Key elements: Major research centre + sponsored chair + talent development
Solutions to materials challenges in the engineering and energy industries.
The Shell-Imperial Advanced Interfacial Materials Science (AIMS) Centre was launched in March 2016 with the aim of delivering new insights into materials behaviour and enabling optimal materials selection, design and enhanced predicative capabilities.
We have been delighted to welcome Professor Ryan and the research team into our technology centres around the globe to further the understanding of the technical challenges, to drive technical innovation and to support the development of transferable methodology in this critical area of research"
Dr. Lene Hviid
General Manager Materials & Corrosion, Shell Global Solutions
The Centre, based in the Department of Materials, focuses on the development of innovative solutions using state-of-the-art and in operando characterisation approaches to materials challenges in the engineering and energy industries.
The Centre focuses on five technical themes exploring research that links nanoscale processes to large-scale materials behaviour. The interdisciplinary research team, which includes six PhD students and three Post-Docs, has been exploiting developments in new ambient pressure systems for spectroscopy and microscopy, as well as central synchrotron facilities to develop new in-situ approaches to study complex systems over length and timescales relevant to industrial processes. The long-term goal of the Centre is to make industrial processes safer, more predictable and more efficient, ultimately resulting in better asset management and operational performance.
Leading the Centre
The Centre is led by Professor Mary Ryan and was established as a result of a synergistic, ongoing partnership between Shell's Materials and Corrosion R&D team, led by Dr. Lene Hviid, and Imperial's Department of Materials. Professor Ryan also currently holds the Shell/RAEng Chair in Interfacial Nanoscience for Engineering Solutions.
The Centre forms one more facet to the longstanding Shell-Imperial relationship with ongoing work at the Sustainable Gas Institute (SGI), the fuels and lubricants University Technology Centre(UTC) and the Qatar Carbonate and Carbon Stroage Research Centre.
You can read the full news article here.