Functional Coatings and Resins Team PhD Students Win Awards

During their studies at the National Structural Integrity Research Centre (NSIRC, TWI’s postgraduate research facility), the students have several opportunities to showcase their research.

In front of an audience of approximately 180 delegates attending the 2019 NSIRC conference, Angelo La Rosa, a 3^rd year PhD student affiliated with London South Bank University, received the Industrial Impact Runner-Up Award, presented by TWI Ltd, for his research on ‘Understanding and Development of Functionalised Nanoscale Components for Advanced Composite Materials.’ Upon receiving his award, Angelo said, “I am very delighted to have received this award as recognition of the efforts made to carry out my research project. I would like to share this moment with the FCR (Functional Coatings and Resins) team of TWI and everyone involved in the EIROS project who made this possible.”

During the same conference, Aamna Asad (from the University of Cambridge) scooped the runner-up spot of the poster presentations with her work on ‘Understanding Structure-Function Relationships of Super-Omniphobic Nano-Particles.’ This poster described preliminary research results on the characterisation of silica based on physical and spectroscopic characterisation. Her research is only just starting as she is still in the 1^st year of her PhD studies. Broadly speaking, her project consists of establishing a methodology that characterises, designs and optimises the functionalisation of silica nano-particles. “Being part of the NSIRC conference was a great academic experience and I am grateful to have received this award”, she said.

Finally, the third PhD student from the Functional Coatings and Resins section of TWI Ltd, Ana Antelava (London South Bank University), received not just one, but two travel awards. The Jose Gracio Student Award 2018 enabled her to attend the NANOSMAT2018 conference in Gdansk, Poland. Her research on ‘Development of Durable Super Repellent Coatings’ was also recognised by winning one of the Armourers and Brasiers’ TWI Research Student Travel Grants to attend the Smart Materials and Surfaces Conference in Lisbon, Portugal in October 2019. Ana revealed, “I am very content upon receiving the Jose Gracio Student Award and Armourers and Brasiers’ TWI Research Student Travel Grant. Attending NANOSMAT 2018 was a great experience, it provided me with the platform to present and discuss my research work with experts from academia as well as industry. I look forward to attending the SMS 2019 conference.”

The whole Functional Coatings and Resins team is very proud of its high achieving students, who have successfully been able to demonstrate the positive impacts and academic rigour of their industry-led research.