People
Find out about the ECFP core team, board and wider academic support
The ECFP team
ECFP employs a core team of experienced postdoctoral researchers who liaise with customers, scope out projects and carry out work in the laboratory. The core team is supported by a wider team of academics consisting of all Principal Investigators and senior research staff associated with the Soft Matter and Biological Physics Group. The ECFP board includes representatives from different stakeholder groups that advise on future developments in ECFP.
Although not listed here, ECFP also engages with the group of postdocs within the research group who provide help with outreach events. ECFP supports the development of this group of early-career staff through delivering insights into industry through placements and other training opportunities.
ECFP Core Team

Daniel Hodgson
Executive Director
Daniel completed his PhD in Physics in 2016, studying the link between the flow of dense suspensions and the formation of solid particle agglomerates. His current research interests lie in investigating how the bulk rheological behaviour of dense suspensions is linked to the microscopic interactions of their components.

Andreia Silva
Royal Society Industry Fellow & Impact Acceleration Associate
Andreia is a bioengineer with a PhD in complex fluids. She has expertise in using physical, chemical and mechanical techniques to understand the macroscopic and microscopic behaviour of complex fluids and the contribution of isolated components with the aim of developing new formulations.

Sashi Ramamirtham
Impact Acceleration Associate
Sashi joined ECFP as an Impact Acceleration Associate in Biological Physics in 2023. He is a chemical engineer turned bio-physicist with 8+ years of research experience at the interface of industry and academia.

Denise Li
Business Development Executive
Denise completed her PhD under the Soft Matter and Functional Interfaces Centre for Doctoral Training in 2018, studying the Structure and Stability of Phospholipids in Dermatological Formulations. Her research interest lies in understanding the structure and phase behaviour of soft matter materials in order to determine product functionality, stability and shelf life.

Rory O'Neill
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Rory has a background in mechanical engineering and physics, with much of his research focusing on the flow of complex fluids. He is currently developing apparatus to simulate the flows complex fluids are subject to in the real world. Determining the mechanisms behind these flows will help identify methods to avoid instabilities found in industrial processes.

James Richards
Postdoctoral Research Associate
James is a soft matter physicist with a PhD from the University of Edinburgh on the rheology of concentrated suspensions. His research interests lie in developing new experimental techniques and phenomenological models to explore the intricate interplay between fluid flow, surface deformation and non-Newtonian rheology.

Naomi Brown
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Naomi has a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Sheffield studying the efficacy of hard surface cleaning formulations in collaboration with SC Johnson. Her work focused on the optimisation of surfactant mixtures and analysis of how these solutions remove kitchen soils from surfaces.

Susanna Richmond
Impact Officer
Susanna is the Impact Research Officer for the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh. She works with ECFP staff to monitor and communicate the work carried out with industrial partners.

David Crosby
Impact Acceleration Associate
David has a PhD in Physics from the University of Edinburgh, in which he studied the rheological and surface active behaviour of a commercial microgel used by GSK. His work focussed on understanding how this microgel acts to both thicken and stabilise skin creams.

Simon Weir
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Simon is a soft matter physicist and completed his PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 2016. His research interests lie in complex systems that are governed by simple rules and linking the bulk rheological material properties in these complex systems to one or two polymeric or other microscopic interactions that govern the entire system.

Hrishikesh Pingulkar
Postdoctoral Research Associate for Industry Collaboration
Hrishikesh is a soft matter physicist with a PhD in rheology and a strong background in microfluidics and colloids. His PhD research at LOMC in France focused on extensional rheology of stretched viscoelastic liquid capillary bridges, investigating filament formation, the beads on a string phenomenon, and liquid transfer, with applications in printing, coating, and food industries.
ECFP Board

Job Thijssen
Academic Liaison

Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne
Industry Advisor

Yee-Li Lee
Business Development Executive at Edinburgh Innovations
Academic Team

Wilson Poon
Professor and Chair of Natural Philosophy

Cait MacPhee
Professor of Biological Physics

Paul Clegg
Professor of Applied Physics

Alexander Morozov
Professor of Fluid Mechanics

Davide Marenduzzo
Professor of Computational Biophysics

David Moore
Chair of Formulation Science

Job Thijssen
Reader

Tyler Shendruk
Reader in Theoretical/Computational Condensed Matter Physics

Davide Michieletto
Reader

Chris Ness
Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow

Jochen Arlt
Research Fellow

Aidan Brown
Chancellor’s Fellow

Gavin Melaugh
Chancellor’s Fellow

John Royer
Chancellor’s Fellow of Food and Rheology

Tiffany Wood
Senior Knowledge Transfer Fellow
ECFP Alumni

Susana Direito
Impact Acceleration Associate 2017 – 2022
Susana worked with ECFP and the National Biofilms Innovation Centre (NBIC) on a range of industrial projects focussed on microbiology and biophysics.
Susana now works at Edinburgh Innovations as a Business Development Executive with the School of Biological Sciences.