Congratulations to Dr Rattapong Numard who passed his PhD defence on the 28th July 2026 for a thesis entitled, “The Effects of Carbon Black Surface Activity on the Filler Reinforcement of Natural Rubber.” Rattapong completed his PhD journey as a member of James Busfield’s Soft Matter Group in SEMS at QMUL. He was financially supported throughout his studies by a Scholarship from the Royal Thai Government.

Rattapong’s examiners were Prof Paul Hogg (Royal Holloway, University of London) and Dr Guogong Ren (University of Hertfordshire). The viva was completed in just 2 hours with both examiners enjoying Rattapong’s discussion of the rubber-filler interface and the role it plays on the key tyre performance indicators that are related to enhanced grip, reduced wear and lower fuel consumption.

Rattapong is the seventh student from James’ group to complete his PhD in the last 18 months. He will return to Thailand this weekend as he has already started an academic position as a lecturer in the Faculty of Science and Technology at Songkhla Rajabhat University. He will be busy as he has classes starting next Monday.