Drawing Lessons from Nature to Engineer Innovative Solutions to the World’S Grand Challenges Contents
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CENTRE FOR NATURE INSPIRED ENGINEERING UCL DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING Drawing lessons from nature to engineer innovative solutions to the world’s grand challenges Contents Centre Overview 02 Our People 04 Themes 08 Public Engagement & Activities 18 Facilities 20 Our Staff & Students 24 Broadening the Centre 30 Knowledge Transfer & Entrepreneurship 33 Collaborations 34 Nature-Inspired Engineering Course 38 Journal Covers & Highlighted Publications 39 Strategic Engagement 40 Original Industrial Support 41 Location & Contact 42 Front cover image: “Aquaphile - Elixir of Life” by Malica Schmidt, CNIE PhD candidate in Chemical Engineering and Architecture. Winner of the People’s Choice, UCL Research Images as Art Competition 2019. 2 CENTRE FOR NATURE INSPIRED ENGINEERING The Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering (CNIE) at UCL draws lessons from nature to engineer innovative solutions to our grand challenges in energy, water, materials, health, and living space. In 2013 at the Royal Academy of Engineering Global Grand Challenges summit, the Centre received a £5M “Frontier Engineering” Award from the EPSRC, one of only five such Awards in the UK. In 2019, the continuation of the Centre was assured by an EPSRC “Frontier Engineering: Progression” Award. CENTRE FOR NATURE INSPIRED ENGINEERING 1 Centre Overview Nature is a treasure trove of ideas to find transformative solutions to our Grand Challenges. www.natureinspiredengineering.org.uk @UCLCNIE 2 CENTRE FOR NATURE INSPIRED ENGINEERING The Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering draws lessons from nature to engineer innovative solutions to our grand challenges in energy, water, materials, health, and living space. It focuses on the discovery and application of fundamental mechanisms behind desirable traits in nature (such as scalability, efficiency or robustness) that can be applied to enable transformative solutions to challenging engineering problems, such as those pertaining to the UN Sustainable Development Goals or the UK’s Industrial Strategy. Using theory and simulation-assisted rational design, complemented by experiments, synthesis and testing, the Centre unites a highly interdisciplinary team of researchers, from the life sciences and computer science to chemical and materials engineering, medicine, and architecture. Collaborations with a wide range of industrial partners allow us to accelerate the translation of research findings into practice. CENTRE FOR NATURE INSPIRED ENGINEERING 3 Our People Marc-Olivier Coppens CNIE Director In 2013, Professor Marc- Olivier Coppens led the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering in a bid to win an EPSRC “Frontier Engineering” Award. As well as being Director of the CNIE, he has held the position of Ramsay Memorial Professor and Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at UCL since 2012. Awards for his pioneering research on nature-inspired chemical engineering (NICE) include Young Chemist and PIONIER Awards from the Dutch National Science Foundation (NWO), an RSC Catalysis Science and Technology Lecture Award (Zürich, 2012), the AIChE’s Particle Technology Forum’s PSRI Lectureship Award in Fluidization (USA, 2017), and several invited named lectureships and visiting professorships in the USA, Norway, China and Turkey. He is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of IChemE (2014), AIChE (2016), and Member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences, Germany (2018). In 2017, he was also appointed Qiushi Chair Professor at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, a leading Chinese university. He is Editor-in-Chief of Chemical & Engineering Processing: Process Intensification, and serves on the Editorial Boards of Powder Technology, Diffusion Fundamentals, RSC Molecular Systems Design & Engineering, and the EMS Journal of Fractal Geometry. 4 CENTRE FOR NATURE INSPIRED ENGINEERING Asterios Nigel Titchener- Gavriilidis Hooker CNIE Lead, Theme 1 CNIE Lead, Theme 2 Asterios Gavriilidis Professor Nigel is a Professor of Titchener-Hooker, Chemical Reaction CEng, FIChemE, Engineering at UCL, where he FREng, is Dean of UCL Engineering joined in 1993. He has long-standing and was previously head of UCL expertise on catalytic reaction Department of Biochemical engineering, and his group has Engineering. His research in the field developed a range of intensified of bioprocessing and synthetic biology reactors, such as coupled catalytic led to his involvement in the CNIE as plate reactors, mesh reactors, Theme Leader of Force Balancing. rotating disk reactors, membrane Nigel directs the EPSRC Centre reactors for applications in for Innovative Manufacturing of bulk chemicals as well as fine Emerging Macromolecular Therapies. chemicals/pharmaceuticals. This involves collaboration with Since 2000, he has been working in an international consortium of 30 microreaction technology and micro companies and is valued at over £45M. process engineering, and it is this work As the first director of the Engineering that brought him to lead CNIE’s theme Doctorate Centre for Bioprocess on Hierarchical Transport Networks. It Leadership he managed a portfolio of takes advantage of unique properties of over sixty doctorate programmes with miniaturised devices and the dominance companies spanning the whole breadth of different forces in microscale for of the biotech industry. His particular process intensification and obtaining research interests are centred on the information under well-controlled delivery of whole bioprocess solutions conditions. Currently, microreactors and in particular the interface between and millireactors are being developed unit operations. He pioneered studies in for nanoparticle manufacturing the area of process-business decision for applications in healthcare making and as Director of the Innovative (antimicrobial surfaces, cancer Manufacturing Research Centre (IMRC) hyperthermia treatment, diagnostics). in Bioprocessing was closely involved He is subject editor for Chemical with the creation of ultra scale-down tools Engineering Research and Design, for the evolution of process flowsheets Fellow of the IChemE, Chartered for the efficient recovery and purification Engineer and UK representative of high-value protein therapeutics. in the Working Party of Chemical Reaction Engineering of the European Nigel has recently joined the Rosalind Federation of Chemical Engineers. Franklin Institute as a Trustee. CENTRE FOR NATURE INSPIRED ENGINEERING 5 Mark Miodownik Eva Sorensen CNIE Lead, Theme 3 CNIE Lead, Theme 4 Professor Mark Professor Eva Miodownik is the Sorensen is a UCL Professor Professor of Chemical of Materials & Engineering at UCL, Society. He received his PhD in and has been a member of the Centre turbine jet engine alloys from Oxford for Process Systems Engineering University in 1996, and has worked (CPSE) since joining UCL in 1996. She as a materials engineer in the USA, has extensive experience within process Ireland and the UK. For more than systems engineering, particularly related fifteen years, he has championed to modelling, simulation, optimisation materials research that links the and control of fluid separations arts and humanities to medicine, such as distillation, chromatography engineering and materials science. and membrane systems. This culminated in the establishment Her research focuses on exploring novel of the UCL Institute of Making where designs and operations based on a he is Director and runs the research rigorous understanding of fundamental programme (instituteofmaking.org.uk). scientific principles, and by means of Mark is a theme leader in the CNIE complex optimisation approaches. This where he leads on self-assembly and makes her ideally placed to lead the self-repairing materials research within CNIE’s fourth new theme on Ecosystems, UCL and internationally. As a broadcaster Control and Modularity, which will have a and writer, he is internationally known for strong focus on exploring the translation championing engineering and materials of core mechanisms to process science: his TV programmes such as intensification and manufacturing, How It Works have reached millions of whilst expanding the interface between viewers globally; he is the author of the process systems engineering, computer book Stuff Matters, a New York Times science, genetics and biochemical Best Selling book, which won the Royal engineering, aiming to create robust, Society Winton Prize in 2014 and the adaptive, bioinspired supply networks. US National Academies Communication She is Editor-in-Chief of Chemical Award in 2015. In 2015 he was awarded Engineering Research & Design, a the American Association for the chartered scientist (CSci), a chartered Advancement of Science Prize for Public engineer (CEng), a Fellow of the IChemE Engagement with Science. In 2017 (FIChemE), the UK representative on he was awarded the Faraday Medal the Working Party on Fluid Separations by the Royal Society and is a fellow of of the European Federation of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In Chemical Engineering (EFCE) (which 2018, Mark was awarded an MBE in the she chaired 2007-2013), as well as New Year’s Honours List for services to a member of the IChemE’s Fluid Science, Engineering and Broadcasting. Separation Special Interest Group. 6 CENTRE FOR NATURE INSPIRED ENGINEERING Application Area Leads Richard Day Marcos Cruz Biomedical Built Environment and Healthcare Engineering Prof Marcos Cruz is a Professor Prof Richard Day of Innovative is a Professor Environments and in Regenerative Medicine and Director of the newly established leads the UCL Applied Biomedical multi-disciplinary