The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582, is the sixth oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's ancient universities. Consistently ranked one of the top 50 universities in the world, the University was recently ranked 22 in the 2024 QS World University rankings. One of Britain’s leading research universities, Edinburgh is also ranked 4 in the UK for research power, based on the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) by Times Higher Education. The College of Science and Engineering (CSE) is one of the three academic Colleges at the University and, with nearly 2,900 staff and 10,800 students is one of the largest science and engineering groupings in the UK. It consists of seven academic schools (Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Engineering, GeoSciences, Informatics, Mathematics and Physics & Astronomy) and two Centres of Excellence (EPCC and The Bayes Centre). In the most recent (2021) REF results, CSE was classed as world-leading in terms of the originality, significance and rigour of its research – with 96% of research outputs classed as either world-leading or internationally excellent.
Dr. Kamran Ghasemzadeh, who holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, is a highly accomplished researcher and author. He has published 70 peerreviewed papers, 8 books, and 40 book chapters with prestigious international publishers. His primary research expertise is in the areas of membranes and membrane reactors, where his work has significantly advanced both knowledge and practical applications in the field of chemical engineering. Since 2015, Dr. Ghasemzadeh served as an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Urmia University of Technology in Iran. Simultaneously, between August 2022 and 2024, he held the position of Senior Research Associate at the Manchester University, where he contributed to several cutting-edge research projects. Currently, Dr. Ghasemzadeh is a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Materials and Process at the University of Edinburgh, where his research continues to drive innovation in membrane technology in the EIC DAM4CO₂ project.
Dr. John Tobin , obtained his PhD in polymer and organic chemistry at Heriot-Watt University in 2018, focusing on the development of conjugated porous polymers as heterogeneous photocatalysts under continuous flow conditions. Following this, he was involved in several industrial projects funded through OGIC (Oil & Gas Innovation Centre) to develop new functional materials to help improve the health, safety, and environmental protections required on deep sea oil rigs. In June 2019, John joined the McKeown group in the School of Chemistry at University of Edinburgh to continue development of microporous polymer membranes for gas separation applications. This work has focused on the synthesis of novel monomers and polymers, characterisation, and determining routes for upscaling procedures. Since August 2024, he has continued and expanded this work through "Double Active Membranes for a Sustainable CO₂ Cycle" (DAM4CO₂), supervised by Prof. Neil McKeown.