). There he worked closely with Prof Cees Oomens in the area of pressure ulcers as well as continuing his work ... [more] | ||
 Double Soft Matter Group PhD Success for Barnabas Shaw and Leihao Chen17 January 2020Barnabas Shaw and Leihao Chen have both successfully passed their PhD vivas within a week of each other. Barnabas completed his PhD viva on the 10th January with a thesis entitled, "Characterisation of Elastomers for Dynamic Sealing Applications ." Leihao completed his PhD viva on the 17th January with a thesis ... [more] | ||
Queen Mary opens Organs-on-Chips Centre for advancements in medical research and drug development16 January 2020A new research centre which aims to revolutionise medical research and drug development using microengineered Organs-on-Chips has opened at Queen Mary University of London. Organs-on-Chips contain tiny hollow channels lined by living human cells that recreate the microenvironment experienced by cells within the human body. As miniaturised living systems with ... [more] | ||
 Queen Mary’s Aerospace Engineering Students Flying Again3 January 2020A group of our third year Aerospace engineering students recently took a short flight test course as part of our annual visit to Cranfield University. The course demonstrated performance and handling qualities of a real aircraft flight. They flew on a British Aerospace Jetstream Aircraft Series 31 turbo-prop, taking the role ... [more] | ||