Meet the Chemical Engineering PhD committee!

The Chemical Engineering PhD representatives were awarded a Union Award this year. But who are the representatives and what do they do?

The Chemical Engineering PhD student-staff committee serves to voice the needs and concerns of PhD students to the departmental administration, as well as to organise events for the PhD students. The committee acts as a liaison between the Department’s Executive Committee and Chem Eng PhD students: they provide a voice for the students, relaying feedback (both positive and negative), requests, queries and information.

The team includes the departmental PhD representative, PhD representatives from all research areas, as well as staff members: the Postgraduate Tutor (Professor Paul Luckham), the Director of Postgraduate Studies (Professor Amparo Galindo) and the Postgraduate Administrator (Ms Susi Underwood). So let's meet this award-winning team!

The Departmental PhD Representative (and also the chair of the committee) is Ethan Butler. He has been in the position for two consecutive years now, with the aim of organising higher-quality social events and making the committee's work even more transparent. Ethan is a member of the Multifunctional Nanomaterials Group, his PhD co-supervised by Professor Andrew Livingston and Dr Camille Petit.

The Materials Representative is Manuela Nania. She is from Italy, has a passion for photography and cooking, and enjoys mentoring. She has been in the position for two years. Manuela is a member of the Polymers and Microfluidics Group, led by Dr João Cabral.

The Physical Properties and Analytics Representative is Elton Dias. He is involved in organising the monthly social gatherings, plays squash and does obstacle course racing. Elton is a member of the Multifunctional Nanomaterials Group, supervised by Dr Camille Petit.

Franky Bedoya was the Reaction and Catalysis Representative up until March 2016. He has been a very active member of the committee for one and half years and his efforts contributed significantly to the 2016 Union Award. He is a member of the Electrochemical Engineering group.

The now incumbent Reaction and Catalysis Representative is Rebecca Liyanage. She is a relatively new member in the PhD committee but has experience as an undergraduate year representative. She likes eating and cycling, she also took part in the team duathlon. Rebecca is a member of the Qatar Carbonates and Carbon Storage Research Centre.

The Systems Representative is Mark Allenby. He has been in the position since 2014 and he is also a postgraduate representative for the Centre for Process Systems Engineering, spanning multiple departments at Imperial and UCL. His main goal is to maintain social events and organise off-campus parties.

The Transport and Separation Representative is Claudia Menichini. She has been a representative for over a year, and has been involved in the organisation of various parties from drink gatherings to barbecues. Claudia is a member of the Biofluids and Transport Research Group, supervised by Professor Yun Xu.

The PhD committee was awarded the Union Award in 2016 for being the best Postgraduate Academic Network of the Year. They have worked extremely hard to meet the students' needs and organise high-quality events.

Recent events included Sports Day where they played football, volleyball, Frisbee and rounders in Hyde Park and monthly Afternoon Tea Party with discussion on the impact of Brexit on research and science in the UK. They also organise monthly drinks gatherings with cheap drinks and nibbles. Their next event is a BBQ on 16th July.

For more information about the PhD committee, like their Facebook page or check out their website. The committee invites all Chemical Engineering PhD students to join their Facebook group or send anonymous feedback about their work.

[Article written by Dora Olah an Undergraduate student in the Department.]