Hom Dhakal

I am Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Portsmouth. I lead the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Research Group. I'm also a Docent (Visiting) Professor of Biobased Composite Materials at the Faculty of Textiles, Engineering and Business at the University of Borås, Sweden.

My expertise include the design and development of sustainable lightweight composite materials, and their testing and characterisation. My research has benefited many industries through the development of a range of new sustainable materials, formulations and manufacturing processes.

I'm published in over 150 international peer-reviewed journals, book chapters and conference proceedings. I've been a guest editor for a number of journals and I'm a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Composites Science, Journal of Research on Engineering Structures & Materials, and the Material Chemistry section of the Journal of Molecules. I also serve as a member of scientific committees and as an evaluator for various research projects.

After the successful publication of the first book I co-authored in 2018, entitled Repair of Polymer Composites: Methodology, Techniques and Challenges, my second co-authored book Sustainable Composites for Lightweight Applications will be published in October 2020 by Woodhead Publishing (Elsevier Ltd).

I'm a Chartered Engineer (CEng), a member of the American Society for Composites (ASC), and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA), the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), and the Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining (IOM3) (FIMMM).

My main research interest is the development of sustainable bio-based lightweight composite materials and hybrid composites, investigating their mechanical, thermal and environmental properties for engineering applications.

I'm currently leading multiple research projects within the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Research Group, with particular interest in the development of sustainable lightweight composites and biocomposites. Current projects include Interreg SeaBioComp and Interreg FLOWER.

I'm also involved with multiple Knowledge Transfer Partnerships into packaging design, composition and sustainability.

I've coordinated and chaired a number of international conferences and presented invited and keynote talks in the field of sustainable composites and biocomposites.