Dr Erik Tollerud
20th March 2026 by Mirela Dumic
Fellowship focus: Exploring new constraints on the nature of dark matter.
The central aim of this Fellowship is to develop the theoretical framework and software needed to use the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations of galaxies beyond the Milky Way to probe the nature of dark matter. Dr Tollerud has pioneered techniques to measure the motions of individual stars, and support from the University of Surrey is essential to translate these measurements into robust physical interpretations of galactic mass, including unseen dark matter. The Fellowship will adapt these methods for use with other observatories and expand Surrey’s leadership in open-source astronomy software, while establishing a new collaboration with Dr Erkal and strengthening existing partnerships.
Dr Seyed Hossein Hosseini
10th March 2026 by Mirela Dumic
Fellowship focus: Using generative AI to advance system dynamics modelling in healthcare.
This Fellowship will strengthen and grow a partnership between the University of Surrey and the University of Sydney in healthcare modelling and simulation. The collaboration brings together experts in modelling, artificial intelligence and health systems research to address complex health and societal challenges. Dr Hosseini and his host will explore the integration of Generative AI (GenAI) in system dynamics modelling and assess its potential to enhance analytical capability, methodological innovation, decision support and policy planning. Planned activities include advancing research on GenAI within system dynamics modelling, delivering a seminar on public health modelling, and running a short workshop on system dynamics modelling.
Professor Philip Demokritou
by Mirela Dumic
Fellowship focus: Understanding the potential health risks of micro-nanoplastics to humans and developing effective mitigation solutions.
Plastics are inexpensive and versatile, making them ubiquitous in modern life, but their widespread use raises health concerns. As plastics degrade in the environment, they form micro-nanoplastics (MNPs), an important emerging focus of research. This Fellowship will assess current academic and research activities across partner institutions to identify interdisciplinary research and training opportunities in MNPs. Key aims include developing a framework for the assessment of human exposure to MNPs both indoors and in ambient environments; creating sustainable mitigation strategies for plastic waste management and control of potential MNP exposures; and exploring alternative and sustainable-by-design plastics for food packaging and beyond. The collaboration allows Professor Demokritou to share his Nanoscience and Advanced Materials Research Center expertise with Professor Kumar’s GCARE lab at the University of Surrey.
Dr Sasha Wilmoth
by Mirela Dumic
Fellowship focus: Tracing the evolution of verb forms in Western Desert languages of Australia.
Small differences in verb forms, as if people said ‘clean-ed’, ‘clean-ed-ed’, ‘clen-t’ and ‘clen-t-ed’ within close geographical locations, show how languages change and develop over time. Expressing a past tense meaning twice in the same word may seem unnecessary, but such extra endings can actually help make a language easier to learn and use. This idea is related to the Paradigm Cell-Filling Problem (PCFP), which looks at how speakers predict unknown word forms. This Fellowship will study the issue by examining verb patterns in twelve closely related Western Desert languages. The project will explore how verb systems are structured and how different cues contribute to the PCFP, increasing our understanding of this language family, with broader implications for historical linguistics, and theories of both the PCFP and ‘redundant’ suffixes.
Dr Joshua Gellers
by Mirela Dumic
Fellowship focus: Exploring posthuman law for Earth-space governance.
How to recognise and govern more-than-human entities – such as animals, nature and AI – across both terrestrial and orbital domains is a pressing challenge in contemporary legal thought. Dr Gellers’ Fellowship will bring together leading legal theorists and practitioners to test the portability of shared legal principles, including standing, guardianship, precaution and stewardship, across different entities and spatial scales. It aims to develop a trans-entity, Earth–space framework for legal doctrine, procedure and policy, and to compare existing models of status, standing and remedies available to more-than-human actors. The work will be shaped through a multidisciplinary workshop led by the School of Law research centres in collaboration with the Institute for People-Centred AI, the Institute for Sustainability and the Surrey Space Institute.
Professor Kenneth Himma
by Mirela Dumic
Fellowship focus: A conceptual analysis of law and authority.
The resurgence of authoritarian tendencies in Western democracies has made understanding the conditions of legitimate authority critically important. Determining when authority is morally justified requires rigorous analysis of the core concepts of law, authority and legitimacy. This Fellowship highlights the importance of methodological work, recognising that careful conceptual analysis is essential to conceptual engineering and re-engineering – approaches that aim to revise or create concepts when existing ones have problematic social implications. Professor Himma will work in collaboration with the Surrey Centre for Law and Philosophy, resulting in a series of academic publications alongside activities aimed at public engagement and broader impact.
Dr Pradeep Kumar Dammala
by Mirela Dumic
Fellowship focus: Enhancing risk-assessment tools for offshore wind turbines.
Developing sustainable, reliable and affordable ways to harvest offshore wind has become essential to supporting global clean energy goals. This includes practical tools that assess and mitigate risks to offshore wind turbine foundations that can jeopardise clean energy harvesting. This Fellowship will combine Dr Dammala’s risk modelling expertise with Dr Cui’s geotechnical knowledge to explore issues like earthquake risks, soil liquefaction and structural fatigue, with a view to creating a user-friendly framework for predicting and preventing foundation failures.
Professor Bing Pan
by Mirela Dumic
Fellowship focus: Investigating the psycho-behavioural dynamics of crisis response in tourists.
This Fellowship will explore how tourists’ psychological traits shape their perceptions, motivations and risk-related behaviours during crises, and how these factors influence evacuation dynamics. Existing agent-based evacuation models typically treat tourists as homogenous agents who respond uniformly and instantaneously to evacuation orders, limiting behavioural realism. By explicitly modelling individual differences in decision-making under uncertainty and stress, Professor Pan and Professor Li’s research will produce more realistic simulations of tourist behaviour during emergencies, improving our ability to predict evacuation outcomes and inform the design of more effective risk communication and crisis management strategies.
Dr Bobby Du
by Mirela Dumic
Fellowship focus: Investigating the role of electric ‘air taxis’ in transforming tourist mobility and destination accessibility.
The rapid rise of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, commonly known as air taxis, is transforming short-range travel. These lightweight, battery-powered vehicles enable fast, quiet and low-emission point-to-point transport without the need for runways. They have the potential to significantly enhance tourism mobility and visitor experiences, particularly in hard-to-reach or underserved destinations such as islands. This Fellowship will examine how eVTOL technology could reshape tourism travel, offering a sustainable alternative to road and short-haul air transport. Dr Du and his host will review current technological developments, pilot projects and aviation regulations, while identifying key implementation challenges including airspace management, noise concerns and charging infrastructure.
Dr Matteo Gemolo
by Mirela Dumic
Fellowship focus: Historical technologies in the digital age: music for traverso and analogue synthesisers.
During this Fellowship, Dr Gemolo and Dr Armstrong will make use of Surrey’s Music and Media Synth Lab to create a new piece for the baroque flute and synthesisers. Dr Gemolo’s expertise in 18th-century performance practice, his research on the traverso in contemporary music and his experience of contemporary festival curation will be shared with students of composition, performance and sound recording at the University. Activities will include a one-day symposium on historical instruments in contemporary music, a workshop on artistic entrepreneurship and a research roundtable with PhD students.
Professor Teun-Teun Kim
by Mirela Dumic
Fellowship focus: Investigating quantum coherence in fluorescent proteins.
Quantum biology explores whether non-trivial quantum effects contribute to the functioning of living systems. While such effects are well understood at the level of individual atoms, it remains unclear how they can persist within the warm and complex environment of a living cell. Professor Kim’s Fellowship will address this question by investigating fluorescent proteins, which naturally emit light and can serve as stable light sources at room temperature. The project will examine how light energy is transferred and emitted within these proteins under cell-like conditions. Using advanced terahertz spectroscopy, the research aims to explain the mechanisms that enable quantum effects to persist in biological systems. Expected outcomes of the Fellowship include an interdisciplinary seminar hosted at Surrey and the submission of at least one joint international grant proposal.
Dr David Martinez-Delgado
by Mirela Dumic
Fellowship focus: Exploring galaxy formation at the smallest scale and understanding dark matter.
In current galaxy formation theory, small galaxies form first and later merge to build larger ones. As they merge, stars can be pulled away, creating streams of ‘tidal debris’ that orbit the main galaxy. Studying this debris helps us understand a galaxy’s growth history. This Fellowship will compare new observations by Dr Martinez-Delgado of the outer regions of dwarf galaxies with advanced computer simulations. While most research has focused on the Milky Way, Dr Martinez-Delgado studies much smaller galaxies. The project will produce a publication comparing observations and models, and a seminar for the Astrophysics Research Group.
Dr hab. Anna Stachniuk
by Mirela Dumic
Fellowship focus: Enhancing food safety through proteomic authentication of meat products.
Food authenticity is a global challenge that impacts public health, consumer trust and compliance with regulations. This Fellowship will bring together experts from the Medical University of Lublin and Surrey to share knowledge on detecting food adulteration. The focus will be on using proteomics and advanced liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry techniques to identify food adulteration. This will be an opportunity to exchange experiences, compare analytical methods and share expertise in data interpretation. The collaboration aims to build a long-term partnership, strengthen research skills in both teams and support better food authentication to protect consumers and promote public health.
