Professor Rasmita Raval

Personal Statement

Rasmita Raval is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Director of the Surface Science Research Centre established as a UK Interdisciplinary Research Centre (IRC) at the University of Liverpool. She is an international leader in the design, fabrication and characterisation of advanced functional surfaces, interfaces and materials that underpin major technologies. Her research combines ‘bottom-up’ assembly of advanced surfaces and materials and concurrent development and utilisation of surface spectroscopic and scanning probe techniques to map them from the atomic to the micro/macro-scale. In 2014, she established ‘The Open Innovation Hub for Antimicrobial Surfaces’ to create novel surfaces that prevent the formation of biofilms, leveraging 30K seed funding to deliver a £8M portfolio of innovation programmes in partnership with Multinationals, SMEs and the NHS. She is one of the four academic co-directors and co-founders of the ‘National Biofilms Innovation Centre’, a £26M initiative funded by the BBSRC, IUK and Industry. Phase 2 NBIC funding, valued at £23M, was announced in Nov 2022. She also leads work-streams on anti-infective surfaces within strategic regional initiatives such as the Strength in Places IICON and ESIF programmes. Overall, these activities engage with a translational ecosystem of >150 industries.

Her research bridges nanoscience at the atomic/molecular level to real world scenarios and is truly interdisciplinary, encompassing physics, chemistry, surface science, materials science, microbiology and ‘omics. She has ca.170 research publications and delivered over 100 plenary, keynote and invited lectures at international conferences and global research institutes.

Membership of scientific and advisory panels: International Scientific Advisory Board, IMDEA Nanoscience Centre, Madrid, Spain, 2006 – present; Scientific Advisory Committee, DIAMOND Light Source, UK, 2010- 2014; International Science Advisory Board, School of Chemical Technology, Aalto University, Finland, 2014- present; International Science Advisory Board, Institute of Materials & Molecules, Radboud University, Nijmegen, 2015- 2017; Member, Strategic Committee, French National programme on Materials (MATISSE), 2016; Member, UK EPSRC Physical Science Strategic Advisory Group (SAT), 2015-2019; Member, RCUK AHRC Focus Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), 2016; Advisory Editorial Board of ‘Chemical Science’, 2006 – onwards; Member, International Advisory Council for Cluster for Pioneering Research (CPR) at RIKEN, 2019, 2023; Member, UK Gov’s Dept of Health and Social Care AMR Capital funding panel; Member, ERC consolidator grant panel in Physical Sciences, 2018-19; Chair of International Panel to evaluate the iNano Centre at Aarhus University, Denmark, 2019; International Panel member, KTH Stockholm, Research Assessment Exercise, RAE 2021; Member of International Strategy Advisory Board, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Aarhus University Denmark 2021-present.

Prizes or Honours

• IMM Honorary Lectureship (Radboud University, Netherlands, 2013)
• Mott Lecturer (CMMP division, Institute of Physics, 2003)
• Innovation Prize. (2002 E-Synergy/National Endowment for Science, Technology and Arts (NESTA), 2002)
• Schuit Lecturer in Catalysis (Schuit Institute of Catalysis, Eindhoven University, 2002)