Dr. Niamh Fox

Biography

Niamh joined the Department of Materials at the University of Manchester as a Lecturer in Polymer Science in November 2023. Her work focuses on manipulating the properties of polymer materials, particularly how these properties can be altered by varying processing conditions. A central aim of her work is to ensure that world-changing materials discovered through polymer science research can effectively transition from lab-scale discoveries to real-world applications, accommodating the challenges posed by industrial processing conditions. She is committed to ensuring that sustainability considerations are core to the processes used to examine materials, emphasizing the reduction of energy-intensive processing steps in the development of hybrid materials with enhanced properties. Niamh's research spans interdisciplinary challenges and has significant real-world implications, particularly when examined through the lens of polymer physics and chemistry meeting engineering requirements. In her prior role as a Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, she tackled materials challenges related to the design and manufacturing of drug delivery devices, contributing to an Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration aimed at developing therapeutic vehicles for treating hard-to-treat cancers. Niamh holds a PhD in Materials Chemistry from Trinity College Dublin, where her research focused on the structural and optical properties of conjugated polymer materials, and during her studies, she received the Fulbright Student Award for a project at MIT in Boston.

Research Interests

Experience