Photo of Dr William Sharratt

Dr William Sharratt

Lecturer in Soft Matter Materials, Design and Manufacturing Eng

About

Personal Statement

I joined the department in April 2023 as a Lecturer in Soft Matter and head up the Soft Materials Group within the School of Engineering. Previously, I had worked as a Research Associate within the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London and during this time had held an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship. I have a first degree in Chemistry with Industrial Experience from The University of Bristol (2012-2016) and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London (2016-2020).

The Soft Materials Group's research focuses on experimentally characterising the spontaneous and stimulated assemblies of soft materials (polymers, surfactants, colloids) to design functional materials capable of addressing challenges in pharmaceuticals, fast moving consumer goods, biomedicine, food and energy. We aim to develop understanding of the relationship between the type of “soft building block” used, processing routes and the resulting structure and function of the materials produced. Across my research, I combine scattering techniques (X-ray, neutron and light), microscopy and other techniques (spectroscopy, calorimetry, rheology, tensiometry) to probe both material structure, across multiple length scales (Å to mm), and understand their thermodynamic and non-equilibrium properties as well as their, often dramatic, responses to external perturbations and stimuli. Overall, our research aims to address fundamental problems in polymer and soft matter science which have direct translation and application to societally important materials and technologies.