News and Events

News

Daniele wins Jost Award (December 2021)


Prof. Daniele Dini has won the inaugural Peter Jost Tribology Award from the International Tribology Council. The award will be presented at the World Tribology Congress (WTC) in 2022. More information here.

Daniele Elected FREng (September 2021)


Prof. Daniele Dini has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng). More information here.

James Joins Tribology Letters ECEB (August 2021)


Dr James Ewen has been appointed to the Early-Career Editorial Board (ECEB) of the Springer journal Tribology Letters.

Tom and Marc Promoted to Reader (July 2021)


Dr Tom Reddyhoff and Dr Marc Masen have both been promoted from Senior Lecturer to Reader.

Marc Wins President's Award (June 2021)


Dr Marc Masen has been awarded the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. More information here.

Carlos Wins TSM-CDT Prize (June 2021)


PhD student Carlos Ayestaran Latorre has been awarded the Materials Design Advanced Graduate Research Prize from the Centre for Doctoral Training on Theory and Simulation of Materials (TSM-CDT). More information here.

Rikeen Wins Poster Prize (May 2021)


PhD student Rikeen Jobanputra won the runner-up prize for a poster competition (against 36 other candidates) at the International Conference on Biotribology 2021. The focus of the research surrounds using computational models to help optimise the skin’s interaction with PPE in order to reduce injury in healthcare workers.

Eliane Wins STLE Award (May 2021)


PhD Student Eliane Gendreau has been awarded the Elmer E. Klaus Fellowship from the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE). More information here.

InFUSE EPSRC Prosperity Partnership (May 2021)


Along with Shell and Diamond Light Source, Imperial College London have been awarded £4.2M through the Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPSRC) Prosperity Partnerships scheme. The Interface with the Future - Underpinning Science to Support the Energy transition (INFUSE) project will develop entirely new capabilities to study the behaviour of interfaces under complex real world conditions. The project will be led by Prof. Mary Ryan (Department of Materials) who will be assisted by Prof. Daniele Dini and Dr Janet Wong from the Tribology Group. More information here and full press release here.

Paper wins STLE Award (May 2021)


A recent paper 'Effect of Surface Cleaning on Performance of Organic Friction Modifiers' by Dr Ben Fry, Prof. Hugh Spikes and Dr Janet Wong from the Tribology Group and Gareth Moody from Croda has been awarded the 2021 Walter D. Hodson Award from the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE). The award recognises the best paper written by an STLE member 35 years of age or younger and published by the society in the prior year.

Paper Featured on Imperial News (March 2021)


A recent paper 'Infusion Mechanisms in Brain White Matter and Their Dependence on Microstructure: An Experimental Study of Hydraulic Permeability' in IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering by Dr Asad Jamal, Andrea Bernardi, Maria Teresa Mongelli, and Prof. Daniele Dini from the Tribology Group has been featured on the Imperial College News website. More information here.

Li Awarded EPSRC Fellowship (March 2021)


Dr Li Shen has been awarded a 3-year Fellowship from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). His project 'Intrinsic Instabilities at Impure Interfaces' (EP/V005073/1) will study the effects of contaminents on thin films. More information here.

Ian Wins Silver (November 2020)


Dr. R. Ian Taylor, former Technology Manager at Shell and an integral member of the Shell University Technology Centre (UTC) for Fuels and Lubricants, has been awarded the Tribology Silver Medal. More information here.

Li wins Photo Competition (November 2020)


Dr. Li Shen has won first place in the 9th UK Fluids Network Photo competition. You can see his winning entry 'Iceberg in Earl Grey (hot!)' here.

SKF UTC Renewed (October 2020)


The SKF University Technology Centre (UTC) in Advanced Modelling and Measurements in Tribology was recently reinaugurated in an online ceremony. The SKF UTC has been housed at Imperial College London since 2010 and has delivered research that helps bearings perform better and longer, whilst also contributing to lower energy consumption in the machines they operate in.

James Awarded RAEng Research Fellowship (August 2020)


Dr. James Ewen has been awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship. His project 'Controlling Friction through Molecular Engineering' will aim to improve ther performance of lubricant and E-Fluid formulations using molecular design approaches. More information here.

Marc Interviewed by TLT (August 2020)


Dr. Marc Masen was recently interviewed by Tribology and Lubrication Technology (TLT), the magazine published by the STLE, see the article here.

Work on Flexible Microstructures Featured on phys.org (August 2020)


A Science Advances paper by Prof. Dini and co-workers has been featured on phys.org. See the story here.

Amir Promoted to Reader (July 2020)


Dr Amir Kadiric has been promoted from Senior Lecturer to Reader.

Janet wins Student Choice Award (June 2020)


Dr Janet Wong won the Student Choice Award (SCA) for 'Outstanding  PhD  Supervision' from the Imperial College Union. More info here.

Carlos wins Poster Prize (June 2020)


PhD student Carlos Ayestaran Latorre won second place in the WeSST Twitter poster competition for his work on water adsorption on doped diamond surfaces. More information here.

Amir Interviewed by TLT (May 2020)


Dr. Amir Kadiric was recently interviewed by Tribology and Lubrication Technology (TLT), the magazine published by the STLE, see the article here.

Guillermo becomes Visiting Professor (May 2020)


Prof. Guillermo E. Morales-Espejel, Principal Scientist at SKF, has been appointed as a Visiting Professor in the Tribology Group at Imperial College London. More info here.

Nic becomes Visiting Professor (January 2020)


Prof. Nicholas Spencer is to become a Visiting Professor in the Tribology Group at Imperial College London. For many years he has led the Surface Science and Technology Group, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich. His principal research areas are biocompatibility, tribology, surface functionalization, and analysis. He was recently announced as the 2018 winner of the Tribology Gold Medal by the IMechE. 

Billy awarded ARC Grant (December 2019)


Prof. Billy Todd from Swinburne University of Technology has been awarded an Australian Research Council (ARC) grant to use molecular simulations to develop better lubricants. The project will involve close collaboration with researchers in the Tribology Group at Imperial College. More info hereProf. Todd is recruiting PhD students and a post doc for the project in Melbourne, please email btodd@swin.edu.au for more information. Closing date for applications is 30th June. The post doc ad can be found here.

Clelia awarded ERC Grant (December 2019)


Prof. Clelia Righi from the University of Bologna and visiting Professor at Imperial College has been awarded an European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant. The project, "Advancing Solid interfaces and Lubricants by first principles material design" (SLIDE), will involve close collaboration with the Tribology Group. More info here.

Philipa awarded Professorship (December 2019)


Principal Research Fellow Philipa Cann has been awarded a Professorship in Tribology from the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Badminton (December 2019)

Badminton


Several members of the Tribology Group have started a weekly badminton sessions in Ethos. Contact Eliane Gendreau if you are interested in joining.

Daniele wins Donald Julius Groen Prize (December 2019)


Professor Dini has been awarded the 2019 Donald Julius Groen Prize by the IMechE. He will deliver the prize lecture at the IMechE on the 11th December 2019. More info here.

Li wins Margaret Fishenden Centenary Memorial Prize (November 2019)


Research Associate Dr Li Shen has been awarded the Margaret Fishenden Centenary Memorial Prize from the Department of Mechanical Engineering for the best PhD thesis over the previous five year period.

Mao wins Poster Prize (September 2019)

mao


PhD student Mao Ueda won the best poster prize at the 2019 International Tribology Conference. His poster title was: 'Evolution of ZDDP crystallinity and its effect on film durability'.

Ajit wins Nuclear Innovation Bootcamp (August 2019)


A team containing PhD Student Ajit Bastola was selected as best project at the the Nuclear Innovation Bootcamp. The bootcamp seeks to train students and early-career professionals in skills 

Ajit

essential to accelerate innovation in nuclear energy through self-selected team projects. Ajit was one of 28 people shortlisted for the two week bootcamp held at OECD NEA headquarters in Paris. Ajit's team was selected as the best project by a panel of nuclear energy experts from OECD NEA, Assystem, Orano, Nuvia Protection and Foratom. Their prize is Sydney trip in March 2020 to present thier project in I4N.

Hugh wins JAST Tribochemistry Award (August 2019)

Hugh


Prof. Hugh Spikes has won the 2019 Tribochemistry Award from the Japanese Society of Tribologists (JAST). He will be presented with the award at a ceremony at the International Tribology Conference (ITC) in Sendai, Japan. More info here.

Daniele Elected Fellow of the IOP (August 2019)


Prof. Daniele Dini has been elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP) in recognition of his accomplishments in physics and the significant impact he has made in his sector.

LubeLab@65 (July 2019)


The Tribology Group (formerly the Lubrication Laboratory) is celebrating its 65th birthday! The lab was founded in 1953 by Dr Alastair Cameron and has been at the forefront of tribology research ever since. A reunion event was held on Monday 8th July 2019 with many current and former lab memebers attending.

James wins IOP Award (July 2019)


Research Associate Dr James Ewen has been awarded the 2019 Innovation in Tribology Award by Institute of Physics (IOP) for a significant contribution to the advancement of theory and simulations of multi-scale problems in the field of physics and physical chemistry, with particular application to tribology and lubrication science.

pride

Pride month celebrations (June 2019)


The Tribology Group celebrated Pride Month with a cake baked by PhD student Andrea Bernardini.

Amir promoted to Reader (June 2019)


Tribology Group academic Dr Amir Kadiric has been promoted from Senior Lecturer to Reader, congratulations Amir!

Bjorn wins poster prize (March 2019)

Bjorn


PhD student Bjorn Kunzelmann won the best poster prize at the IET New Challenges in Tribology event. His poster title was: 'Experimental and Numerical Studies into the Mechanisms of Surface Crack Propagation under Rolling Contact’. More info here.

Ian elected STLE Fellow (February 2019)


Shell UTC researcher Dr Ian Taylor was recently elected as a Fellow of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE), congratulations Ian! More details here.

James wins IOP Poster Prize (January 2019)


Research Associate Dr James Ewen was awarded best poster at the Institute of Physics (IOP) Winter Tribology Fair. 

Li awarded EPSRC Impact Acceleration Grant (December 2018)


Research Associate Dr Li Shen has been awarded an EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) grant for his project “Machine-Learning Pattern Recognition Prototype for liquid foams”. The EPSRC IAA grant supports the development of a potentially marketable project to create impact away from a strictly academic setting. The winning project aims to develop a foaming rig and a Machine-Learning analysis algorithm that will enable a consistent quantitative analysis of the foaming process in beverages and oil lubricants. Ab Inbev, Pepsico, Shell and PCS instruments are the industrial partners.

James wins Tribology Trust Bronze Medal (December 2018)

Bronze


Research Associate Dr James Ewen and Dr Matt Harmon (University of Sheffield) have been jointly awarded the 2018 Tribology Trust Bronze medal. The award will be presented on 6th December 2018 at the 27th IMechE Mission of Tribology. Dr Ewen is the fifth recipient of the Bronze Medal (Prof Dini, Dr Fowell, Dr Reddyhoff, Dr Vladescu) from the Tribology Group, which also boasts three Silver Medals (Prof Spikes, Dr Cann, Prof Olver) and three Gold Medals (Prof Cameron, Prof Spikes, Prof Ioannides).

Friction Cover (December 2018)

Cover


A cover image related to the review article 'Advances in nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations of lubricants and additives' by Dr James Ewen, Prof David Heyes, and Prof Daniele Dini has been selected for the December 2018 issue of Friction. The article was also the most cited paper in the journal during 2018. More info here.

Jason and Debashis win Poster Prizes (November 2018)


Research Associates Dr Jie Zhang and Dr Debashis Puhan won first and second prize respectively in the STLE Tribology Frontiers early career researcher poster competition.

Curling Trip (November 2018)


Several members of the group put their tribology knowledge to the test with a trip to Queensway ice rink for some curling!

curling

Comp

Li Second in Photo Competition (November 2018)


PhD Student Li Shen has come second in the 'Mechanical Engineering at Imperial' category of the Imperial College Department of Mechanical Engineering photography competition. More details here.

Langmuir Cover (October 2018)


LangmuirA cover image related to the invited feature article 'Moving Contact Lines: Linking Molecular Dynamics and Continuum-Scale Modeling' by Dr Edward Smith, Panagiotis Theodorakis, Richard Craster, and Omar Matar has been selected for the October 2018 issue of Langmuir.

Snowdonia Trip (October 2018)


Several memebers of the lab recently enjoyed a weekend trip to Snowdonia. Some pictures below.

Snowdonia

Dame Julia Higgins Engineering Postdoc Collaborative Research Fund (August 2018)


Dr Debashis Puhan from the Tribology Group, along with Diana Iruretagoyena Ferrer, Sarah H M Hedberg, and Di Zhang from the Department of Chemical Engineering, were successful in securing a sum of £ 3,000 from the Dame Julia Higgins Engineering Postdoc Collaborative Research Fund, for their research titled ‘Novel High-Performance Graphene Nanocomposites for Industrial CO2 Capture’.

Jonas Wins Best Presentation Prize (May 2018)


PhD Student Jonas Verschueren won the best talk prize at the 5th TSM-CDT Annual Conference. His talk was entitled: 'The role of dislocation-lattice interactions in the mobility of dislocations in the pure-glide regime'. More info here.

Royal Society Travel Grant (May 2018)


Prof Daniele Dini, Dr Edward Smith, and Dr James Ewen have recently been awarded an International Exchanges Grant from the Royal Society. The grant will be used to visit Prof Billy Todd at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia.

ELGI Visit (April 2018)

Wong


Around 50 delegates attending the 30th European Lubricants and Greases Institute (ELGI) AGM in London visited Imperial College on 24th April 2018. They were welcomed by Prof Daniele Dini who gave an overview of the research that the group does, followed by poster presentations and coffee sponsored by PCS Instruments, and finally a tour of the tribology labs.

EDEN2020 Project Video (March 2018)


A project video for EDEN2020 has been posted on Youtube. Several researchers from the Tribology Group are involved in the project which aims to develop an integrated platform for one-stop diagnosis and minimally invasive treatment in neurosurgery.

Rachel Wins IET Poster Prize (March 2018)


PhD Student Rachel Januszewski won the best poster presentation prize at the 2018 Institute of Engineering and Technology New Challenges in Tribology event.

Li Wins EPSRC Photo Prize (February 2018)

Li bubble


PhD Student Li Shen has won 1st prize in the 'Eureka and Discovery' category of the 2018 EPSRC Science Photo Competition. His entry, 'In a kitchen far far away...', was taken using a highly customised set-up comprising two Quality Street biscuit tins, an oven tray, parts of a Tesco water bottle, a piece of transparency paper, Fairy Liquid, a builder's lamp and a DSLR camera. More details here.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowships (February 2018)


Tribology Group member Dr Alessandra Ciniero and former member Dr Antonio Elia Forte have both secured Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual FellowshipsAlessandra will be based at the University of Modena, Italy under the supervision of Prof Maria Clelia Righi, a collaborator of the Tribology Group. Antonio will be moving to Harvard University, USA.Nico

Nicola Appointed SKF UTC Research Manager (January 2018)


Dr Nicola de Laurentis has been appointed Research Manager for the SKF UTC. Congratulations Nico!

Significant Interest in 3D Printing Research (December 2017)

3D


Recent research from members of the Tribology Group (Zhengchu Tan, Prof Daniele Dini) on the EDEN2020 project has attracted significant global attention. The research 'Cryogenic 3D Printing of Super Soft Hydrogels' was published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports and has been picked up by news agencies around the world. More details here.

James Wins Margaret Fishenden Centenary Memorial Prize (November 2017)

James


Research Associate Dr James Ewen has been awarded the Margaret Fishenden Centenary Memorial Prize from the Department of Mechanical Engineering for the best PhD thesis over the previous five year period. His thesis ‘Molecular dynamics simulations of lubricants and additives’ is currently under embargo but the resultant publications can be found here. He has also been awarded a Doctoral Prize Fellowship from the EPSRC.

Sorin Wins Tribology Trust Bronze Medal (November 2017)

sorin


Research Associate Dr. Sorin-Cristian Vlădescu has been awarded the Tribology Trust Bronze Medal from the IMechE for his research. He joins several other senior members of the Tribology Group in receiving the award. More details here.

Women in Engineering (November 2017)


In a youtube video for Elsevier, five members of the Biotribology Group (Elze Porte, Harriet Stevenson, Zhengchu Tan, Dr. Maria Parkes, Dr. Phillppa Cann) described their work, their aspirations for the future, and advice for other women considering careers in engineering. Watch the video here.

EPSRC Fund Mechanochemistry Research (July 2017)


The EPSRC have announced grant funding for 'Mechanochemistry in Lubrication' (EP/P030211/1) led by Prof Hugh Spikes (PI), Prof Daniele Dini, and Dr Janet Wong. The research will combine state-of-the-art experimental and simulation methods to understand how the mechanical forces on additive molecules affect how they form tribofilms.

Elze Wins PhD Summer Showcase Prize (June 2017)

Elze


Biotribology PhD student Elze Porte has been awarded a poster prize in the PhD Summer Showcase organised by the Imperial Graduate School. In the Summer Showcase over 70 posters were presented by PhD students from around the College. Elze won the 2nd prize with her poster ‘Low friction through load sharing in hydrogels’. View her poster here.

Debashis Wins IET and WoM Poster Prizes (May 2017)

Debashish


PhD Student Debashis Puhan won the Best Poster Prize at the The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Challenges in Tribology event, more details here. He was also runner up for the Peter J Blau Best Poster Award at the Wear of Materials (WoM) conference in Long Beach, CA. More details here.

Tribology Group Win President's Award (May 2017)


The Tribology Group has won the 2017 Imperial College London President’s Award and Medal for Excellence in External Collaboration and Partnerships. This award celebrates the development of lasting external collaborations, and the impact of their research inside and outside Imperial. More information here.

Tribology Group Research Featured in Science Daily (April 2017)


Research by Professor Daniele Dini, in collaboration with universities in Lanzhou, China and Salento, Italy has been featured in Science Daily. The research investigated switchable underwater adhesion using nanohydrogel brushes. 

Welcome Pawel (March 2017)

Pawel


The Tribology Group have a new laboratory technician, Pawel Orzlowski, who has moved to us from Chemical Engineering. Please join us in welcoming him to the group!

Ski Trip (February 2017)


The 2017 Tribology Group ski trip to Les Deux Alpes, France was thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended.

Tribology Group Research Featured in Science News (February 2017)


Research by PhD Student Li Shen and Professor Daniele Dini has been featured in Science News. See the full article here.

Tribology Group Alumni on Channel 4 Documentary (January 2017)


A former member of the Tribology Group, Prof Rob Dwyer-Joyce (now University of Sheffield) featured in a Channel 4 doucmentary about Beijing's Forbidden City. He discussed the possible role of ice tribology in moving the huge stone blocks to the construction site. The documentary can be found here.

James Wins IMechE Prize (December 2016)

IMechE


PhD student James Ewen from the Shell UTC recently won the 2016 Research 25 Prize for Best Presentation at the IMechE Mission of Tribology. More information here.

Li Wins APS Prize (December 2016)


PhD student Li Shen from the Shell UTC recently won the Gallery Award in the 2016 American Physical Society's Gallery of Fluid motion competition. More information here.

Daniele Awarded Professorship and EPSRC Fellowship (May 2016)

Dini


Head of the Tribology Group, Daniele Dini has recently been awarded a Professorship in Tribology as well as an Established Career Fellowship from the EPSRC (EP/N025954/1), please join us in congratulating him!

Alessandra Wins STLE and ICL Prizes (May 2016)


PhD student Alessandra Ciniero won the Poster Competition at both the 2015 Imperial College London PhD Research Showcase and the 2016 STLE Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, NV.

Ski Trip (February 2016)

ski


The 2016 edition of the annual Tribology Group ski trip was a great success with more than a dozen lab members traveling to Cortina, Italy for a well-deserved break.

Sorin Wins STLE and IOP Prizes (January 2016)


Research Associate Dr. Sorin-Cristian Vlădescu won the Platinum Poster Award (First Place) at the 2015 STLE Annual Meeting in Dallas, TX. He also won the 2016 best poster presentation prize during the Institute of Physics' Winter Tribology Fair.

New Labs (January 2016)


We are back! After a year spent in the lower levels of the Mechanical Engineering Department as part of the City and Guilds Building refurbishment we returned in October 2015 to our beautifully modernised laboratories on levels 4 and 5. Please feel free to visit us and admire.

Office

Vacancies


Current PhD and PDRA vacancies are listed on the Tribology Group homepage. Please contact a member of the academic staff if you are interested in a PhD or Research Associate position within the Tribology Group. See the projects page for more information about our research.

Other opportunities for projects in collaboration with the Tribology Group are available through the Doctoral Training Centre in Theory and Simulation of Materials (TSM-CDT).