Dr Eathan Plaschka has passed his PhD viva on the 25th September 2025 defending a thesis on the topic of “Tyre Wear Performance.” His examiners, Prof James Brighton (from Cranfield University) and Dr Frank Abrahams (from TU Dublin) both commented that the thesis was well written and that the testing methods and in particular the development of new heat maps were a valuable contribution for future investigations into high severity rubber wear.

Eathan’s PhD project was funded by an F1 company and he was supervised by Prof James Busfield and Prof Keizo Akutagawa. In April 2025 Eathan started work as a tyre engineer at Aston Martin F1 team, where he is putting into practice the skills and knowledge that he acquired throughout his PhD journey.

James Busfield notes that “Eathan has been a valued PhD researcher in the Soft Matter Group for the last few years. He has been an excellent networker for the team as is evidenced by the 9 international conference talks he has presented. In addition, he has produced two valuable journal papers, one of which is already in print.”

Eathan is the fourth member of James' Soft Matter Group to complete his PhD examination this year. Now the attention all turns to Aaron Duncan who will be examined in October.