We are proud of our fantastic team!

Researcher Fellows

Dr. Khuram Walayat is currently working as a Research Fellow in the Chemistry Department at the University of Warwick and as a Visiting Scholar at the Low-Gravity Science and Technology Lab with Dr. Álvaro Romero Calvo at Georgia Tech. Prior to this role, he held the prestigious position of a Marie Curie individual fellow at the Institute for Materials and Processes, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh. Earlier in his career, he worked as a post-doctoral research fellow at the Department of Thermal and Fluid Engineering (TFE), Faculty of Engineering Technology (ET), The University of Twente. Khuram earned his Ph.D. degree from Peking University, Beijing, China, where he was associated with the Beijing Innovation Center for Engineering Science and Advanced Technology (BIC-ESAT) and the State Key Laboratory for Turbulence and Complex Systems, College of Engineering, Peking University. His extensive research interests encompass diverse areas, including particle impact erosion, particulate flows, fluid-solid interaction, multi-phase flows involving energy storage, energy exchange, phase change, thermochemical and electrochemical reactions, and magnetohydrodynamic phenomena. Contact: khuram.walayat@warwick.ac.uk

Ömer Akay is a senior researcher in our group at ZARM/ University of Bremen. Contact: oemer.akay@zarm.uni-bremen.de

PhD students

Manpreet Kaur is a PhD student in the group. She did her BSc in Chemistry at Warwick, following a summer project in Prof David Haddleton’s group looking at thermal depolymerisation of polymers synthesised via several different methods. She then went on to study a Master (by Research) in Polymer Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Sebastian Perrier where she synthesised pH responsive nanoparticles for drug delivery, specifically for TB. Manpreet is now looking at the use of photoelectrocatalysis to synthesise ammonia and other nitrogen containing compounds from nitrogen. In her free time, Manpreet enjoys reading, poetry, drinking tea, and is an amateur climate action enthusiast. Contact: M.Kaur.2@warwick.ac.uk

Shaumica Saravanabavan is a current PhD student in Dr. Brinkert’s group and the project is co-sponsored by the European Space Agency (ESA). By the use of minimal resources and by producing minimal waste, the project will be focusing on providing more efficient and reliable oxygen and fuel for long-term space travels. The experiments under microgravity will be performed at the Bremen Drop Tower and the laboratories in the ESA centre based in Noordwijk, Netherlands. She represents the student voice as part of the AS CDT’s postgraduate SSLC and work hard to contribute improvements to student learning and well-being. Besides my passion for space and science, she is very much passionate about literature, history and languages possibly due to being trilingual in Tamil, German and English. Contact: S.Saravanabavan.1@warwick.ac.uk

Byron Ross is a PhD student in the Brinkert group. His project centres on theoretical modelling of Photoelectrochemical (PEC) devices, for light assisted water splitting and simultaneous fuel production in terrestrial and reduced gravitational environments. The project moves to simulate the different processes impacting device performance, and to quantify and predict the effects of microgravity. From within the group, experimental photocurrent-voltage and gas bubble evolution data from the Bremen Drop Tower experiments will feed into the calculations. The project is jointly supervised by Dr. Katharina Brinkert (Warwick) and Dr. Sophia Haussener (EPFL/Switzerland), it is co-funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Analytical Science Doctoral Training Center at Warwick. Other than science, Byron has a fervent interest in Jimi Hendrix, Mötley Crüe, ancient history, and motorbikes. Contact: Byron.Ross@warwick.ac.uk

Eniola Sokalu is a PhD student in the group. She completed her undergraduate degree in Chemistry at the University of Glasgow, during which she investigated chemical modification of TiO₂ and ‘the design of effective photocatalysts for the production of hydrogen and oxygen from water’ (at CSIC-ICMSE, Seville) and ‘Nitrogen activation: exploring the using of metal nitrides for N₂ activation for ammonia synthesis’ (at the University of Glasgow). She then went on to study a Masters (by Research) in the Brinkert group exploring the H/DER using Platinum and Rhodium p-type Indium Phosphide electrodes and is continuing as a PhD student within the group expanding on this project. In her free time, Eniola enjoys oil painting, studying fine art, learning Spanish, crocheting/knitting, cycling and foraging Contact: eniola.sokalu@warwick.ac.uk

Kayleigh Skidmore is a PhD student, jointly supervised by Dr Katharina Brinkert and Professor Richard Walton. Her project is funded by an iCASE award with Johnson Matthey. She completed her MChem at the University of Leicester where she researched latent fingerprint enhancement using polymer film deposition and electrochemically driven dye encapsulation. Her PhD project focuses on developing a versatile electrolysis flow cell for in operando X-Ray diffraction studies of electrocatalysts –the current focus is oxygen production however, once a cell has been established this will be expanded to further reactions such as carbon dioxide reduction. As well as her interest in science, she also enjoys going to concerts, walking and going to the gym. Contact: kayleigh.skidmore@warwick.ac.uk 

This year, we welcome Mairis Berzinš, Sophie Wade and Anna Bütfering (University of Heidelberg) as summer interns!

Our fantastic MChem, MRes and intern students from the past years:

- Lottie Bolt (MChem, Warwick)

- Ffion James (MChem, Warwick, now PhD student at Cardiff University)

- Claire T. Coulthard (intern, Warwick, now PhD student at the University of Oxford)

- Georgina Rhodes (Warwick, URSS)

- Zarim Miah (Warwick, URSS)

- Craig Robertson (MChem, Warwick)

- Joshua Wilson (MRes, Warwick)

- Kumayl Gangji (MChem, Warwick)

- Roelof Pol (MSc project, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

- Andrianne Thoma (MRes, Warwick, now PhD student at UCL)

- Alvia M. Yousuf (Warwick, URSS, now MSc student at Imperial College)