I graduated in Mechanical / Structural Engineering at King's College, Cambridge in 1999. As part of my Masters Thesis I worked with the Deployable Structures group at the Engineering Department in Cambridge. I studied some deployment mechanisms found in tree leaves, and developed a family of biomimetic mechanisms based on the deployment of leaves. These mechanisms have applications as deployable structures.
Between 1999 and 2003 I studied for a DPhil (PhD) degree at Lincoln College, Oxford at the Department of Engineering Science. Here I worked on mechanical aspects of a needle-less injection device in collaboration with PowderJect Pharmaceuticals. The device used an elastomeric membrane to accelerate the drug powders to sufficiently high speeds to penetrate the skin. The research involved modelling and experiments on the behaviour of the membrane at very high speeds.
From 2004 to 2008 I was involved in research in Polymer Engineering at the Engineering Department, Oxford. My GlassyPolymers work involved the study of polymers with controlled molecular architectures in order to develop a molecularly aware constitutive model capable of capturing features such as process-induced orientation and thermal history. I have also studied a phenomenon known as crazing, a frequent cause of failure in glassy polymers, and, through an understanding of the molecular processes involved, how composition and orientation can help to delay the onset of crazing.
Between 2000 and 2008 I was involved in the teaching of Engineering Science in Oxford. I have lectured on Polymer Processing, taught college tutorials and classes, demonstrated laboratories, and taught departmental option paper classes. I have been teaching for Balliol College, Somerville College, Lady Margaret Hall and St Hilda's College, as well as the Engineering Department. I was a 6-hour Lecturer at Balliol College between 2001 and 2008.
In February 2009 I moved to the University of Nottingham to take up the post of Lecturer in Polymer Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering. Here I am currently teaching a a 3rd year module on Polymer Engineering, and a 4th year module on Advanced Rheology and Materials. In the past I have also taught a 3rd year module on Chemical Product Design. I lead an active research group carrying out leading research in the areas of deformation and structure-property relationships of polymers, nanocomposites and elastomers, within the Materials, Mechanics and Structures research division at the Faculty of Engineering.