Research Seminar- Professor Colin Bain (Durham University)

Talk Overview:

Small drops find ubiquitous applications from crop-spraying to inkjet printing to precision manufacturing and microfluidics.  Typically, these droplets are small enough that inertia and gravity can be neglected and surface tension dominates the fluid dynamics.  While one might expect the behaviour of such droplets to be simple, one actually observes a rich variety of phenomena that at first sight can seem to violate the laws of physics. This talk will give several examples of ‘drops behaving badly’ and seek to explain the observed behaviour in terms of physical models.

Speaker Bio:

As Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research), Colin is responsible for the delivery of Durham University’s Research and Engagement Strategy and for supporting academic and research staff and students to deliver internationally leading research and impact.

Colin joined the Chemistry Department at Durham in 2005 from Oxford University. He has held a number of leadership roles at Durham including Director (Science) of the Institute of Advanced Study and Dean and Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research). He is currently also Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Soft Matter for Formulation and Industrial Innovation (SOFI2).