Congratulations to Tom Thorn for passing his PhD viva, with his thesis entitled 'Multifunctional Composites with Enhanced Toughness, Integrated Sensing and Easy-repairing Capabilities'.

His research has made significant contributions to the field of polymer composites, with extended service life to reduce waste and enhance environmental sustainability. His work on easy-repairing composites has led to two journal papers along with a patent, while he has contributed to another three journal papers within the group.

Tom completed his BEng at Queen Mary School of Engineering and Materials Science in 2019, with his final year project under the supervision of Dr Han Zhang. Tom returned to the team and started his PhD studies in 2020 under the supervision of Dr Han Zhang, Dr Dimitrios Papageorgiou, and Dr Emiliano Bilotti. Since then, he has become an integral part of the Polymers and Composites Group.

The examination was conducted by Prof Paul Hogg and Prof Sir Harry Bhadeshia.

Tom will be continuing his career as a PDRA with Dr Han Zhang on validating the developed easy-repairing composites for commercial applications.

We congratulate Tom once again for his hard work, perseverance, and tremendous contributions, and we look forward to seeing his future achievements!