Dr Claire Dancer, Associate Professor

Claire was born in Cardiff, South Wales and studied for her MSci in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, specialising in Materials Science and Metallurgy. During her time at Cambridge she worked with Prof. Judith Driscoll for her Individual Research Project and with Prof. Nic Spencer at ETH-Zurich for her Long Vacation Project. She went on to complete her DPhil at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Prof. Chris Grovenor and Prof. Richard Todd, studying the sintering behaviour of the superconductor magnesium diboride. Following her DPhil she worked as a Research Fellow in the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford from 2009-2013, carrying out research on a number of topics including ceramic armour (funded by EPSRC and DSTL), functionally graded ceramic materials (funded by TWI), and developing materials for microwave-frequency metamaterial devices (EPSRC). She was appointed to her first academic post as an Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick in 2013, where she now leads the Ceramics Research Group based in the International Institute for Nanocomposite Manufacturing. Claire was promoted to Associate Professor in Decmber 2018.

Hiren Padhiar - PhD 2017-2021

Hiren was born in Birmingham. He studied a BSc in Biological and Chemical Science at Coventry University and graduated in 2016. Hiren joined the University of Warwick in 2016 to study for an MSc in Polymer Chemistry. During his MSc he undertook a 5-month project studying “The examination of polymers and composites for sustainable 3D printing” under supervision of Dr Tara Schiller, graduating in 2017. During autumn of 2017, Hiren began his PhD in Engineering at WMG under the supervision of Dr Claire Dancer and Prof. Tony McNally studying “Novel structured nanocomposite materials for broadband acoustic damping in automotive environments.” His project is funded by Jaguar Landrover and WMG.

Abhijeet Sarangi - PhD 2018-2021

Abhijeet was born in Bhubaneswar, India. He completed his B.Tech. and M.Tech. degrees in Ceramic Engineering in a dual degree program from the National Institute of Technology in Rourkela, India in 2015. During his bachelors degree he undertook an internship at TRL Krosaki Refractories Ltd. in Belpahar working on “Enhancement of ASC Bricks Using Different Resin Source’” in the R&D department. Abhijeet also carried out vocational training at the Vishakapatnam Steel Plant (RINL) during his 2nd year, studying the different refractory materials used in steel making. During his Masters degree he worked under Dr Santanu Bhattacharyya studying the preparation of porous alumina ceramics. After graduation Abhijeet went on to join IBM India as a software testing analyst in September 2015, attaining the position of a test lead by end of 2017. He then decided to further pursue his education in the field of ceramics and in February 2018 he started his PhD under the supervision of Dr Claire Dancer and Dr Emma Kendrick on “Tailored routes to processing of graded ceramics for energy and communication purposes”.

Gareth Jones - PhD 2018-2021