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Chemical Engineering
Senior Lecturer
wli5@ed.ac.uk
1.143 Sanderson Building
Chemical Engineering
Materials and Processes
I joined the University of Edinburgh (UoE) in 2021 as a Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering. I studied chemical engineering at the Nanjing University of Technology, obtaining a BEng with Highest Distinction in 2003 and PhD in 2008. In the last year of my PhD, my first employment started at The University of Hong Kong (Department of Chemistry). The next position was at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Department of Physics) from 2010 to 2013 a. Early 2013, I moved to the University of Liverpool (Department of Physics) and assisted to set up a new research group. Before I joined UoE, I had a four-month spell working in the National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester, and five-year experience as Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, Aston University.
2016 Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching for Higher Education in the UK. 2003-2008 Nanjing University of Technology (NJUT), PhD in Chemical Engineering. 1999-2003 NJUT, BEng (1st Honours) in Chemical Engineering.
IChemE, RSC, EPSRC Associate Peer Review College
Chemical Engineering Design 4 (CHEE10010) - Course Organiser
Supervising students' projects in various chemical engineering courses: Study Project 4, Research Project 5, etc.
1. Over 10 years’ expertise in nanomaterials, photocatalysis, greenhouse gas removal, reaction engineering, electrochemistry and physical chemistry. 2. Extensive practices on preparation and characterization of nanomaterials, design and evaluation of photocatalytic reactions/photoreactors, antimicrobial properties of nanomaterials. 3. Leading multidisciplinary projects involving both academic and industral resources, comprehensive collaboration and interpersonal skills in a team environment. 4. Skills in electron microscopy, time-resolved spectroscopy, thermal analysis, chromatography, atomic force microscopy, X-ray crystallography and synchrotron radiation spectroscopy
Honorary Professorial Fellow
grazia.deangelis@ed.ac.uk
nfo No Fixed Office
Chemical Engineering
Materials and Processes
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Maria Grazia De Angelis is a Full Professor of Chemical Engineering Principles at the University of Bologna and an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Edinburgh (UK), where she leads the SusProm Group. Her research is dedicated to the design of products (biodegradable packaging, selective membranes) and sustainable processes (CO2 capture, water purification, wearable hemodialysis). She is currently engaged in integrating various theories, including AI, to enhance the capability of designing materials for separation.
She is the Chair of the Working Party on Thermodynamic and Transport Properties of the European Federation of Chemical Engineers (2022-2028). She was the Vice President of the European Membrane Society (2019-23). She is a co-author of more than 100 publications in international journals in the field of membrane science, thermodynamics, and computational material science (Google Scholar).
She has been a Researcher or Visiting Professor at
- University of Melbourne, Australia
- Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahia Blanca, Argentina
- National Technical University of Athens, Greece
- North Carolina State University, USA.
Go to the Group SusProM Website
- PhD in Chemical Engineering, 2002, University of Bologna
- Master Degree in Chemical Engineering, 1998, University of Bologna
- Chair of the Working Party on Thermodynamics and Transport Properties, European Federation of Chemical Engineers (EFCE) , 2022-present
- Treasurer and Vice President, European Membrane Society Council, 2019-2023
- Member of the Steering Committee of the Research Area "
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
- Molecular, multiscale and AI-enhanced modeling of materials with selective capacity (membranes, porous sorbents)
- Barrier and permeability properties testing
- CO2 capture
- Water purification
- Hemodialysis
- Biodegradable packaging
- Hydrogen
Associate Member of IChemE Member of AIDIC (Italian Association of Chemical Engineering) Member of European Membrane Society Member of AIChE
-Member of the Editorial Board of Membranes and Fluid Phase Equilibria
-Editor of the Special Issue "Fundamentals of Transport in Polymers and Membranes—Honorary Issue for Professor Giulio C. Sarti" 2022
-Editor of the Special Issue "Gas Transport in Glassy Polymers" 2020-2021
-Watch my webinar “Membranes for CO2 Capture: Thermodynamic aspects” given during the EFCE Spotlight Talks, December 3rd 2020. Organized by the European Federation of Chemical Engineers. -Host of the European Membrane Society Live Webinars Series, watch them on Youtube
Log jams - accumulations of floating wood in rivers - play a critical role in shaping fluvial landscapes, influencing flood dynamics, sediment transport, and aquatic ecosystems. Despite their ecological and hydraulic importance, we still lack a predictive, mechanistic understanding of how individual logs interact to form stable jams, how these structures resist or yield to flow, and how changes in geometry or hydrodynamic forcing drive transitions between clogging and release.
This project will address these questions using particle-based computational simulations of log jam formation and deformation under flow. You will develop and apply numerical tools to represent logs as interacting elongated particles within a fluid environment, capturing contact, friction, buoyancy, and hydrodynamic drag. By systematically varying log aspect ratio, size distribution, and flow conditions, you will identify the micro-mechanical origins of jam stability and quantify the conditions under which logs transition between mobile, jammed, and partially clogging states. Through this work, you will develop expertise in large-scale particle-based simulation, computational fluid dynamics, and the physics of granular and particulate systems.
You will learn to extract effective rheological and mechanical properties from microscale simulations, linking particle-scale processes to river-scale behaviour. The results will inform predictive models for log jam formation and stability, with implications for flood risk management, river restoration, and the design of nature-based engineering solutions.
This PhD project will be supervised by Dr Chris Ness (School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh) and will involve collaboration with academics from partner institutions.
Interested candidates are encouraged to contact the supervisor for more information (chris.ness@ed.ac.uk).
Website: https://christopherjness.github.io/
Contact: Dr Christopher John Ness(Chris.Ness@ed.ac.uk)
Minimum entry qualification- an Honours degree at 2:1 or above (or international equivalent) in a relevant science or engineering discipline, possibly supported by an MSc Degree
Further information on English language requirements for EU/Overseas applicants.
Applications are welcomed from self-funded students, or students who are applying for scholarships from the University of Edinburgh or elsewhere as well as self-funded students.
Funding may be available for an exceptional candidate. Link below for the further details.
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Suspensions of particles in liquid are found throughout nature and industry, for instance slurries, mudslides, chocolate, toothpaste, and ceramics. Understanding their flow properties is crucial to characterising engineering processes and describing the natural world. We are just beginning to unravel the dramatic influence that stress-controlled particle-particle interactions have on the flow behaviour when the liquid is Newtonian and the particles are hard, spherical and roughly monosized [1].
In reality these conditions are rarely met: particles are usually irregular, being elongated and having a broad size distribution, while suspending liquids are often ‘viscoelastic’. A crucial scientific question is: how do the combined microphysics of these particle-level details control the resulting flow behaviour? For many scenarios in the natural world and in industry, answering this question is key to engineering design and natural hazard mitigation.
- You will address this question using predominantly computational means, developing expertise in particle-based simulation, high performance computing, and data analysis;
- You will become an expert in rheological characterisation of complex fluids;
- Building upon codes developed in Edinburgh, you will implement particle-shape models to simulate bulk flow of suspensions of elongated particles.
- You will develop post-processing techniques to generate viscosity and microstructural measurements;
- Your work will improve our fundamental understanding and guide constitutive model development.
- You will gain real-world experience by collaborating with our industrial partners on a contemporary engineering challenge.
This computational project is supervised by Dr Chris Ness (School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh) and will involve regular interaction with experimentalists from academia and industry.
Interested candidates may contact the supervisor for further information (chris.ness@ed.ac.uk).
Website: https://christopherjness.github.io/
Contact: Dr Christopher John Ness(Chris.Ness@ed.ac.uk)
You can read more about the scientific work of my group here: https://christopherjness.github.io/papers
[1] Ness, Christopher, Ryohei Seto, and Romain Mari. The physics of dense suspensions, Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics 2022, 13:97-117 (https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-conmatphys-031620-105938)
Minimum entry qualification- an Honours degree at 2:1 or above (or international equivalent) in a relevant science or engineering discipline, possibly supported by an MSc Degree
Further information on English language requirements for EU/Overseas applicants.
Applications are welcomed from self-funded students, or students who are applying for scholarships from the University of Edinburgh or elsewhere as well as self-funded students.
Funding may be available for an exceptional candidate. Link below for the further details.
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The design of all chemical process starts from mathematical modelling and computational thermodynamics. The reliability of a thermodynamic model in predicting or correlating phase equilibria depends strongly on the value its parameters. Carefully evaluated parameters enable a precise calculation of the phase equilibria and of the process units, affecting as a consequence the costs of a chemical process.
In several cases, the thermodynamic parameters commonly used in process simulators are wrong. They do not return a comprehensively right equilibrium.
The project focuses on the development of an open tool for the correct regression and correlation of thermodynamic data in robust mathematical models. The project involves the development and use of optimization techniques. Special modelling, including Bayesian regression or similar techniques, will be also used.
In this project, you will design digital open and user-friendly tools that can easily integrate with existing process simulators (e.g. AspenPlus, Unisim) and exploit recent advanced algorithms [1, 2]. The ambition of this project is to earn the sector’s support and enable the widespread use of the tool in place of the current unreliable counterparts.
You will work in the Emerging Sustainable Technologies Laboratory (ESTech Lab) [3], be part of a world leading research group in sustainable technologies towards the development of the first robust tool for thermodynamic model identification and calibration, have access to state-of-the-art computing facilities and brainstorm new digital tools across all thermodynamic problems.
Your studies will be carried out at the Institute for Materials and Processes (IMP) and could include occasional experiments to validate models. You will attain skills in modelling, design and testing of innovative digital tools.
Please note, the position will be filled once a suitable candidate has been identified.
[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037838121400226X
[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378381220300297
Minimum entry qualification - an Honours degree at 2:1 or above (or International equivalent) in a relevant science or engineering discipline, possibly supported by an MSc Degree. As well as:
- Proficiency with Computational Thermodynamics of Fluid Phase Equilibria
- Proficiency with at least one coding tool and related graphical user interface
Further information on English language requirements for EU/Overseas applicants.
Desirable criteria:
- knowledge of optimization methods;
- knowledge of Bayesian regression.
A number of scholarships are available to competitive candidates. For more information on the funding application process, please contact the project’s supervisor or visit the School of Engineering website.
Applications are also welcomed from self-funded students.
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The design of the forthcoming future is negative in emissions. Among the negative emission technologies options, those capturing CO2 directly from the air are called Direct Air Capture technologies. Direct Air Capture technologies are regarded as the solution having the biggest carbon removal potential but is also the least known. If Direct Air Capture had to be an essential measure, future society would deal with severe restrictions in energy availability [1].
However, using the captured atmospheric CO2 for conversion into chemicals and fuels has the right scale not to impinge in the energy system and attractive economic outlook.
In your studies you will work in the Emerging Sustainable Technologies Laboratory (ESTech Lab) [2], be part of a world leading research group in carbon capture towards the development of technological avenues for Direct Air Capture and Conversion into chemicals and fuels.
Your studies will be carried out at the Institute for Materials and Processes (IMP) and will include modelling activities. You will attain skills in modelling and design of new negative emission technologies and production paths.
Please note, the position will be filled once a suitable candidate has been identified.
[1] Santori et. al. Adsorption artificial tree for atmospheric carbon dioxide capture, purification and compression, Energy 162 (2018) 1158-1168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2018.08.090
Minimum entry qualification - an Honours degree at 2:1 or above (or International equivalent) in a relevant science or engineering discipline, possibly supported by an MSc Degree. As well as:
- Proficiency with Computational Thermodynamics of Fluid Phase Equilibria
- Proficiency with at least one coding tool and related graphical user interface
Further information on English language requirements for EU/Overseas applicants.
Desirable criteria: knowledge of optimization methods.
A number of scholarships are available to competitive candidates. For more information on the funding application process, please contact the project’s supervisor or visit the School of Engineering website.
Applications are also welcomed from self-funded students.
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Digital tools are omnipresent and their rise exponential. Cloud and digital services have improved our lives and, overall, reduced carbon emissions, although at the expense of a growing electricity demand from data centres. Remarkably, nearly half the data centre electricity input is for self-cooling, which provides an opportunity for a technology able to harness low-grade heat and turn it into cooling power. The co-location of energy in form of heat and water is an opportunity.
The project focuses on the mathematical modelling and optimization of a proof-of-principle heat-powered cooling process that reduces waste heat and greenhouse gas emissions and boosts return on investment, while meeting all the sustainability criteria.
Special modelling, including machine learning, and cost of manufacturing tools guide the development of an optimised heat-to-cold concept designed to break through current barriers to commercialisation.
In this project, you will design digital tools for an innovative technology that uses low temperature heat for the production of cold by exploiting recent discoveries in material science and engineering [1, 2]. The ambition of this project is to earn the sector’s support and enable the widespread use of heat-powered cooling in place of the current electricity-driven counterpart.
You will work in the Emerging Sustainable Technologies Laboratory (ESTech Lab) [3], be part of a world leading research group in sustainable technologies towards the development of a proof-of-concept super-efficient processes for heat-powered cooling, have access to state-of-the-art computing facilities and brainstorm new technological avenues for cooling.
Your studies will be carried out at the Institute for Materials and Processes (IMP) and could include occasional experiments to validate models. You will attain skills in modelling, design and testing of innovative technologies for cooling.
Please note, the position will be filled once a suitable candidate has been identified.
[1] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ente.202300548
Minimum entry qualification - an Honours degree at 2:1 or above (or International equivalent) in a relevant science or engineering discipline, possibly supported by an MSc Degree. As well as:
- Proficiency with Labview or similar data acquisition and control
- Proficiency with dynamic identification methods
Further information on English language requirements for EU/Overseas applicants.
Desirable criteria:
- knowledge of thermodynamics of fluid phase equilibria or physical chemistry;
- knowledge of computational tool such as Matlab, Mathcad, Mathematica etc… with emphasis on graphical user interface design.
A number of scholarships are available to competitive candidates. For more information on the funding application process, please contact the project’s supervisor or visit the School of Engineering website.
Applications are also welcomed from self-funded students.
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