Group Members

Professor Glen McHale, Chair of Interfacial Science & Engineering and Director of Discipline

I became Professor of Interfacial Science & Engineering and Director of Chemical Engineering in Edinburgh in 2020 after eight years at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle where I was first Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering & Environment and then Pro Vice-Chancellor (REF). Prior to that I spent twenty two years as as an academic at Nottingham Trent University where I was a Professor and Head of the Research & Graduate School (Science & Technology) in the College of Arts & Science and formerly Head of Physics & Mathematics. In my earlier career I held a Royal Society European Fellowship at the University of Paris VI (Pierre et Marie Curie) and both gained a PhD in Applied Mathematics and was awarded a BSc (Hons) First Class in Mathematical Physics by the University of Nottingham.

My research involves wetting, interfacial science and engineering and is undertaken as part of the Institute for Multiscale Thermofluids. It has attracted many funding awards including over twenty RCUK/EPSRC grants, mainly as Principal Investigator, and including both an EPSRC Platform Grant (awarded only to world-leading groups) and an EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training. I have published over 180 refereed journal papers, which are cited ca. 1200 times annually (Google Scholar), and have been awarded seven patents. I am a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (FRSA), a Fellow of the Higher Education Academic (FHEA), a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (F.Inst.P) and a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers (SMIEE). I am a member of the EPSRC Peer Review College and lead a UK Fluids Network Special Interest Group. I have previously been a Board Member of the Award Winning BIM Academy Enterprises Ltd, an Editorial Board member of Advances in Colloid & Interface Science, a UK Management Committee representative on COST Actions, and I was a member of sub-panel 13 for "Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials" for the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF2014).

Dr Rodrigo Ledesma-Aguilar, Reader in Surfaces and Wetting

My research is focused on the theory and modelling of capillary and wetting, including the forced dynamics of thin films and fronts, capillary filling, spreading and dewetting, droplet dynamics, phase changes and electro and dielectrowetting. I am also interested in aspects of active matter, including self-propulsion of microscopic organisms and their interactions with structured environments.

My research employs tools from classical hydrodynamics and numerical methods based on diffuse interface approximations, including lattice-Boltzmann algorithms

Dr Gary G Wells, Reader in Surfaces and Wetting

After completing and access course with the Open University as a mature student I studied for my BSc(Hons) in Physics with Astrophysics at Nottingham Trent University. I continued my education and went on the gain a PhD Entitled “Voltage Programmable Liquid Optical Interfaces". After a short period as a fixed term lecturer I moved to an Industrial placement in the Hewlett Packard Displays Research Laboratory where I investigated the use of electro wetting in combination with liquid crystal displays. I was awarded an anniversary research fellowship at Northumbria University in 2013 and began research into surfaces and wetting with a particular interest in low contact angle hysteresis surfaces. In 2016 I became a senior lecturer at the same institution and in 2018 became the head of subject for Electrical Engineering. In July 2020 I became a Senior lecturer at Edinburgh University and moved my research into the Institute of Multiscale Thermofluids.

Hernán Barrio-Zhang, Research Associate in Chemical Engineering

I completed my studies and submitted my thesis at the University of Edinburgh. I recently joined the Wetting, Interfacial Science and Engineering (WISE) laboratory as a Research Associate at the School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh.

My background is in interdisciplinary Physics. I have worked in Neuroscience, Medicine, Planetary Science, Wetting and Capillarity. My current research looks into the anti-biofouling properties of engineered ultra-smooth surfaces.

Joey Kilbride, Research Associate, Interfacial Science & Engineering

Between 2015-2021 I completed a BSc and MRes in physics at Nottingham Trent University. After which I chose to study for a PhD, investigating the interactions which govern the evaporation of multiple sessile droplets.

From 2024 I am joining the WISE group to work on the wetting of Auxetic metamaterials.

Michele Pelizzari, PhD Research Student

Born in Brescia in 1993, interested in engineering and science in general. Bachelor degree in environmental engineering at the University of Brescia in 2016 and Master in energy engineering at the free university of Bolzano in 2019. Currently a PhD student in the Wise group with a focus on surface wetting phenomena.

School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh profile

Alex Jenkins, PhD Research student

I completed my bachelors degree in physics from northumbria university before moving to Nottingham Trent university where I completed my research masters in Physics.

I based my masters research on soft matter physics and the production of slippery liquid infused porous surfaces through novel methods. I am now focused on the evaporation of complex liquids on pinning-free surfaces for my PhD.

School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh profile

Lucile Bisquert, PhD Research Student

Born in Paris, France, I am first year PhD research student at the University of Edinburgh. I did my Bachelors in Physics and Masters in Fluid mechanics at Sorbonne University Pierre and Marie, Paris, France.

During my studies, I did an internship at Polytechnique Montréal, Canada, 2020, in CFD simulations of turbulent flow in channels and a second one at EDF Renewables, France, 2021, in the evaluation of the wake effect in wind farms.

My interests include fluid mechanics, modelling and theory. My current work explores droplet condensation on engineered surfaces using mesoscopic numerical solvers, such as the Lattice Boltzmann method.

School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh profile

Callum Williams, PhD Research Student

I started my higher education at Nottingham Trent University, where I completed both a BSc (2018) and an MSc (2021) in Physics.

My masters research project was focussed in SOFT matter, studying the upward flow of liquids within elasto-capillaries. For my PhD, I’m researching how the effects of dielectrophoresis and dielectrowetting can be used to create new microfluidic systems with reconfigurable, programmable walls

School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh profile

George Bonnay, PhD Research student

Born in the northwest of the U.K. I received an integrated masters degree in Chemistry from the University of Bristol. My masters work involved the 3D printing of conductive polymers for human interacting devices. Before starting my PhD, I worked in the pharmaceutical industry for a year.

My current work is an i-Case PhD studentship in conjunction with DSTL and involves the creation of hierarchal nano-composite coatings for protection from chemical and biological weapons.

School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh profile