This academic year, we are pleased to announce that we are welcoming new Heads of Department, (HoD), for all three of the Departments across the School of AACME, (Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering.)

Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering

Dr Georgios Mavros

Dr Georgios Mavros, known as George within the Department, studied a Masters in Mechanical Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens and received a PhD in tyre modelling from the Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Loughborough University in 2005.

He joined the Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering at Loughborough University in 2005 as a Lecturer in Vehicle Dynamics and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2011.

George left Loughborough in 2015, working for Dassault Systems as Technical Manager and subsequently re-joined the Department at Loughborough as a Senior Lecturer in Intelligent Mobility and Vehicle Dynamics in 2016.  In Dec 2019 George became a Reader in Intelligent Mobility and Vehicle Dynamics and begins his post as Head of Department in August 2020.

His main research interests include; Thermo-mechanical and structural tyre modelling; Tyre testing and model parameter identification; Tyre modal testing; Mathematical modelling of friction; Multi-body dynamics theory and application; Vehicle dynamics and control; Mathematical modelling of motorcycle dynamics; Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS) for motorcycles.  George has gained funding of £3.8m as a principal investigator and £2.6m as a co-investigator.

George is active externally, collaborating with Ford, McLaren, IPG Automotive, Jaguar Land-Rover, Renault Sport Racing, SIMPACK UK, Coventry University and Michelin and he has held several external roles and appointments including:

• Editor for the Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory journal, Elsevier
• External examiner for the Automotive Mechatronics course at Cranfield University
• Member of the 4th International Tyre Colloquium organising committee, 2015
• Member and Session Chair - AVEC10 - 10th International Symposium on Advanced Vehicle Control, Aug 2010
• Workshop leader - 5th Intelligent Tyre Technology conference, Frankfurt, 2009
• PhD external examiner (Cranfield, Delft, DIT, Coventry)
• MRes/MSc external examiner (Coventry)
• Undergraduate course external examiner (Coventry)

Department of Chemical Engineering

Professor Jin Xuan

Professor Xuan graduated with a PhD degree from The University of Hong Kong in 2012 and his academic career in the UK started in 2014, when he took up a Lectureship in the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Heriot-Watt University. He was subsequently appointed as the Associate Director of the Research Centre for Carbon Solutions (RCCS) at Heriot-Watt in 2017.

Jin joined Loughborough University in 2018 as a Senior Lecturer, was promoted to Professor and awarded a Personal Chair in Low Carbon Processes in 2019 and starts his new post as Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering in August 2020.

Professor Xuan has won a number of prestigious prizes and awards in recognition of his research excellence and he actively takes leadership in the wider research community globally. He is currently a Panel Member for the Newton Fund Programme and Full Member of the EPSRC Review College. He serves as an expert reviewer for research funding agencies across six countries and he is the Founding Editor of the Elsevier’s new journal ‘Energy and AI’ as well as being a Topic Editor of ‘Emerging Technologies for Circular Economy’ for Frontiers in Energy Research.

Professor Xuan is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), where he serves as a committee member for its Ethical Principles Committee, as well as a board member of its Process Industries Division.

Jin is an advocate for research and for engineering in general, participating in various outreach events, such as European Researchers’ Night (2017), exhibition at the Scottish Parliament (2016) and media interviews. Examples of his research highlights in public media includes “Scientists see the light and make cheaper fuel from sun” by The Times and “Future fuel quest takes a step forward”, by BBC News and many others. He is interested in promoting science through social media and has won the 1st Place Prize (Engineering Category) in the 2019 Royal Society of Chemistry Twitter Conference.

Department of Materials

Dr Rebecca Higginson

Dr Rebecca Higginson graduated from The University College Swansea in 1992 winning the British Steel Travel Award for her practical work. She went on to study for her PhD at Birmingham University on the ‘The Effect of Small Second Phase Particles on the Recrystallisation and Grain Growth in Aluminium,’ sponsored by Alcan.

In 1995 she became a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at Sheffield University working on the thermomechanical processing of stainless steels and aluminium alloys. Whilst at Sheffield she took a part time Postgraduate Diploma in Education.

In 2001 Rebecca became a Lecturer in Metallurgy at Loughborough University, promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2007, Reader in 2015 and starts her new post as Head of Department in August 2020.

Rebecca has gained the following awards during her time at Loughborough University:

• IOM3 Cook/Ablett Award 2008
• SAGA Best Paper Award 2011
• Stokowiec Medal 2018

Rebecca’s main research interests include; Oxide Scale Formation and Characterisation; Texture Development; Precipitation effects in steels, stainless steels and aluminium alloys; Strain Path; Laser material deposition; Welding; Microscopy including: SEM, EBSD, TEM.

Rebecca has a number of external collaborations including EDF, Tata Steel, Rolls Royce, Renishaw and NPL.  She is a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Scientist and a Fellow of the Institute of Materials Mineral and Mining (IOM3) and the Royal Microscopical Society.  She has held a number of prestigious external roles and appointments including; ESPRC Peer Review Panel member since 2004; Council Member of Royal Microscopical Society 2012-2015, and a member of the IOM3 Bulk Metal forming Committee. She is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

We wish all of our new Heads of Department all the best for the coming years and we look forward to the leadership qualities that they bring to the School of AACME.