Professor Aniruddha Pandit, from the Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai, India visited the Materials innovation Factory (MIF) to explore opportunities for Anglo Indian research collaborations.
Professor Pandit’s visit was funded by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council as part of the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) initiative. The GCRF aims to ensure that UK research takes a leading role in addressing the problems faced by developing countries.
Professor Pandit is a world-leading chemical engineer whose areas of interest include multiphase reactors, cavitation phenomena, multiphase systems, environmental engineering in particular water resource management and treatment.
During his visit, Professor Pandit met with Dr Simon Longden, Managing Director of the MIF, who gave him a tour of the £72million MIF which has one of the highest-concentration of materials science automation robotics in the Europe.
He also delivered a seminar to researchers and PhD students entitled `Cavitationally Induced Physico-Chemical and Biological Transformations’.
Dr Longden said: “The purpose of this visit was to explore possibilities to collaborate between the Materials innovation Factory and Professor Pandit, whose chemical engineering expertise particularly in scaling up production of new materials would be beneficial to our materials chemistry researchers who are able to produce new materials but in very small quantities.
“The Materials Innovation Factory seeks to collaborate with leaders in the field of new chemical materials design, development and manufacture and this visit reflects that ambition. ”
The Material Innovation Factory aims to revolutionise materials chemistry research and development by drawing together world-leading, multi-disciplinary research expertise, unparalleled technical facilities and a dynamic support infrastructure.
It is a unique public/private partnership between the University and Unilever supported by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, as part of the UK Government’s Research Partnership Investment Fund.