Building on the success of the previous Engineering Postdoc Collaborative Research funding rounds, the Faculty of Engineering Research Committee and the Faculty of Medicine Departments run a joint funding opportunity for postdocs.

All postdocs from the Faculty of Engineering are eligible, and in 2024, postdocs from all departments in the Faculty of Medicine were eligible to apply.

The 2024 call is now closed, the 2025 call will be announced in May next year.

This fund was introduced to give postdocs at the Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Medicine the opportunity to apply for and be awarded their own research funding, develop and deliver a collaborative research project, and take a step towards becoming independent from the research of their PI.

The fund promotes collaboration between postdocs in the Faculties of Engineering and Medicine, whereby funding applications submitted must involve a minimum of two postdocs from different departments. The postdocs taking part can be from any department within Engineering or Medicine. Unfortunately, postdocs from departments not specified above cannot take part in this funding call. To facilitate the interaction between the departments, networking events precede the proposal deadline.

To Apply:

The call for 2025 will be announced in May. The Dame Julia Higgins Guidelines from 2024 are available for reference.

Timeline:

  • For the 2024 cohort, all spending and final reports are due by 31 July 2025.

For further information, please contact Anna Seabourne:

The Faculty of Engineering and Medicine proposals that have been funded in previous years:

Eng and med

2024

Directed evolution of microorganisms for bioproduction in space 

Tejasvi Shivakumar, Chemical Engineering; Akashaditya Das, Infectious Diseases ; Robert Ramirez-Garcia, Computing 

Developing wearable technology to monitor pH & S. aureus dynamics for treating atopic dermatitis 

Ahmad Mannan, Bioengineering; Bruno M. Gil Rosa, Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Sami Ramadan, Materials 

Evaluating the Effects of Intracellular Salmonella Pathobiology on Host Mechanosensing 

Paul O'Sullivan, Infectious Disease; Pamela Swiatlowska, National Heart and Lung Institute  

Decoding the Physics Behind Termite Nests: Toward the Biomimetic Architectural Design of Smart Ventilation Systems  

Sajjad Foroughi, Earth Science and Engineering; Si Suo, Civil Engineering; Sadjad Naderi, Earth Science and Engineering 

What makes battery swell: Multiscale gas detection during fast charging 

Weng Jingwen, Mechanical Engineering; Bethan Davies, Materials; Ming Huang, Mechanical Engineering 

Disease clusters in people with metabolic-dysfunction associated steatotic disease and multimorbidity 

Qi Feng, School of Public Health; Mengyun Qiao, Brain Sciences; Marek Zylinski, Electrical and Electronic Engineering 

Improving prediction of the artificial freezing of soils by solid carbon dioxide 

Petr Nikolaev, Earth Science and Engineering; Si Suo, Civil Engineering 

Developing zero-carbon circular concrete from end-of-life concrete waste through MgO activation 

Feng Jianhang, Civil Engineering; Tien Dung Nguyen, Department of Chemical Engineering 

Machine learning assisted ultrasonic detection for deep defect in aircraft composite laminates  

Wei Fan, Mechanical Engineering; Ming Huang, Mechanical Engineering; Haolin Li, Aeronautics 

Investigating lithium-ion electrode degradation through correlative microCT and FIB-SEM tomography 

Tamas Zagyva, Materials; Derek Siu, Mechanical Engineering 

The Development and Validation of Ultrasonic Assessment for Measuring Abdominal Adipose Tissue to Predict Metabolic Diseases 

Lu Baichen, Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction; Department of Bioengineering - Faculty of Engineering, Su Yan 

Utility of microprobes in understanding flight biomechanics in a malaria mosquito 

Paul Huxley, Infectious Disease; Aritra Kundu, Bioengineering 

Multi-Modality Digital Twin for Personalised Cardiac Diagnostics 

Mengyun Qiao, Brain Sciences; Marek Zylinski, Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Qi Feng, School of Public Health 

Co-designing multimodal wearable system for dementia care: a Stakeholder informed mixed-methods study 

Pallavi Nair, School of Public Health; Marek Zylinski, Electrical and Electronic Engineering 

2023

POLAR: Prosthetics & Orthopaedics for Limited Access Regions
Joshua Brown Surgery and Cancer, Angus Clark Bioengineering, Bukeikhan Omarali Computing

A Wearable Physiological Sensor System for Assessing Food and Energy Intake
Mingzhu Cai MDR, Mayue Shi Mechanical Engineering 

An open-source testing kit for emulating the neural processing of tactile stimuli
Dorian Florescu EEE, Danielle Kurtin Brain Sciences, Zhenhua Yu Mechanical Engineering

Artificial intelligence-facilitated interpretation of next-generation ultrasound images
Pasha Grachev MDR, Sibo Cheng Computing

Allocating vital things via Internet of Things: real-time rapid needs assessment for disaster relief allocation in Sub-Saharan Africa
Ben Howard Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ferdinand Grimm Mechanical Engineering

Advancing ultrasonic characterisation of volumetric microstructure for alloys
Ming Huang Mechanical Engineering, Ruiqiang Zhang Mechanical Engineering, Zachary Kloenne Materials

Battlefront to Homefront: Using AI to Forecast Musculoskeletal Health of UK military servicemen
Balasundaram Kadirvelu Computing, Fraje Watson Bioengineering, Fabio Santos Ferreira Computing

Using Wilson Cowan Models to identify optimal parameters for Temporal Interference (TI) stimulation of the human hippocampus to modulate brain-behaviour relationships
Danielle Kurtin Brain Sciences, Dorian Florescu EEE

Wearable Urine Volume Measuring Device Designed for Non-Invasive and Easy-Access Bladder Function Monitoring
Xiaotong Li Earth Science and Engineering, Mayue Shi Mechanical Engineering, Mengyun Qiao Brain Sciences, Zhenhua Yu Mechanical Engineering

Exosome engineering for precise targeting and repair of ischaemic blood vessels
Sinziana Popescu NHLI, Andre Ohara Chemical Engineering

Machine Learning for hypothesis generation in multimodal physical and psychosocial healthcare data: a proof-of-concept study
Fraje Watson Bioengineering, Fabio Santos Ferreira Computing, Balasundaram Kadirvelu Computing

Artificial intelligence (AI)-based smart hot stamping for lightweighting of transportation vehicles
Ruiqiang Zhang Mechanical Engineering, Hamid Reza Attar Dyson

Enhancing Green Hydrogen Production via Sonification
Yifeng Zhang Mechanical Engineering, Mengzheng Ouyang Earth Science and Engineering, Cheng Ouyang Institute of Clinical Sciences

2022

Engineering Leads

Evaluation of hydrogen embrittlement during manufacturing and lifetime of Ni mat electrocatalyst

Livia Cupertino Malheiros (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Mengzheng Ouyang (Earth Science and Engineering).

Highly stable organic and perovskite photoelectrodes for water splitting using electrospun conductive nanofiber network

Matyas Daboczi (Chemical Engineering), Mengzheng Ouyang (Earth Science and Engineering), Catalina Pino-Munoz (Earth Science and Engineering), Gurpreet Singh (Materials). 

Novel design of metal-ceramic joints using additive manufacturing

Rohit Malik (Materials), Reece Oosterbeek (Mechanical Engineering), Alfredo Fantetti (Mechanical Engineering). 

Electric conductive cement-based composites by co-electrospinning-electrospraying for energy storage

Mengzheng Ouyang (Earth Science and Engineering), Marcus Yio (Civil and Environmental Engineering) 

Closed-loop predation to uncover the neural mechanisms of sensorimotor prediction in insects

Jack Supple (Bioengineering), Dorian Florescu (Electrical and Electronic Engineering), Mark Runciman (Surgery & Cancer), Alexandra M Yarger (Bioengineering). 

Development of novel high-performance cathodes for CO2 reduction

Tian Tian (Chemical Engineering), Mengzheng Ouyang (Earth Sciences and Engineering). 

From the atom to the structure: understanding hydrogen-microstructure interactions in new 3D printed metals to reshape the energy landscape

Alfredo Zafra (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Abigail Ackerman (Materials).

 

Medicine Leads

Leaky gut syndrome: a non-invasive mapping of gut permeability

Jacob Broughton-Venner (MDR), Kai Riemer (Bioengineering).

Soft Growing Robot for Ovarian Cancer Detection

Mark Runciman (Surgery & Cancer), Shen Treratanakulchai (Mechanical Engineering). 

AI-assisted single pixel imaging of fast-moving cells

Yuchen Xiang (MDR), Sibo Cheng (Computing), Chen Chen (Computing) 

Designing ATR Kinase peptide-based inhibitors as novel chemotherapeutics

Luke Yates (Infectious Diseases), Othman Almusaimi (Chemical Engineering) Richard Kelwick (Infectious Diseases), Mingxia Guo (Chemical Engineering). 

SCANS - microneedleS to reduCe misdiAgnosis of skiN diSease

Maria Bernarda Zamora Talaya (Surgery & Cancer), Patrick Kierkegaard (Surgery & Cancer), Isobel Steer (Bioengineering).

2021

Delivering cell penetrating peptides non-invasively into the brain to target glial-related brain diseases

Dr Othman Al Musaimi - Chemical Engineering; Dr Sophie Morse – Bioengineering 

GelPen: A Handheld Bioink Printer Using Microfluidic Mixing

Dr Nicola Contessi Negrini – Bioengineering; Dr Muhsincan Sesen -  Bioengineering; Dr Dominic Wales - Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Self-righting: from Insect to Robot

Dr Samuel Fabian – Bioengineering; Dr Maria Kaimaki – Bioengineering;  Dr Simon Smith-Bize - Computing 

Microneedle-Based Wearable Device for Continual Glucose Monitoring in Interstitial Fluid

Dr Yubing Hu - Chemical Engineering; Dr Yasin Cotur -  Bioengineering; Dr Pavani Cherukupally - Chemical Engineering 

Novel formulations delivered by focused ultrasound to treat Alzheimer’s disease

Dr Sophie Morse – Bioengineering; Dr Talia Shmool – Chemical Engineering 

Soft Metamaterial Wearable Sensors to Measure the Foot Contact Forces During Walking

Dr Inigo Sanz-Pena – Mechanical Engineering; Dr Hang Xu - Materials 

Understanding the pollution filtration properties of leaves using contrasting imaging and element mapping techniques

Dr Gloria Young – Materials; Dr Rebekah Moore – Earth Science and Engineering 

Adaptive Multi-stable Metamaterials for Contour Recognition

Dr Hang Xu – Materials; Dr Zhixiang Chen - Electrical and Electronic Engineering

2019

Cartilage regeneration using electrical stimulation paired with conductive hydrogels

Dr Michael Bruyns-Haylett – Bioengineering, Dr Panagiotis Kassanos - Computing (Hamlyn Centre), Dr Meysam Keshavarz - Computing (Hamlyn Centre).

Development of Biorecognition-Element Implanted 3D printed Electrodes: Towards a Cervical Cancer Screening Test

Dr Robert Channon – Bioengineering, Dr Binbin Chen - Mechanical Engineering, Dr Xinhua Liu - Dyson School of Design Engineering

Biomechanics of ulceration in diabetic feet: a dynamic FEM-DEM approach

Dr Ado Farsi - Earth Science and Engineering, Dr Enrica Papi – Bioengineering

Metal 3D printed structures: evaluating the effect of residual stresses

Dr Nicolas Hadjipantelis - Civil & Environmental Engineering, Dr Ado Farsi - Earth Sciences and Engineering

Improving the reliability of low-cost brain monitoring systems for healthcare applications

Dr Syed Anas Imtiaz – EEE, Dr Hafiz Amin - Mechanical Engineering

Hollow core particles for non-invasive measurement of pressure

Dr Muhsincan Sesen – Bioengineering, Dr Wenqian Chen - Chemical Engineering, Dr Ado Farsi - Earth Science and Engineering

Hydrodynamic Sampling and Sensing of Nucleic Acids from Biofluids

Dr Sze-yin Tan - Chemical Engineering, Dr Robert Channon - Bioengineering

3D-printed bioadhesive hydrogel-based patches for regenerative healing of lung tears

Dr Dominic Wales - Computing (Hamlyn Centre), Dr Carmel Howe – Bioengineering, Dr Meysam Keshavarz - Computing (Hamlyn Centre)

Green suspension systems of road vehicles for improved ride comfort and fuel economy

Dr Min Yu - Mechanical Engineering, Dr Boli Chen – EEE, Dr Hailing Fu – Aeronautics

2018

MINI - Multiscale Investigation of Nucleate-boiling and Interfaces

Dr Mirco Magnini – Chemical, Dr Edward Smith- Mechanical, Dr Victor Voulgaropoulos - Chemical

Closed-Loop Antibiotic Dosing

Dr David Freeman – Bioengineering, Dr Sally Gowers – Bioengineering, Dr Pau Herrero – EEE

Democratizing access to water resources usage through a high-performance approach to efficient modelling using cloud-based custom hardware

Dr Matei Istoan – EEE, Dr Jimmy O’Keeffe – Civil, Dr James Davis – EEE, Dr Shane Fleming – Chemical

Development of low cost orthotic device for foot and ankle trauma patients in landmine affected countries

Dr Grigorios Grigoriadis – Bioengineering, Dr Chris Natt – Bioengineering, Dr Geoffrey Ng -Mechanical

Novel High-Performance Graphene Nanocomposites for Industrial CO2 Capture

Dr Diana Iruretagoyena – Chemical, Dr Debashis Puhan – Mechanical, Dr Sarah Hedberg –Chemical, Dr Di Zhang - Chemical

Feasibility study combining an activity-based urban transport model with air turbulence flow simulation to analyse the impact of traffic on air quality in London

Dr Koen H. van Dam – Chemical, Dr Dunhui Xiao - Earth Science and Engineering

Novel microphone array structures for high resolution spatial audio processing

Dr Alastair Moore – EEE, Dr Lluís Guasch - Earth Science and Engineering

High-accuracy ultra-sonic monitoring of corrosion on metallic substrates

Dr Franky Bedoya-Lora - Chemical, Dr Bo Lan – Mechanical

2017

Towards robot-assisted rehabilitation for Parkinson’s Disease

Dr Javier Andreu-Perez – Computing, Dr Enrico Franco – Mechanical, Dr Riccardo Secoli – Mechanical

Biocompatible electropolishing of additive manufactured titanium bone substitute

Dr Andrew Ballantyne – Materials, Dr Richard van Arkel – Mechanical

Extractability and mobility of pharmaceutical compounds from sewage sludge recycled to agricultural soil as a sustainable source of nutrients for crop growth

Dr Janice Kenney – ESE, Dr Jonathan Ritson – Civil & Environmental, Dr Hannah Rigby - Civil & Environmental

Additive manufacture of a spine surrogate for assessing injury risk during under vehicle explosions

Dr Nicolas Newell – Bioengineering, Dr Spencer Barnes – Mechanical, Dr Deborah Adkins – Dyson

A biomimetic approach to design green buildings based on thermoregulation and ventilation of termite mounds

Dr Kamaljit Singh – ESE, Dr Deborah Adkins – Dyson