Aakash Bansal

PhD

Pronouns: He/him
  • Lecturer in Applied Electromagnetics
  • Royal Academy of Engineering UK Intelligence Community Research Fellow

Background

Dr Bansal is a Lecturer in Applied Electromagnetics and a Royal Academy of Engineering UK Intelligence Community Research Fellow with the Wireless Communications Research Group. He is a multi-award-winning early career researcher with a PhD in Electronics, Electrical and Systems Engineering awarded in 2022 by Loughborough University. He has successfully completed several industrial consultation projects in the past and actively works with industry on real-life challenges. He currently serves as a Co-Lead for UK Metamaterials Network+ Active Metamaterials SIG, and as a Guest Editor and Reviewer for several journals. 

He has previously worked with Satellite Applications Catapult as a Future Communications Engineer and CSIR-Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute India as a Research Assistant. He has an extensive experience in RF design, reconfigurable antennas, metamaterials & metasurfaces, leaky-waves, RF lenses, fabrication and measurements. 

 

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy in Electronics, Electrical and Systems Engineering from Loughborough University (2019 – 2022)
  • Bachelor of Technology (BTech) in Electronics and Communication Engineering from GGSIP University, India (2013 – 2017)

Awards

  • Most Cited Paper in 2023 from Wiley Electronic Letters.
  • Royal Academy of Engineering UK IC Fellowship 2023.
  • Loughborough University’s Doctoral President’s Award 2022.
  • Loughborough University’s Sir Robert Martin University Prize 2020.
  • Electronics Weekly BrightSparks Award Class of 2020.
  • Young Engineer Award 2019 by CSIR – CEERI.
  • Exemplary Performance Award 2017 from GGSIP University.
  • IEEE Computer Society Richard E. Merwin Scholarship Award 2016.
  • MIT Global Startup Workshop Fellow 2016.
  • IEEE India Council Outstanding Volunteer Award 2016.

Research interests

Dr Bansal has specialist expertise in reconfigurable antennas, metasurfaces, satellite antennas, lens antennas and 3D-printed RF devices. 

  • Reconfigurable antennas 
  • Metamaterials & metasurfaces
  • Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces
  • Satellite antennas
  • Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) networks
  • Electromagnetics for Cyber Physical Systems
  • Orbital Angular Momentum
  • Leaky Wave Antennas
  • 3D-printed RF Devices 

Grants and contracts

  • Jan 2024 – Dec 2025: Small Platform Antennas for CubeSats (SPACE) funded by Royal Academy of Engineering (£250,000) 
  • Aug 2024 – Mar 2026: Researcher in Residence funded by EPSRC via Innovation Launchpad Network+ (£49,500)