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Biography
Ioanna obtained her MEng in Chemical Engineering in 2006 (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece). The same year she was awarded a scholarship from the School of Civil Engineering of the University of Leeds to study for an MSc in Environmental Engineering and Project Management, which she graduated from in 2007.
She completed her PhD in Chemical Engineering at Aston University in 2012 under the supervision of Professor Tony Bridgwater. From 2012-2017, she was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield. Her research there was focused on techno-economic feasibility assessments of carbon capture and utilisation processes (EPSRC), biorefinery systems (EU FP7), and waste plastic pyrolysis applications (IAA Early Career Researcher Grant). She was also a member of the Department's Opportunities Committee which succeeded in winning the Athena SWAN silver award in 2014 and renewing it in 2017. In 2018, she was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Nottingham and she is a member of the Low Carbon Energy and Resources Technologies Research Group.
Expertise Summary
Ioanna's research interests lie in process modelling and optimisation, techno-economic analysis, thermochemical and biochemical conversion of biomass and waste, and carbon capture and utilisation. She has been an invited speaker at seminars and conferences in the USA and the UK and has acted as an expert proposal evaluator for the European Commission (Horizon 2020 programme) and the Greek Ministry of Education. She has also been appointed advisory board member for low-carbon technologies projects by major media outlets, such as The Economist. She is an Associate Member of the Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Teaching Summary
Ioanna is a Fellow of Higher Education Academy (now known as Advance HE). She teaches process simulation and modelling to undergraduate and postgraduate chemical engineering students using commercial… read more
Research Summary
Ioanna's research is focused on Process Systems Engineering (PSE) for the development of algorithms and techno-economic models that describe individual processes and their economic performance. The… read more
Recent Publications
SYLVANUS LILONFE, IOANNA DIMITRIOU, BEN DAVIES, AMIR F.N. ABDUL-MANAN and JON MCKECHNIE, 2024. Comparative techno-economic and life cycle analyses of synthetic “drop-in” fuel production from UK wet biomass Chemical Engineering Journal. 479, 147516 RAUT, M. P., PHAM, T. K., GOMEZ, L. D., DIMITRIOU, I. and WRIGHT, P. C., 2019. Alcoholic fermentation of thermochemical and biological hydrolysates derived from Miscanthus biomass by Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824: Biomass and Bioenergy Biomass and Bioenergy. 130, ROSA CUÉLLAR-FRANCA, PELAYO GARCÍA-GUTIÉRREZ, IOANNA DIMITRIOU, RACHAEL H. ELDER, RAY W.K. ALLEN and ADISA AZAPAGIC, 2019. Utilising carbon dioxide for transport fuels: The economic and environmental sustainability of different Fischer-Tropsch process designs Applied Energy. 253, 113560
PhD opportunities
PhD projects are generally available in process modelling, process optimisation, techno-economic assessment (TEA) and/or life-cycle analysis (LCA) for the following areas:
- Plastic waste pyrolysis and gasification/chemical recycling
- Biomass thermochemical conversion (e.g. gasification, pyrolysis)
- Biomass biochemical conversion (e.g. pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation)
- CO2 utilisation for production of fuels, chemicals and materials
- CO2 capture (e.g. adsoprtion, absorption)
- If you are an UK/Home student, you could be eligible for a fully funded scholarship (fees + stipend). Funding is also available for PhDs via our Doctoral Training Centre.
- If you are an international student, you will need to be self-funded or have/acquire a scholarship. There is an extensive portfolio of Research Scholarships for international students offered by external funding bodies. International applicants need to confirm funding or the intention of applying for a scholarship upon contacting me, otherwise applications will be ignored.
If you are interested, please get in contact via email with a CV and cover letter. Applicants should have (or expect to obtain) a first-class or good 2:1 UK honours degree, or a distinction or high merit at MSc level in Chemical, Energy or Environmental Engineering, or a related discipline.
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Postdoc opportunities
Currently none advertised.
Potential postdoctoral researchers without current funding can apply for our internal fellowships either the Anne McLaren or Nottingham Research Fellowship (call opens in the Summer). Other externally funded fellowship schemes available to candidates of any nationality are listed below:
- Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowships (for PhD holders with up to 8 years full-time research experience, call opens in April/May)
- EPSRC Postdoctoral Fellowship (for PhD holders without postdoc experience, several calls throughout the year)
- EPSRC Open Fellowship (for PhD holders with some postdoc experience, several calls throughout the year)
If you are interested in applying for any of the fellowship schemes above and have a strong CV with a good publication record, please get in contact via email with a CV and a brief research proposal (1-2 pages).
Ioanna is a Fellow of Higher Education Academy (now known as Advance HE). She teaches process simulation and modelling to undergraduate and postgraduate chemical engineering students using commercial software (Aspen HYSYS, Aspen Plus). The main objective is for the students to be able to apply quantitative methods and computer software relevant to the chemical engineering discipline, in order to solve process design problems. She also supervises MEng and MSc research projects and provides teaching support for the year 3 design project.
Module convenor and lecturer:
Process Simulation 1 (Year 3)
Module contributor:
Practical laboratories (Year 2)
Design Project (Year 3)
MEng Project (Year 4)
MSc Project (PGT)