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Current research topics include: (i) Formation and behaviour of non-equilibrium systems such as glasses, gels or jammed states in molecular, colloidal or supramolecular systems (ii) the effect of chain conformation and shear on the dynamics of oligomers and polymers (iii) physical gelation in polymeric and colloidal systems (iv) structure and dynamics in thin polymer films and other geometrically confined systems (v) applications including the development of novel battery materials and the cryopreservation of proteins and cells. 

I use experimental techniques including light, x-ray and neutron scattering, dielectric spectroscopy, rheology, calorimetry and laser scanning confocal microscopy together with a wide range of characterisation techniques including optical microscopy, SEM, TEM, AFM and QCM.

Administrative Manager

I joined as a Lecturer in Food Colloids in September 2014. Prior to this, I was working in Nestle Research Centre & Innovations for 4 years at Switzerland. My current research areas of interest include:

•  Edible delivery systems: to apply structural design approaches to develop new delivery systems (gels, particles, emulsions and encapsulation based systems) to protect and release bioactive compounds

• Food oral processing: to understand the mechanisms and governing principles of food oral breakdown in relation to physical properties of foods, e.g. changing properties of food particles on exposure to saliva, interaction with mucin, oral transportation, bolus formation and the critical criteria of bolus swallowing. Currently, I am collaborating with EU academic and industrial partners on an EU FP7 KBBE Funded Project to develop this interdisciplinary area of research to assess the eating capability and food texture design aiming for food provision for elderly

• Food structure and lipid digestion: to reveal fundamental mechanisms and kinetics of breakdown of emulsions and emulsion gels during gastrointestinal digestion, interaction with physiological metabolites and fluid flow, to investigate how to tailor the material and microstructural properties of food structure to modulate lipid digestion in order to develop novel strategies for fat reduction, promoting satiety etc.

• Measurement of colloidal interaction forces between particles, e.g., emulsion droplets, via atomic force microscopy (AFM) and particle collision techniques, to enable predictions of emulsion rheology and stability, etc
• Measurements of interfacial rheology and interfacial phase behaviour of adsorbed biopolymer/biosurfactant films in relation to emulsion and foam formation and stability, including use of Brewster angle microscopy
• Development of methods for measuring the adsorption/desorption and conformation of biopolymers/biosurfactants at oil-water and air-water interfaces, such as Langmuir trough methods
• Applications of confocal microscopy, bulk rheology and particle tracking techniques to understand the relationship between colloidal microstructure and bulk texture
• Particle-stabilized foams and emulsions
• Biopolymer complex formation as a route to novel encapsulation, emulsification and controlled delivery of functional food ingredients
• Non-food uses of food materials in colloid and surface science technology