News and Events
[November 2011]
Innovation and Excellence Award from IChemE |
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Dr Constantinos Theodoropoulos and Professor Colin Webb are the recipients of the 2011 IChemE Innovation and Excellence Award for bioprocessing for their work on “Sustainable biorefineries through the co-production of fuels and chemicals: The biochemical production of succinic acid from biorefinery glycerol”. The awards ceremony took place on November 3rd in Birmingham. The rise of biorefineries has led to a surplus of glycerol, the main byproduct of biodiesel production and prices have dropped significantly. Current markets cannot absorb the predicted increase in glycerol as demand grows for biodiesel, so new uses must be found. One option is turning it into commodity chemicals. Theodoropoulos and Webb, along with their research groups at Manchester found that a bacterium, Actinobacillus succinogenes, can convert glycerol into succinic acid, used in a variety of products from medicines, to food flavours, to plasticisers. According to the US Department of Energy, succinic acid is one of the top value-added chemicals produced from biomass. The bioprocessing award recognises the best project to demonstrate a contribution to, or collaboration helping to, develop biotechnologies and bioprocessing applications. |
Constantinos Theodoropoulos and Colin Webb receive their 2011 award from the IChemE. |
[November 2011]
Scholarship Award |
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Chemical Engineering 1st year students Jue Xin Ong and Yici Yan received their prestigious, Faculty International Excellence Scholarships from Professor Tony Brown, the Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning. Only 10 of the scholarships are awarded every year so for two Chemical Engineers to win one is an excellent achievement.
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Chemical Engineering 1st year students Jue Xin Ong (left) and Yici Yan receive their scholarship awards. |
[November 2011]
Cameron, Manchester launch monoethyleneglycol (MEG) pilot plant |
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CAMERON, a US-based specialist contracting company, and the University of Manchester, UK, have launched a brand new monoethyleneglycol (MEG) reclamation pilot plant. Located at the university's Morton laboratory, the plant will be used for teaching as well as research into Cameron's proprietary PureMEG process. The company paid for the initial construction, at a cost of several hundred thousand pounds, before donating it to the University, which will cover its maintenance and upkeep. MEG is commonly used by gas producers to suppress hydrate formation in deepwater operations. Once it has fulfilled its purpose, however, the MEG has to be recovered from a mix of water, gas condensates and other production fluids. This is where the PureMEG process steps in, reclaiming up to 99.5% of the chemical from the waste salts left behind after the gas has been extracted. Cameron is working with the university to further refine the process, versions of which are already being used at a number of sites around the world. Scientists from the university said they plan to improve and adapt it to the wildly varying conditions and circumstances found in oil fields globally.
Read the full article in The Chemical Engineer. |
The pilot plant is based in Manchester's Morton lab |
[September 2011]
Manchester once again produces the UK’s best Chemical Engineering student |
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For the second year running, a CEAS graduate has been named as the best Chemical Engineering student in the country. Rachel Perry, 23, who graduated in 2011 was nominated for the prestigious AWE award by Ferda Mavituna. Her success was announced at the Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) Awards in a ceremony held at the Millennium Hotel, Grovesnor Square, London on September 23rd. This follows in the wake of Dyfan Williams’ success in 2010.
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Rachel Perry being presented the AWE Award for the Best Chemical Engineering Student 2011 by David Jones AWE. (Photo courtesy of Cyril Bruneau, SET Awards.) |
[September 2011]
Solvay Collaboration Announced |
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The School has entered into a major collaboration with international chemicals manufacturer Solvay SA. Dr Aline Miller will be leading the research into enabling technologies such as regenerative medicine, sensors and electronics.
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Aline Miller with Colin Bailey (Dean of EPS), Mike Sutlcliffe and representatives of Solvay SA. |
[August 2011]
Three Acadmic Posts Announced
The School has announced the availablity of three new appointments:
- Professor of Chemical Engineering
- Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering
- Lecturer in Sustainable Chemical Engineering
Deadline 24 October 2011
See our Jobs page for more details.
[June 2011]
CCaLC wins the GSK Innovation Award
CCaLC won the GSK Innovation Award, awarded by the Chemical Industries Association at the awards ceremony held on 23 June 2011 in Birmingham.
This Award is for the company or operating unit which can provide the most successful examples of innovation – turning ideas into money – in an area of its business that helps solve today’s challenges such as climate change or an ageing population. The judges were looking for a clever idea that has been cleverly implemented for commercial success and the benefit of the UK Chemical Industry.
Steve Elliott, Chief Executive of the Chemical Industries Association commented: "This year's quality of entries reflects the outstanding contribution made by the chemical industry to a better quality of life for us all and a flourishing, growing industry.
Adisa Azapagic, CCaLC Director said: “We are delighted to have won such a prestigious award. The CCaLC tool has been developed with the aim of helping companies to estimate and reduce the carbon footprint of their products and technologies. By being free of charge and easy to use by non-experts, the tool enables companies to be self-reliant in the estimations of carbon footprints, without the need to depend on consultants or release confidential data to a third party. This has a potential to remove some of the major barriers to the uptake of carbon footprinting in industry and contribute towards the greening of supply chains.
More information on the work done by the Sustainable Systems group can be found here.
[June 2011]
Multiple awards for Paul
Congratulations to postgraduate research student Paul Bassan who has received 2 awards: the University Distinguished Achievement Award for the Postgraduate Research Student of the Year 2011 (EPS) and the 2011 Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Ronald Belcher Award for Analytical Chemistry.
Paul's work on fundamental understanding of infrared scattering and the development of a correction algorithm has transformed the field of infrared biomedical spectroscopy. As a result of his work, infrared spectra of biological cells can now be analysed without distortion and can thus be interpreted in terms of the biochemistry. [more from Dr Gardner's group]
[June 2011]
EPS Teacher of the YearWe are delighted to announce that Esther Ventura Medina has been awarded EPS Teacher of the Year 2011. These awards are made to individuals whose teaching over the past year has been outstanding. Esther has demonstrated an ability to communicate ideas effectively, to motivate and stimulate students to learn, and has shown a commitment to innovation and excellence in education. Well done to Esther! |
Dr Esther Ventura Medina with her EPS Teacher of the Year Award
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Research Funding
| Peter Martin – EPSRC (£1,035,815) Biosurfactant process engineering and a new era of white unit operations [link] |
| Sven Schroeder – PEMEX (£320,000) Polyductors |
| Sven Schroeder – PEMEX (£320,000) Oleoductors |
| Nan Zhang – European Commission (£160,422) Intensified Head Transfer Technologies for Enhanced Heat Recovery |
| Colin Webb – Shell UK (£119,661) Process Concepts for Microbial Conversion of Biofuels residue to Lipid |
| Grant Campbell – DEFRA (£92,779) Enviromental and Nutritional benefits of Bioethanol Co-Products |
| Xue-Feng Yuan – KTA (£36,396) Rheo-Chip based micrrheometer for high throughput rheological characterisation of complex fluids |
| Robin Curtis/Gordon Tiddy – Unilever (£35,806) Determination of Glycerol Mono-Oleat Phase Behaviour |
| Roger Davey – Datalase (£12,145) Crystal packing. Differences between active and non-active forms of diacetylene amides |
[June 2011]
Young Entrepreneurs win final
Mike Conti-Ramsden, an EngD student supervised by Ted Roberts and sponsored by Ted’s CEAS spin-out Arvia Technology Ltd, led a team of four Manchester EngD students which has won the national final of the Engineering Young Entrepreneurs Scheme.
The Engineering Young Entrepreneurs Scheme is a competition for UK-based post-graduates students and post-doctoral researchers to present a business plan for an imaginary start-up company to a group of shrewd investors and industry experts.
Mike and his team put together a business case based on a novel disinfection technology. The team won both the Peer Review and the Judge's prize in the North West Heat and went on to win the first prize in the National Final in Birmingham on 7th June 2011, scooping the £2000 prize.
[March 2011]
[February 2011] Engaging Young Dragons!Congratulations to Dr Ernesto Hernandez who won two awards of public engagement funding to enable activities as part of the Manchester Science Festival 2010. These included a scientific “Dragon’s Den” whereby a panel of young people (the Dragons) consider the fun ideas of a number of scientists. Further details of Ernesto’s events, and similar ones, can be found here: [February 2011] School and Faculty Research Students of the YearWe are delighted to announce that Joanna Stevens is our School Research Student of the Year and Paul Bassan has been named Faculty Research Student of the Year. The School nominated both Paul Bassan and Joanna Stevens for the University’s Research Student of the Year Award. All School nominations are considered by the Faculty for their endorsement in the first instance. Of all nine Schools’ nominations, Paul and Joanna were placed first and second respectively by the Faculty Panel. Paul Paul Bassan is an exceptionally talented PhD student whose work on fundamental understanding of infrared scattering and the development of a correction algorithm has transformed the field of infrared biomedical spectroscopy. As a result of his work, infrared spectra of biological cells can now be analysed without distortion and can thus be interpreted in terms of the biochemistry. This represents a major breakthrough in the field that had eluded the biggest names in the infrared community. The algorithm that he developed is now used by over 50 groups worldwide demonstrating the international impact of his work. This is a remarkable achievement for a PhD student. He has published four first-author papers and a book chapter as well as several papers as a co-author. His work has been recognised by the international community with invited presentations at international meetings and invitations to run workshops on the use of the correction algorithm. [more from Dr Gardner's group] Joanna Within less than three years, Joanna Stevens has completed a PhD degree that encompasses award-winning fundamental research as well as knowledge transfer with industrial impact. Joanna applied, for the first time, an experimental X-ray methodology from condensed matter physics to pharmaceutical research. She demonstrated its tremendous power for the characterisation of drugs and their formulations. Five peer-reviewed papers describing this work had already been published by the time of her PhD viva. The groundbreaking importance was instantly recognised through the award of the Young Scientist of the Year prize by the British Association for Crystal Growth. For the industrial sponsor her measurements identified the molecular origin of reproducibility problems in the processing of a drug. In managing her project Joanna combined independence and efficient delivery with outstanding attention to detail in research. She maintained exemplary student-supervisor and knowledge-transfer relationships - a role model for PGR students. [more from Dr Schroeder's group] Research Funding
[February 2011] Jin-Kuk Kim moves back to South KoreaDr Jin-Kuk Kim is returning to his native South Korea with his family to take up an academic position in Seoul. Jin-Kuk came to Manchester from Korea in 1998, joining the then Department of Process Integration of UMIST as a PhD student. He graduated with a PhD in September 2001, and was appointed to a lecturship in the Department. Jin-Kuk has made a tremendous contribution to academic life at Manchester. He built up an impressive track record in his research and his contribution was recognised by his promotion to senior lecturer in 2010. We wish him well for the future – he will be sadly missed.
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[December 2010]
New appointments
- Dr Lande Liu as Lecturer in Chemical Engineering (Teaching Focused). Lande gained his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Sheffield in 2004, where he was subsequently appointed a Research Associate, and more recently a Research Fellow at the University of Leeds and has since held appointments. He has extensive teaching experience at both institutions, as well as Tsinghua University in Beijing, in areas including Transport Phenomena, Statistical Experimental Instrumentation, Chemical Reaction Engineering, Model Predictive Control, Data Mining and Programming.
- Dr Nasir Al-Lagtah (from 1st February 2011) as Lecturer in Chemical Engineering (Teaching Focused). Nasir joins us from Queen’s University Belfast where he gained his PhD and has been a Teaching Fellow in Chemical Engineering for the last two years. Prior to this he occupied roles of Teaching Assistant and Research Assistant. Nasir also gained teaching experience at Jordan University of Science and Technology where he achieved his Bachelors and Masters degrees.
- Dr Clint Sharrad (from early 2011) as Lecturer in Chemical Engineering and Nuclear Decommissioning. This post sits alongside a new appointment in MACE and one yet to be appointed to in EEE and give the School a fantastic opportunity to engage more closely with nuclear activities in West Cumbria and on campus. The post will be based split-site between Manchester and the Dalton Cumbria Facilty.
New RAEng Visiting Teaching Fellow Appointment
On top of the posts listed above, we are pleased to announce the breaking news that Zara Hodgson (National Nuclear Laboratories) will be joining us shortly as our Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Teaching Fellow in Engineering Design.
[December 2010]
Teaching award
Seve Pandiella is the recipient of the prestigious ExxonMobil Excellence in Teaching Award. This is the latest in a series of teaching awards for members of academic staff.
Research Funding
- Arthur Garforth – KTA (£100,748) KTA Secondment Scheme with Johnson Matthey
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[October 2010]
Arvia Technology scoops coveted innovation prize
Northwest-based water treatment specialists nets £100K
Chemicals Northwest member, Arvia Technology, has scooped first place in sustainability in a competition designed to support innovation at the ‘Innovate10’ event in London.
[October 2010]
Elegant Research
A new approach that enables direct measurement of donor-acceptor distance in enzyme quantum tunneling reactions, published recently by Mike Sutcliffe's research group in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (abstract), has been highlighted as a "News and Views" article published in Nature Chemistry.
The News and Views article comments on the elegance of the 'experimental approach' used and the 'curious relationship between protein structure and function' emphasized by the study. The work is an important step forward in the field of H-tunneling in enzyme systems.
[October 2010] Peter Fielden becomes Head of ResearchAfter 2 years as Head of Research, Sven Schroeder is stepping aside to concentrate on a number of other projects. Since becoming Head of Research two years ago, Sven has put a great deal of time and energy into enhancing research activity in the School, and more broadly across the University. Particular successes include significantly strengthening links with Dalton and the nanoscience community, and moving forwards our relationship with Unilever. Sven has been very successful with securing substantial research funding and would like to focus on developing his research activities. A warm welcome to Peter Fielden as he now takes on the role of Head of Research. Peter comes from the Analytical Sciences community and has a strong background in miniaturisation and microfluidics. |
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Research Funding
- Roger Davey/Sven Schroeder – EPSRC (£1,013,295)
Molecules, Clusters and Crystals: A Multi-Scale approach to understanding kinetic pathways in crystal nucleation from Solution - John Vickerman/Nick Lockyer – EPS EPSRC (£44,936)
Giant cluster ion beams: Demonstrating a new capacity in organic and bio-materials analysis - Roger Davey – Alziem (£20,405)
Crystallisation study of Galanthamine
Chemical Engineering Student of the Year!
Dyfan Williams, one of our recent graduates, has won the 2010 Chemical Engineering Student of the Year award. His success was announced at the Science, Engineering and Technology Awards in a ceremony held at the Park Lane Hilton, London on September 3rd. The SET Awards are Europe's most important awards for science and engineering undergraduates. Dyfan won the award for his final year design project – detailed design of CO2 removal from Syngas by Methyl-diethanolamine (MDEA) – supervised by Dr David Cresswell. |
Dyfan Williams with his award for Chemical Engineering Student of the Year 2010, accompanied by Mike Sutcliffe and Flor Siperstein. (Photo courtesy of Cyril Bruneau, SET Awards.)
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[September 2010]
British Association for Crystal Growth honour Roger Davey
Manchester hosted the 2010 meeting of the British Association for Crystal Growth with a special symposium to honour the work of Professor Roger Davey and his lifelong contribution to the field of crystal engineering.
Photographs of the event can be found here.
[September 2010]
Ramaier (Nara) Narayanaswamy Retires
It was wonderful to see so many colleagues – past and present – earlier this month at Ramaier Narayanaswamy’s retirement dinner. Nara will be leaving us at the end of September, after nearly 30 years with the School. We are all exceedingly grateful for Nara’s hard work and commitment to the School.
[September 2010]
New (Temporary) Lecturer
In line with strengthening our teaching within the School we are very pleased to announce that Bernard Treves Brown has been offered, and accepted, a post of temporary lecturer (Teaching Focussed). Bernard is by no means new to the School and has been working as a Research Fellow for Professors Peter Fielden and Nick Goddard for several years, as well as taking an active lead in our research staff forum. Bernard will be joining us very soon.
Research Funding
- Aline Miller – EPSRC/University of Southampton (£174,773)
Engineering a semi-Biotic Immune System - Xue-Feng Yuan – KTA (£35,244)
Microfludic modulation of embryonic stem cell differentiation in well-defined microscopic flow
[August 2010]
Peter Senior Retires
Peter Senior, Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering retired at the end of August after 35 years with the School and former UMIST Department of Chemical Engineering. His contribution to our design teaching and his work as examination secretary are particularly noted. We wish him all the very best in his retirement, I know he will be missed by many colleagues.
[July 2010]
Graduation!
It is always a great pleasure to celebrate the success of our students. This year's graduation ceremony took place earlier this month; a fitting send off to our highly sought after graduates.
Photographs of the day are available here.
Whilst celebrating the success of all our students, we would like in particular to take this opportunity to highlight the success of two of our students, Pius Mugambe and Diana Kakwera, who have been supported by Equity and Merit Scholarships, which aim to assist talented but economically disadvantaged students from some of the world’s poorest countries. The Equity and Merit Scheme is a "signature" initiative for the University, reflecting our determination, as a major higher education institution in a relatively wealthy society, to address issues of educational disadvantage not only nationally but also internationally. The scholarships are jointly funded by the University and its alumni. The University waives the tuition fee in full for Manchester based and online courses and alumni generosity covers the living costs of those students studying on campus.
See also:
- Scholarships
- International Students (CEAS)
- International Students (University)
Research Funding
- Nick Goddard, Peter Fielden – EPSRC (£817,534)
Stem cell fractionations using interactions with artificial Matrices -
Seve Pandiella – European Science Foundation (£109,969)
European Network for Gastrointestinal Health Research
[July 2010]
Leo Lue moves to Strathclyde
Dr Leo Lue, Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, is departing for Strathclyde University to take up the post of Reader. Leo joined the Department of Chemical Engineering in UMIST in 2000 with a strong background in Thermodynamics. Throughout his time at Manchester, Leo has played a leading role in our undergraduate teaching activity, as Deputy Head of Teaching and more recently Director of Undergraduate Studies, whilst developing a strong research profile. Leo has always been very popular with students and colleagues alike and will be sorely missed.
[July 2010]
Promotion
It is with great pleasure that we can announce the promotion of 2 members of academic staff: Dr Peter Gardner has been promoted to Reader and Dr Jin-Kuk Kim to Senior Lecturer, both with effect from 1st August. Both Peter and Jin-Kuk have established strong track records as excellent teachers and researchers, as well as playing active administrative and leadership roles with School.
Investment in School Teaching Laboratories
Major new teaching-related equipment purchases include:
- Fluid friction in pipes – triplet (£35k): 3 sets of equipment for Undergraduate 1st Year teaching laboratory
- Delta V upgrade (£20k): upgraded software for the Delta V system which monitors instrumentation on the large scale teaching and research equipment.
- Large scale tomography mixing tank (£15k): new tank purchased with partial research funding.
Research Funding
- Peter Fielden and Jeremy Hawkes – Carbon Trust (£339,780)
Ultrasonic extraction of biofuel precursors from single cell algae - Sven Schroeder, Megan Jobson and Andrew Masters – EPSRC (£341,827)
MBase: The molecular basis of advanced nuclear fuel separations - Adisa Azapagic – European Commission (£69,732)
Eco IP Partnerships for Driving Innovation in the Sector of Bio-based products
[March 2010]
Frank Morton Sports Day 2010
The annual Frank Morton Sports Day, between students of chemical engineering departments from UK universities, took place recently. Birmingham, this year’s host university, won but Manchester came in a respectable third! More information about the event is on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Morton_Sports_Day
[June 2009] Salter’s Graduate Prize 2009We congratulate Alex Matten, who has just graduated with a first class MEng degree in Chemical Engineering, on winning a Salter’s Graduate Prize. Up to ten prizes of £1,000 each are awarded to final-year undergraduates studying at UK universities, trying to keep an even balance between chemists and chemical engineers. This is thus a very considerable achievement of Alex’s part. More information on the Salter’s Institute may be found on http://www.salters.co.uk/ |
 Alex Matten |
[June 2009]
Teaching Excellence Award 2009
Dr Grant Campbell is to be congratulated on winning a Teaching Excellence Award, open to all members of the University of Manchester. These Awards focus on achievement in relation to teaching over recent years and involve a grant of £5,000 for recipients to further develop their teaching or their career.
Details of the teaching excellence that merited this prize are given on http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/tlso/excellence/2009winners/.
[June 2009]
Teacher of the Year 2009
We congratulate Simon Perry on his Teacher of the Year Award for the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences. This award reflects Simon’s hard work and dedication in developing and running MSc and CPD courses and in his innovative use of distance learning.
More details about the award are on http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/tlso/teachingawards/
[June 2009] Theophilus Redwood Award 2009 awarded to Professor John Vickerman
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John Vickerman receiving the RSC's Theophilus Redwood Award from Gillian Greenway, President of the Royal Society of Chemistry's Analytical Division.
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[June 2009]
Prestigious Fellowship Awarded to CEAS EngD Student
Michael Conti-Ramsden, an Engineering Doctorate Student in the School, has been awarded a prestigious Industrial Fellowship by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. The Royal Commission invited the University to nominate one student for a Fellowship and Michael was selected as the best candidate at the University.
Competing against some 25 EngD centres in the UK, Michael’s application was successful and he has been awarded one of only four Industrial Fellowships for EngD students.
Michael’s EngD is in collaboration with Arvia Technology Ltd - a University spinout company developing an innovative water treatment technology. The academic supervisor is Dr Ted Roberts and the industrial supervisor is Dr Nigel Brown (Technical Director of Arvia Technology Ltd) both co-founders of Arvia Technology Ltd. Michael's project is on the development of the Arvia™ process for new applications.
[26 March 2009]
Poster award at Chemistry Innovation KTN event
James Winterburn was awarded Third Prize for his poster presentation at the Chemistry Innovation Knowledge Transfer Network 2009 Associates Meeting. Read more here...
[26 March 2009]
Industry Day 2009
The School are organising an Open Day for past, present and future industrial collaborators, to he held on 8 May 2009.
Industrial partners involved with the University in student placements or research projects will be welcome, but the School would also like to invite new companies operating in the North West, nationally or internationally, including SMEs.
For a full programme and further information about the event please contact Andy Partington, andrew.partington@manchester.ac.uk, Tel 0161 306 4400.
Download Open Day poster (PDF, 340 kb)
[3 March 2009]
Enhance your job prospects or career progression by attending our new
Fundamentals of Chemical Engineering Course.
The School has launched an exciting new continuing professional development (CPD) course designed to teach the basic principles of Chemical Engineering for industrialists with a non-chemical engineering but numerate background.
[30 January 2009]
A publication co-authored by CEAS staff member Dr Sam de Visser has been highlighted as one of the Editor's Choices in the current edition of the prestigious journal Science:
BIOCHEMISTRY: Ready and Waiting
[12 December 2008]
CEAS staff member Dr Aline Miller has recently been awarded the RSC Macro Group UK Young Researchers Medal and also the Polymer Physics Group/American Physical Society Lecture Award.
[10 December 2008]
JACS Select, focused on the molecular modelling of complex chemical systems, highlights a recent publication from Mike Sutcliffe's group -- the significance of the work is in describing molecular motions associated with enzyme catalysis.
[December 2008] Technology Commercialisation AwardA new and fast method for detecting potentially harmful airborne chemicals developed by Krishna Persaud scooped the UMIP Technology Commercialisation Award for Engineering and Physical Sciences. |
Krishna Persaud receiving the IChemE's "Water Award" on behalf of Arvia Technology.
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[October 2008] Award for ArviaArvia Technology Ltd -- Ted Roberts' spin-out company -- received the prestigious Water Award from the Institution of Chemical Engineers their 2008 Innovation and Excellence Awards Dinner in Birmingham.
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Ted Roberts receiving the IChemE's "Water Award" on behalf of Arvia Technology.
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[7 July 2008]
Annual Celebration
[2 July 2008]
Potteries Museum, Stoke
[10 May 2008]
Manchester Museum of Science and Industry