Dr Krys Bangert

Krys strengthens the University through technical leadership, collaborative working, innovation in education, and a genuine commitment to helping both students and colleagues succeed.

Matteo Di Benedetti, Department Director of Research and Innovation, Multidisciplinary Engineering Education

Can you sum up what you do in one sentence?

I lead the technical team and manage the practical teaching spaces across The Diamond's Materials, Bioengineering, and Chemical Engineering laboratories, while also engaging in research and development for the next generation of open-source and immersive virtual reality teaching tools.

You were nominated as an inspiration to others, how does it feel to be recognised?

It’s an unexpected honour. In technical leadership, our goal is to build the silent infrastructure that allows others to succeed. It is heart-warming to be recognised for this work, and I hope it helps provide a platform for other staff to shine in the future.

What part of your work brings you the most pride or joy?

The sheer diversity of what we facilitate here in The Diamond is amazing, covering all disciplines of engineering. This gives me a unique opportunity to actively engage at the interface between practical research and teaching across many areas. I can leverage my background in practical design, simulation, and chemical engineering in distinct ways to help create new learning experiences for the next generation of engineering graduates, both here at the University and beyond through collaborative projects.   

Krys has had a clear impact, enabling us to run larger lab sessions and giving more students meaningful hands-on experience, making the labs more engaging and inclusive. He has co-authored a research paper, demonstrating both technical depth and the ability to communicate his work effectively.

Chalak Omar, University Teaching Associate, Diamond Integrated Pilot Plant, Multidisciplinary Engineering Education

How does your work create an impact in research, innovation and education?

My work is driven by a desire to democratise engineering education and make it universally accessible. 

In education, we use immersive technologies, not as a novelty, but as an inclusive tool providing simulations and web-based alternatives so that students facing geographic, health, or accessibility constraints never miss out on vital practical learning.

In research and innovation, we don't keep our breakthroughs behind closed doors. By releasing our custom-built laboratory hardware as open educational resources we allow underfunded institutions globally to replicate high-tier process engineering setups at a fraction of the commercial cost. We are proving that world-class engineering training shouldn't be defined by a university's budget, but by the inclusivity of its design.

What is one thing about your workspace or role that would surprise people? 

I'm very fortunate that I manage a whole bunch of lab spaces and they do very different things. That ranges from people doing bio tissue experiments and growing yeasts and cultures and biomaterial, to doing tensile samples and moulding materials, and producing crystals and chemicals in the analytics lab. 

We also do industrial scale teaching with our pharmaceutical tablet production line. Quite often people will pass the Diamond and you'll see this nice shiny machine and they won't realise that it can produce many thousands of paracetamol tablets an hour and that's something that some of the research is done on. 

The Machine creates granules of varying sizes, which are then milled into powders. We also have researchers studying coffee. You'd sometimes walk into this lab downstairs and you’d expect a sterile environment, but you get a wonderful waft of a Starbucks! 

Are there any upcoming projects or new technologies that you’re particularly excited to be working on? 

I’m incredibly excited about expanding our open-source hardware and immersive tech initiatives. Following the global release of our Modular Open-Source Stirred Tank Reactor (MOSTR) platform, we are integrating advanced automation and instant, live-data connections so students can interact with physical chemical processes remotely.

We are also diving deeper into extended reality, building on our recent EPSRC-funded industrial collaborations. This involves an exciting, world-first approach: streaming live simulation data as augmented reality graphics, making unseen physical phenomena visible to enhance learning.