Professor Mark Simmons M.Eng, PhD, CEng, FIChemE

• Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers and Chartered Engineer, 2009
• Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, University of Birmingham, 2003
• PhD in Chemical Engineering (supervisor Prof. Barry Azzopardi), University of Nottingham, 1999
• MEng (Hons) in Chemical Engineering (First Class), University of Nottingham, 1995

A proven academic leader with seven years’ experience as Head of Chemical Engineering at University of Birmingham from 2014-2021, Mark grew the academic staff base by a third and expanded the School’s infrastructure to support energy and healthcare research.

Mark has advanced research in multiphase flows, interfacial phenomena and in mixing.  His work has been underpinned by over twenty years of research collaborations with industry on the processing and end-use of complex formulated liquid products.  He has developed experimentally validated multi-scale and phenomenological models of stirred tank and static mixers used in the manufacture of catalysts with Johnson Matthey and home and personal care products with Unilever.  This work has enabled both to improve the speed and sustainability of their scale-up processes for new formulations, maintaining their market leading positions.  He has pioneered the use of particle image velocimetry and novel tomographic methods to interrogate non-Newtonian and viscoelastic flows. 

Mark is PI of the £6.3M EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Formulation Engineering: Formulation for Net Zero, renewed in 2024, the only CDT funded wholly in support of the Formulation industry sector.  He has received EPSRC/BBSRC/UKRI funding including support for two EPSRC Programme Grants led by Imperial College and funding from industry.

He has co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles and has given over 30 invited talks with over 150 talks by his group at international conferences.  He has provided a pipeline of talent with four past students now academics and over forty past doctorate students employed by the formulation industry.

Mark is Chair of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) Medals and Prizes Committee and Chair of the IChemE Fluid Mixing Processes Special Interest Group.  He is an active member of EFCE working parties on Multiphase Flow and Mixing and is a member of EPSRC College and peer review panels.

Mark has been external examiner for taught chemical engineering courses for the Universities of Cambridge, Nottingham, QUB, Loughborough and Imperial College.  He has been external examiner for over 40 PhD students in the UK and in Europe.

Multiphase Systems (20 credits, Level H) Lectures, tutorials and laboratories on incompressible and two phase flows, colloidal systems, processing and stabilisation of emulsions and suspensions, focussing on fundamental principles. (Module co-ordinator)

Mark has run long term research programmes employing PhD and EngD students in the following areas:

Mixing of complex fluids in tanks and static mixers (EPSRC, Johnson Matthey, Unilever Port Sunlight)
Interfacial phenomena and turbulence in batch and inline high shear mixing devices (EPSRC & Unilever Port Sunlight)
Deactivation of catalysts and kinetic models (Johnson Matthey)
Predicting deposition in fluid systems within gas turbines and the impact of fuel formulation (funded by EPSRC & Rolls-Royce)
Drop generation and interfacial phenomena in microfluidic systems in the presence of additives and surfactants (EPSRC, Procter & Gamble)
Development of invitro models of circulatory and gastrointestinal flows in the human body to understand drug delivery and various health conditions (EPSRC, GSK)

Mark's research work involves flow visualisation, mathematical modelling and CFD, focused on the processing of complex and multiphase fluids in both microfluidic and large scale systems.

He uses optical imaging techniques including Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF) and has developed novel methods for imaging of multiphase flows, focussing on the complexity of interfacial motion during the rupture of liquid threads and jets to form drops in the presence of surfactants, and the impact of a dispersed phase upon continuous phase turbulence.   Mark has expertise in visualising flows in opaque systems using Positron Imaging Particle Tracking (PEPT) in collaboration with the School of Physics and Astronomy. 

Mark has experience of running large research programmes, including previously serving as Deputy Director of the EPSRC Programme Grant MEMPHIS (Multiscale Examination of Multiphase Physics in Flows) and through the EPSRC Programme Grant, PREdictive Modelling with QuantIfication of UncERtainty for MultiphasE Systems @PREMIERE_UKRI, both with Prof Omar Matar of Imperial College (PI) and Prof Giota Angeli at UCL. 

He has led and contributed to a number of industrially focussed research programmes including InnovateUK projects with Industrial Tomography Systems, Unilever Port Sunlight and Johnson Matthey.  He is part of the Faraday NEXTRODE project with Prof Emma Kendrick looking at the processing of next generation battery electrode materials 

Mark has graduated over 50 PhD/EngD students and has published over 200 research papers in scientific journals and over 150 conference papers.  He has written reviews and book chapters in the fields of single and multiphase flow and reaction engineering of multiphase systems. He receives funding from the BBSRC and EPSRC in these fields as well as from major industrial companies including Johnson Matthey, Unilever, Rolls-Royce and Procter and Gamble.

• Chair of IChemE Medals and Prizes Committee
• Chair of IChemE Fluid Mixing Processes Special Interest Group
• Elected Member of the EFCE Working Party on Multiphase Flow
• Delegate Member of the EFCE Working Party on Mixing