Imperial ChemEng Cast: Researchers in Focus

With our new host, Diya Agrawal, engage in a conversation with the Season 1 ChemEng Cast host, Ben Strain. Find out about his academic work at Imperial and what it means to be associated with an industrial partner- from a postgraduate researcher perspective. 

In this episode, we speak to Jason Hallet,  Professor of Sustainable Chemical Technology in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London. He tells us all about his work involving the production of lignocellulosic biofuels, sustainable chemical feedstocks, vaccine manufacturing, and waste recycling, as well as discussing his journey to Imperial from the US.

In this episode, we speak to Lucy Barton,  PhD student in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London. She tells us all about her work designing experimental and mathematical tools to study carbon capture technologies, as well as discussing her journey to Imperial from the west coast of Australia.

In this episode, we speak to Kostis Flevaris, a PhD student in Computational Biology in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London. He tells us all about his work on modelling glycobiology- the biology of sugars- and how he is applying this to predicting and understanding health and disease.

In this episode, we speak to Tanuj Karia,  PhD student in Mathematical Optimisation in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London. He tells us all about his work on developing cutting-edge optimisation methods, how he is applying them, and why they are so important.

PhD student Sarat Alabidun discusses the future of battery technology and her work on understanding degradation mechanisms and solid electrolyte interphase(SEI) formation in sodium-ion batteries using mass spectrometry. She explains why we should be interested in her research and how sodium-ion batteries are vital for a more sustainable future.

PhD student Priyanka Kumar shares her research on the application of low-cost ionic liquids to the processing of waste products from the beer industry, to produce biomaterials and value-added products, including proteins. She also talks about her work at Lixea Co. (www.lixea.co), an Imperial start-up company, as an R&D scientist assisting in their process and product development. 

PhD student Noah Sprent shares his research in synthetic biology, or engineering biology as it's more commonly being described. He's currently working on using methane as a feedstock for cells, which can then be converted into other products like enzymes for laundry powder, or used to process food.

Professor Nilay Shah OBE talks to us about how he likes using mathematical models to look at processes that support reducing carbon emissions from energy and industry, and processes that help us produce different kinds of therapeutics such as vaccines more effectively.

In this episode we speak to Miriam Sarkis,  PhD student in Supply Chain Optimisation at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London. She tell us all about her work on supply chains and the tools she is developing to optimise them.

You can follow Miriam on Twitter @SarkisMiriam.