Dr Diganta Das

BE PhD FHEA FRSB FRSC

  • Reader in Porous Media
  • Deputy Lead, Changing Environments and Infrastructure (CEI) Global Challenge
  • Lead, Research Theme in Environmental Technology, CEI Global Challenge
  • Postgraduate Research (PGR) Champion

Research groups and centres

Publications
ORCiD Researcher ID Google Scholar
headshot of Diganta

Background:

Dr Diganta Bhusan Das was born into a family of academics in the beautiful state of Assam in North-East of India. Diganta finished his Bachelor of Engineering degree (Chemical Engineering) from Rajasthan University, India (1996) and PhD (Chemical Engineering) from Loughborough University, UK (2001). He was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands and a visiting fellow at Princeton University, US (2001-2003).

Prior to joining Loughborough University, Diganta was a Departmental Lecturer in Chemical Engineering at the University of Oxford (2003-2007). He has also held a visiting faculty appointment at Eindhoven University, the Netherlands, Texas Southern University, Houston, the USA and Selcuk University, Turkey (short term).

Diganta is currently the Deputy Lead for the Research Challenge on Changing Environment and Infrastructure (CEI), and the Lead of, the Research Theme on Environmental Technology within CEI. He is also the Postgraduate Research Champion in Chemical Engineering Department. In the past, he was the Research Theme Leader for Process Engineering within the School of AACME.

Diganta has taught a variety of Chemical Engineering courses relating to environmental pollution control, water engineering, fluid mechanics, reaction engineering, mass transfer processes and drug delivery processes. He is also a keen collaborator and team builder on a range of multidisciplinary porous medium topics such as (i) coupled free and porous flow (e.g., leakage in fluid distribution pipes, membrane separation), (ii) two-phase flow in porous media, (iii) membrane water treatment, (iv) chemical transport in porous tissues and tissue engineering bioreactors, (v) CO2 capture, sequestration and utilisation, and others. He has successfully mentored seven postdoctoral and twenty-two PhD researchers to completion. He has authored/co-authored >115 peer-reviewed journal publications besides co-authoring/co-editing seven books (including a two-volume book on environmental health).

Outside his normal university duties, Diganta sits on the Engineering Panel for the Newton Fund administered by the British Council, UK, and he was the Founding Secretary, Vice-Chair elect and Chair of the International Water Association's specialist group on Multiphase Flow and Transport in Porous Media. Additionally, he has served as an editor and associate editor of the journals Water Science and Technology and Water Supply (IWA Publisher) since 2007. He is also a member of the editorial board of three other journals (Biotechnology Letters, Clean Technologies, and Pharmaceutics).

Professional Certifications, Fellowships and Other Awards

  1. Fellowship of HEA (FHEA), 2019 -
  2. Visiting Scientist Fellowship, Tubitak, Turkey, 2019
  3. University Fellowship, Loughborough University, 08/18-07/19
  4. Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS), Loughborough University, International Visitors Fund for inviting Dr BK Yadav (IIT Roorkee, India) and Dr SK Kartha (IIT Guwahati, India)
  5. Loughborough University, CALIBRE Grant, pump-priming project with UTM, Malaysia, Secure and Resilient Societies, 2018.
  6. Best Paper Award, Interpore UK Chapter meeting, 2016
  7. Senior Research Fellowship, Delft University, Netherlands, 06/02-03/03
  8. European Science Foundation (ESF), Visiting Research Fellowship to TUDeft, 10/2001–03/2002
  9. John Philip Travelling Scholarship winner (joint), Loughborough University, 2001-2002
  10. PhD studentship funded by British Gas Plc, Loughborough University, 10/1998-09/2001
  11. National award (Best Paper) for the paper ‘Alternate Fuels for Road Transport in INFLUX’96, University of Roorkee, Roorkee, 2-4 January 1996 (with Lodha, A).
  12. National award (2nd Best Paper) for the paper ‘Microbial Production of Energy from Industrial Waste’ in APOGEE’95, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, 6-10 March 1995 (with Makhwavarara, R)

Outline of main research interests:

  • Drug delivery devices for skin and intervertebral disc
  • Particulate-based drug delivery
  • Microneedle-based drug delivery
  • Regenerative Medicine - bioreactor technology for growing artificial tissue
  • Dynamic multiphase flow in porous media
  • Permeable reactive barrier for remediation of contaminated subsurface
  • Application of biochar in water treatment
  • Cyber-physical system (CPS) and systems engineering
  • Water and soil security

Current teaching responsibilities:

  • Fluid Mechanics (1st year)
  • Chemical Process Balances (1st year)
  • MAPLE lab (1st year)
  • Fluid Mechanics (2nd year)
  • Reaction Engineering (2nd year)
  • Reaction Engineering (3rd year)
  • Mass Transfer Processes (3rd year)
  • Literature Review (3rd year)
  • Pollution Control (3rd year)
  • Drug Delivery and Targeting (MSc)
  • Literature Review/Research Proposals (MSc)

Laboratory supervision/demonstration:

  • Mathematical Methods (MAPLE) (1st year)
  • Marking Lab Reports (1st year)
  • Fluid Mechanics II (COMSOL Lab) (1st year)

Undergraduate student project supervision:

  • BEng Research project (3rd year)
  • MEng Research Projects (3rd year)
  • Dissertation/Literature review (3rd year)
  • BEng Team and Individual Design (3rd year)
  • Meng Team and Individual Design (4th year)

Module lead:

  • Fluid Mechanics I (1st year)
  • Fluid Mechanics II (2nd year)
  • Pollution Control (3rd year); BEng Literature review (3rd year)
  • Drug Delivery and Targeting (MSc)
  • MSc Literature Review and Research Proposals (MSc)

New module development

  • Fluid Mechanics II (2nd year)
  • Drug Delivery and Targeting (MSc)

 

 

Selected publications:

Tohamy, K.M., Soliman, I.E., Mabrouk, M., ElShebiney, S., Beherei, H.H., Aboelnasr, M.A., Das, D.B. (2018) Novel polysaccharide hybrid scaffold loaded with hydroxyapatite: Fabrication, bioactivity, and in vivo study. Materials Science and Engineering C, 93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msec.2018.07.054

Shamsuddin, N., Das, D.B., Starov, V.M. (2016) Membrane-Based Point-Of-Use Water Treatment (PoUWT) System in Emergency Situations. Separation and Purification Reviews, 45(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/15422119.2014.973967

Chao, T.C., Arjmandi-Tash, O., Das, D.B., Starov, V.M. (2015) Spreading of blood drops over dry porous substrate: Complete wetting case. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 446. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2015.01.054

Shamsuddin, N., Das, D.B., Starov, V.M. (2015) Filtration of natural organic matter using ultrafiltration membranes for drinking water purposes: Circular cross-flow compared with stirred dead end flow. Chemical Engineering Journal, 276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2015.04.075

Abidoye, L.K., Das, D.B. (2014) Scale dependent dynamic capillary pressure effect for two-phase flow in porous media. Advances in Water Resources, 74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2014.09.009

Nayak, A., Das, D.B., Vladisavljević, G.T. (2014) Microneedle-assisted permeation of lidocaine carboxymethylcellulose with gelatine Co-polymer hydrogel. Pharmaceutical Research, 31(5). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-013-1240-z

Zhang, D., Das, D.B., Rielly, C.D. (2014) Microneedle Assisted Micro-Particle Delivery from Gene Guns: Experiments using skin-mimicking agarose gel. Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 103(2). https://doi.org/10.1002/jps.23835

View central admin publications database

External appointments:

  • External Examiner, MSc/PG-Dip Program in Membrane and Desalination, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, 10/19-09//22
  • External Examiner, MSc/PG-Dip Program in Water Engineering, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, 10/18-09/21
  • Engineering Panel Member, Institutional Fund, Newton Project, British Council, London, UK, 2018-
  • External Examiner of PhD thesis: >25 universities in the UK and abroad
  • Life member, Indian Membrane Society, India (11/2017-)
  • Member, Diabetic Society, UK (04/2010-)
  • Member, International Water Association, London (10/1998-)
  • Chair, International Water Association (IWA) Specialist Group on 'Multiphase Flow and Transport in Porous Media’, 11/08-11/012.
  • Vice-Chair elect, International Water Association (IWA) Specialist Group on 'Multiphase Flow and Transport in Porous Media’, 11/05-10/08.
  • Secretary and Co-Founding Member, International Water Association (IWA) Specialist Group on 'Multiphase Flow and Transport of Contaminants in Porous Media’, 04/03-10/05.
  • ICheme Liaison Officer for Oxford University, 04/2004-07/2007
  • Editor, Water Supply(10/2009-), International Water Association (IWA) PublishingEditor, Water Science and Technology (10/2009-09/2019), IWA Publishing
    • Associate Editor, Water Science and Technology (10/2007-9/2009), IWA Publishing – developed scope of ‘multiphase flow in porous media’ for the journal in line with the IWA SG 'Multiphase Flow and Transport in Porous Media’ that I was involved in as vice-chair and char of.
    • Member of Editorial Board, Biotechnology Letters (12/2007-), Springer Verlag
    • Member of Editorial Board, Journal of Applied Membrane Science & Technology (07/2018-), UTM, Malaysia
    • Member of Editorial Board, Pharmaceutics (01/2020-), MDPI
    • Member of Editorial Board, Clean Technology (3/2020-), MDPI
    • Guest Editor of the following journal special issues (SIs):
  • Clean Technology, SI titled ‘CO2 Capture and Storage’, (MDPI), 2020.
  • Pharmaceutics, SI titled "Pharmaceutical Particulates and Membranes for Delivery of Drugs and Bioactive Molecules" (MDPI), 2020
  • DB Das, Olatunji, O. Pharmaceutics, SI titled "Microneedle Patches: Developing Strategies for Delivery" (MDPI), 2015
  • Das, DB, and Liu, T. Asia Pacific Journal of Chemical Engineering, Journal Special issue on Tissue Engineering, Wiley, Inc., 2010
  • Das, D.B. and Hassanizadeh, S.M..Transport in Porous Media, Journal Special Issue entitled, ‘Upscaling multiphase flow in porous media: from pore to core and beyond’, Kluwer Academic Publisher, 58(1-2), 1-216, 2005.

Keynote and invited lectures

  1. Das. DB (2020). Keynote Lectures on ‘Two-Phase Flow in the Context of Underground CO2 Storage: Dynamic Capillarity, Sensing and Modelling’ Water Conclave, IIT Roorkee, 26-28 Feb 2020.
  2. Das. DB (2020). Keynote Lectures on Two-Phase Flow in the Context of Underground CO2 Storage: Dynamic Capillarity, Sensing and Modelling’, International Conference on Engineering Sciences and Technologies for Environmental Care, NEIST, Jorhat, India, February 20-22, 2020
  3. Das. DB (2019). Keynote Lectures on ‘CO2 Sequestration: Challenges and Opportunities’, International Conference on Engineering and Environmental Sciences, Osun State University, Nigeria, 5-7 Nov, 2019
  4. Das, DB (2018). Keynote Lecture on ‘Microneedles for Drug Delivery, International Conference on Nanomaterials: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications (ICNP 2018), Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India
  5. Das, DB (2018). Keynote Lecture on ‘Coupled free and porous flow in membrane system’, 6th IWA Regional Conference at Vadodara, India on 10-12 December 2018. 
  6. Das DB (2017). Keynote Lecture on ‘hybrid membrane separation’, International Conference on. Membrane Technology and its Applications, NIT, Trichy, India
  7. Das. DB (2008). Multiscale modelling of bioreactors for growing bone tissue, EPSRC Funded Mathematical Study group, Loughborough University, 15–19 September 2008, Loughborough (organised by Dr John Ward as part of the UK Maths in Medicine Study Group)
  8. Das, DB (2006). Keynote Lecture on Non-Uniqueness in Capillary Pressure-Saturation-Relative Permeability Relationships for Two-Phase Flow in Porous Media. '2nd International Congress on Computational Mechanics and Simulation'08-10 December 2006, Guwahati, India'.
  9. Das, DB (2006). Invited Lecture on Mechanics of Fluid Flow in Coupled Free and Porous Flow. University of Stuttgart, Germany, 09/2006.
  10. Das, DB (2005).  Keynote Lecture on Multiscale Modelling of Bone Tissue Growth in Bioreactor, 58th Annual Meeting of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE), December 14-17, New Delhi
  11. Das, DB (2005). Departmental Seminar on Bone Tissue Growth in Hollow Fibre Membrane Bioreactor.  Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technical University of Eindhoven, 16 September.
  12. Das, DB (2004).  Micro-heterogeneity efefcts on two-phase flow in porous media.  Department of Engineering, Kings College, London.