Alexander Darlington

Dr Darlington completed his BA/MSci degrees at the University of Cambridge before joining the University of Warwick as part of the UK’s Synthetic Biology Centre of Doctoral Training. After graduating with his PhD in 2018, he commenced postdoctoral research within the School of Engineering. He has also undertaken industrial projects as a BBSRC-funded Innovation Fellow. He recently won a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship. His research lies at the interface of systems engineering and biotechnology where he uses mathematical and computational approaches to design genetic control systems which improve yields of biotechnological processes in light of microbial and industrial constraints.

Charlotte Cooper

Starting January 2021 as a PDRA in the School of Life Sciences I'm looking at nutrient uptake and metabolism in the bacteria that causes tuberculosis to understand how it can survive in the nutrient restricted environment during infection. I completed my PhD at the University of Birmingham in 2021 exploring the remodelling of the cell wall in the same pathogen, a process that is key for successful infection, and a transcriptional regulator that responds to external cues to coordinate this remodelling. I'm hoping to take advantage of everything the IAS fellowship has to offer to develop my career further in academic research.

Manuela Trejo

Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Researcher at the School of Engineering, working on the EPSRC funded project "A sensorimotor PROsthesis for the upper LIMB (PROLIMB)". The project aims to model, design, fabricate and validate an affordable body-powered prosthetic fingertip digit with integrated mechanical haptic feedback. She obtained her PhD at Sheffield Hallam University with a project investigating the biomechanical effects of football shoes on the ankle joint, focusing primarily on preventing injuries and enhancing players' performance. She has a BSc in Mechatronics engineering from the Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus Leon in Mexico. After graduation, she obtained a DAAD Scholarship for her Master's studies in Biomedical Engineering in Germany at the University of Lubeck. Manuela spent one year working as an intern and Master's Thesis student at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) in Cologne. Her project 'Improvement, completion and verification of an artificial muscle biomechanical rack (AMBR)' was aimed to build a test rig to deepen the understanding of the muscle-bone mechanics of the lower leg with the objective of reducing the effects of microgravity in astronauts' bones, preventing and counteracting osteoporosis. Prior to her PhD, Manuela worked as a full-time lecturer at the Tecnologico de Monterrey at the Engineering and Sciences Division, teaching a wide range of lectures from basic sciences to specialized topics in Mechatronics. She oriented her work to education innovation for engineers, social service and impact of students of Mechatronics and collaborating in the development of community projects involving patients with muscular dystrophy and people in need of upper-limb prosthetics. The most important accomplishments were the foundation of the student-led group Robomedic which provides low-cost 3D-printed hand prostheses, as well as being named an honorary youth member of the Academy of Engineering in Mexico.

Erika Herrera Rosales

Erika was a former Early Career Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies and received her PhD in Sociology at the University of Warwick. Erika's doctoral research looked at the effects of the social relationships between humanitarian organisations and immigrants from Northern Central America. Specifically, she explored NGOs’ roles and practices which involved punitive actions, mobility deterrence, and ambiguous dynamics with migrants in Mexico. Her research interests also include decolonial theory, family and intimacies, critical methodology and feminist poetry.

Gurdev Singh

Gurdev is a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Physics, University of Warwick, UK. Before joining the University of Warwick, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Production and Industrial Engineering, at Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. Gurdev got his master's and PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India in the field of Mechanical Engineering. His area of research is the fabrication of cemented tungsten carbide and reacted sintered boride. He is interested in powder metallurgy, freeze casting, sintering, fabrication of porous and dense materials, additive manufacturing, composites, and material characterization.

Hamidreza Arjmandi

Hamidreza received a PhD degree in electrical engineering from the Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, in 2016. He has served as an Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Yazd University, Iran, from 2016-2021. He was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics hosted by NTNU, Norway 2019-2021. As a research fellow, he joined the School of Engineering, at the University of Warwick in 2021. He has been the associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Nonobioscience since the Summer of 2021. He does research in interdisciplinary research areas of information theory in biological systems, molecular communications and nano-bio communication networks.

Maria Brunetti

Maria obtained her degree in particle physics in Naples, Italy, and her PhD from the University of Birmingham, UK. She is now a postdoctoral researcher at Warwick and studies neutrinos, elusive elementary particles that hold the key to profound questions on the evolution of the Universe. Her work focuses on the reconstruction of particle interactions in large liquid argon detectors, using state-of-the-art image processing techniques. She is interested in exploring the applicability of these techniques to other fields and is passionate about science communication. She plans to continue developing personal skills and collaborations as an IAS fellow.

Tailise De Souza Guerreiro Rodrigues

Tailise graduated in Biotechnology, with a PhD in cellular ageing and a postdoc in electrophysiology, her passion for science and research has led her to be involved in teaching, grant writing, and science communication. Regarding the latest, she wrote three science communication articles for an established magazine in her home country (Brazil). Tailise goal is to become an independent researcher on the interlinked aspects of ageing and electrophysiology, and the IAS Fellowship and Accolade program will allow her to be part of an international and multidisciplinary community where the nurturing of the innovative research of the future happens.

Onur Agca

Onur recently completed his PhD in the Behavioural Operations Management field in WMG. Throughout his doctoral study years, he participated in various industrial projects on topics such as Industry 4, Autonomous Vehicles, Sustainability and Circular Economy. Towards the end of his PhD, he worked as a research assistant at Durham Business School for a year and managed a regional project regarding the plastics recycling supply chains. Completing his contract there, in January 2022, he started his new role in WBS as a teaching fellow, where he currently continues his studies.

Patrick Smith

Patrick Brian Smith is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick. He is working on a project entitled Mediated Forensics, which examines how emergent technological and aesthetic forms of media practice are redefining the fields of human rights activism and investigatory journalism. Through the utilisation of new media technologies and open source practices, a range of artists, researchers and media collectives are transforming the roles that the performative, ethico-aesthetic and technological play in the mediation of evidence and its capacity to intervene in forms of humanitarian, political and social violence. The project argues that these emergent forms of practice are creating new ecologies of media practice and collaboration that are yet to be properly examined or theorised. He completed his PhD in Film and Moving Image Studies at Concordia University, Montreal in 2020. His research interests include documentary theory and practice, spatial and political theory, forensic media, and human rights media activism. He has taught courses on visual culture, film and media histories, documentary theory, and activist media cultures. His work has been, or will be, published in journals such as JCMS, Discourse, Media, Culture & Society, NECSUS, and Afterimage..

Reza Kashtiban

Reza is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics. He is an experimental physicist and material scientist with a particular interest in the structural and compositional properties of nanomaterials by means of advanced Transmission Electron Microscopy. He had been a visiting academic of UK miderane electron microscopy facilities at Daresbury Lab (SuperSTEM, 2007-2010) where he used Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) technique in Plasmon and core loss regimes to study compositional properties of nanostructured materials. Reza also specialises in phase restoration by Exit Wave Reconstruction of Focal Series.

His current research themes involves growth and compositional characterisation of encapsulated composite nanostrucures, 1D radial heterostructures and 2D materials. He has also expertise in the study of porous materials, functionalised carbon based materials and phase change nanomaterials.

Current Interests

• 2D materials
• Hybrid photovoltaic nanostructures
• Encapsulated structures
• 1D Heterostructures
• Phase Change Materials
• Atomic scale local characterisation

Raghavendra Juluri

Expertise in the growth of nanostructures using physical and chemical vapour deposition methods.

Expertise in the field of structural characterization of materials by microscopy and spectroscopic techniques such as TEM, SEM, Raman, XRD and RBS.

Working with Silicon, GaN and SiC substrates and thin films

Yihan Guo

Dr Yihan Guo is a Teaching Fellow at WMG, University of Warwick. His research focuses on Machine Learning & AI in the context of real estate finance. He holds a BSc in Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics and Economics (MORSE) and MSc in Economics, and a PhD in Engineering from the University of Warwick. He is currently leading AI initiatives for high-tech start-up firms through the WMG accelerator.

Ibrahim Isik

Ibrahim received his PhD degree in electrical electronics engineering from Inonu University, Turkey, in 2019. He worked as a researcher and Assistant Professor in this department between 2012-2022. Throughout his research career, he participated in various projects on topics of Molecular communication, Machine learning and Neuro-spike communication. Currently, he is a visiting researcher fellow in the School of Engineering, at the University of Warwick. His research area is Bacteria-Based Molecular Communication, molecular communications and nano-bio communication networks.

Ahmed Al-Said

Module owner for Procurement and Inventory Management part of the Supply Chain and Logistics Management MSc. Member of the Education Innovation Committee within WMG. PhD on The Effect of Product Design Modularity on Sustainable Supply Chain Management MSc on The use of Mobile Business Intelligence on Supply Chain Performance. Chartered Member of the Institute of Logistics and Transport Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Sophia Kier-Byfield

Dr Sophia Kier-Byfield is an interdisciplinary researcher with broad interests in gender, education and inclusion. Having studied and taught English Literature for many years, she won a PhD scholarship to study the concept of feminist pedagogy at Loughborough University in 2018. Since completing in early 2022, she has been a Postdoc at the Department of Education Studies at the University of Warwick. Alongside her work at Warwick, Sophia is an Associate Researcher for SafeLives, a volunteer at Thrive Women’s Aid and a curator under the auspices of art space rum46 (Denmark).

Luca Peretti

Luca Peretti is a WIRL-COFUND Fellow. His project investigates cultural exchange across the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and North Africa, particularly Italy and Algeria, at the end of the colonial era (1960-1966). The core case studies include several collaborative works between Italians and Algerians, including Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers (1966). Previously he co-edited a volume on terrorism and cinema (in Italian, Postmedia books) and one on Pier Pasolini Pasolini (Bloomsbury Academics). His work has appeared in, among others, Senses of Cinema, The Italianist: Film Issue, Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies, Historical Materialism, Comunicazioni Sociali, Quest. Issues in Contemporary Jewish History. He is on the editorial board of Zapruder World, Cinema e Storia, L’Avventura and Storiografia. He wrote and coproduced the film Mister Wonderland (dir. Valerio Ciriaci, 2019). He collaborates with newspapers and magazines.

Sabrina Twilhaar

Sabrina is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow in the Department of Psychology. Her research focuses on the impact of very preterm birth on children’s development. More specifically, she tries to understand the large differences in outcomes between children and the role of social factors. In her current project, she aims to identify factors that promote positive outcomes (i.e. resilience) that can be used as targets for interventions. In collaboration with IAS, she hopes to further develop herself to do impactful research that actually benefits those in society that need it most.