About me: My name is Dr Ross Minty and I am a Lecturer in Composite Material Science within the department. I returned to the MAE department in January 2022 having done both my Masters and my PhD within the MAE department before spending time in industry conducting research and development on next-generation composite materials for the aerospace, automotive, space and renewables sector. I now teach the Professional Responsibility and Engineering Composites modules. My background is in Mechanical Engineering and I’m a Chartered Member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE). My PhD was conducted within the Advanced Composites Group (ACG) and focussed on the characterisation and optimisation of composites for wind turbine blades at the nano/micro scale level. I then spent 4 years in industry with Far-UK (Nottingham) where I acted as both technical and overall project across a diverse portfolio of commercial and grant funded projects focussed on applied research and development of composite materials.

My current research focuses on the design, characterisation and optimisation of advanced composite materials for high performance structural applications. I am strongly interested in the enhancing the sustainability and performance of advanced composite materials, working with all fibre types (glass/carbon/natural) and polymer resin chemistries for various applications. My goal, through both academic and industrial collaboration, is to develop and characterise the next generation of sustainable, high performance composite materials.

My projects: My projects reflect my general research interests and are typically a combination of preliminary, fundamental research to better understand the properties of current and next generation composite materials as well as industrially supported projects working with partners to solve challenges that they face currently in the development of their material products. If you are interested in the generation of new forms of advanced composite material to enhance the sustainability and circular nature of lightweight composite materials at a foundational level or wish to conduct industrially supported research in composite materials then look at my projects.