Professor Mojtaba Ghadiri

Mojtaba Ghadiri is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Leeds, and until September 2011 he was the Director of the Institute of Particle Science and Engineering.

He graduated in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tehran (Iran) and has an MSc from Imperial College and PhD from Cambridge. He worked for Unilever Research for two years before taking up an academic post at the University of Surrey, where he worked for 18 years before joining the University of Leeds in 2001. He is the Academic Adviser to the International Fine Particle Research Institute (IFPRI), where he maintains close links with other academics and industrialists worldwide. He is on the editorial board of five learned journals, including being Chairman of the European Board of KONA Powder and Particle Journal and the Subject Editor of ChERD. He is an expert assessor for the Australian, Canadian, Italian and Norwegian Research Councils as well as the EPSRC. In April 2010, he was awarded the Iinoya Award of the Society of Powder Technology, Japan, for his contributions to the promotion of international cooperation in powder technology.

His research is focussed on the development of relationships between microscopic and macroscopic properties and phenomena, i.e. the way in which the microstructure of particulate solids and the micromechanics of their interactions in process equipment influence the performance of the process and product characteristics. The ultimate objective is to provide a basis for systematic design of particulate products and of related processes. His research activities cover a number of independent, but fundamentally related topics in Particle Technology. These are (i) mechanical breakdown of particulate solids, encompassing attrition and comminution; (ii) electrical effects in bulk particulate systems; (iii) mechanics of particle-fluid systems; (iv) granulation and mixing of powders. Recent examples include collaboration with a number of pharmaceutical companies on predicting solids bulk behaviour in the secondary processing of pharmaceutical powders based on single particle characterisation; milling, scale-up of high shear granulators, determination of flowability of cohesive powders for dry powder inhalers and electrostatic charging and associated segregation in formulated powders. His current and recently completed projects are funded by both EPSRC and industry, where the latter is drawn from the process and pharmaceutical sectors. These together with the publications may be viewed at: http://ghadiri-group.leeds.ac.uk/.