Speaker Bio: 

Dr. Waseem Aftab is a Research Fellow at the Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage, University of Birmingham. He received his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Peking University in 2019, where he was also awarded the International Exchange Talent Fellowship (2019–2021). From 2021 to 2022, he held the President Fellowship at the Southern University of Science and Technology. Dr. Aftab has published more than 45 articles in high-impact, peer-reviewed journals, which have collectively received over 4,500 citations (h-index 30). His research has been recognized with several honours, including the Governor Gold Medal, the Outstanding Foreign Student Award, and the Peking University Academic Award. His work focuses on the formulation of advanced materials and the integration of systems for thermal energy harvesting, storage, and utilization.

Speaker Bio:

Baldeep Kaur works as a Senior Lecturer at The Wolfson Centre for Bulk Solids Handling Technology, University of Greenwich. She joined The Wolfson Centre as a Research Associate in 2017. She was awarded PhD degree in Applied Physics and was introduced to the area of bulk solids handling during her post-graduate research years. Over these years, Baldeep has worked on different research and industrial consultancy projects working on handling and storage aspects of materials. She has developed research interests in material characterisation techniques, bulk flow characterisation, and handling and transportation of bulk materials. She has worked on research projects involving new and innovative materials for applications such as carbon absorption and additive manufacturing.  

Speaker bio:

Ceren Çamur leads wet-lab R&D at Immaterial Ltd, advancing cutting-edge porous materials and scalable carbon capture solutions. With over ten years of experience in MOF synthesis and industrial production, she earned her PhD in Materials Science from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, where she pioneered spray-drying methods to produce MOF powders at multi-kilogram scale as part of the EU Horizon 2020 ProDIA project. Previously a Research Associate in the A2ML lab at the University of Cambridge and a College Research Associate at St John’s College, she has driven major improvements in m-MOF performance and scalability, building a research portfolio with 2,000+ citations and an h-index of 12.

Speaker bio:

Dr Paul IACOMI is the Head of Research and an UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at Surface Measurement Systems. He holds an EU-funded MSCA PhD in applied materials and nanoscience from Aix-Marseille University. His academic interests during his PhD and subsequent postdoctoral and industrial positions have been focused on the advanced characterisation of challenging novel porous materials, like defect-engineered or flexible metal organic frameworks (MOFs), alongside their integration for high-performance applications such as carbon capture, paraffin separation and sensors for satellites. At SMS, his team is leading the development of next generation of sorption methodologies, bringing together a wide range of expertise in sorption techniques and porous material/surface characterisation. His research output comprises over 30 peer reviewed publications, 1 patent and 1 book chapter.