Assistant Professor, Faculty of Engineering
Parimala obtained her BEng and MTech degree in chemical engineering from India and moved to the UK for her PhD at the University of Bath. She received her PhD in 2019 (under the supervision of Dr Emma Emanuelsson, Dr Matthew Jones and (late) Dr Darrell Patterson) for her research on developing the spinning mesh disc reactor (SMDR) to achieve reaction intensification for the production of fine chemicals. Parimala was awarded a Future Research Leader award in 2018 and she worked with the groups of Prof John van der Schaaf and Prof Tim Noel at TU Eindhoven (Netherlands) for six months to investigate the use of visible light for reaction intensification of pharmaceutical intermediates in a rotor-stator spinning disc reactor. Her post-doctoral research involved investigating the in vitro proliferation and differentiation of red blood cells in a fluidised bed reactor using design of experiments in the research group of Prof Marianne Ellis at UofBath.
Parimala led the incorporation of SMDR Limited in 2020, a start-up from her PhD research with the support of the ICURe program funded by Innovate UK. She has been successful in driving the growth of the company by securing non-equity funding through Innovate UK and EPSRC and establishing partnerships with two pharmaceutical companies. She also led an independent project alongside her PhD to investigate the potential of flower waste as a source of high value chemicals and she has received funding from the UofBath Innovation Award and more recently from the Royal Academy of Engineering Resilient Resource Use seed fund. A part of this work involves using flower waste originating in India to extract essential oils and Parimala was nominated for the Forbes Asia 30 under 30 in 2019.
Parimala is an advocate for Women in Engineering and has engaged with local schools to promote STEM education among girls and mentored undergraduate engineering students who are interested in pursuing entrepreneurship as a career.
Parimala was appointed as an Assistant Professor in 2022 at the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Nottingham and is a part of the Advanced Materials Research Group.
Parimala is an Associate Fellow of Higher Education Academy (AFHEA). In her academic career, she has taught a range of chemical engineering modules (both core and applied subjects) and has supervised… read more
Parimala's research is focused on developing pathways to transform agricultural waste into high value chemicals to replace the existing petroleum-based feedstock for the fine chemical industry. This… read more
Parimala is an Associate Fellow of Higher Education Academy (AFHEA). In her academic career, she has taught a range of chemical engineering modules (both core and applied subjects) and has supervised research and design projects for both UG and PG taught programs.
Parimala's research is focused on developing pathways to transform agricultural waste into high value chemicals to replace the existing petroleum-based feedstock for the fine chemical industry. This involves the use of green catalysts like enzymes and whole cells in combination with resource efficient reactor technologies like the spinning mesh disc reactor and micro channel flow reactors to improve the sustainability of the process. The research will also incorporate techno-economic feasibility studies to facilitate technology transfer into the commercial sector.
I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students and postdocs.
UK students with excellent academic record may be eligible for Faculty funded PhD studentships. I welcome enquiries from EU/overseas PhD and post-docs who have identified a potential funding source and are interested in developing a project together.
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