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Biography
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Date
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Role
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| 2006-2007 |
Principal of the Faculty of Engineering, Imperial College London |
| 2003- |
Chair, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council |
| 2002-2006 |
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| 2001- |
Foreign Secretary and Vice-president of the Royal Society
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| 1989- |
Professor of Polymer Science, Chemical Engineering Department, Imperial College London.
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| 1993-1997 |
Dean, City and Guilds College.
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| 1985-1989 |
Reader in Polymer Science, Chemical Engineering Department, Imperial College London.
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| 1976-1985 |
Lecturer, Chemical Engineering Department, Imperial College London.
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| 1973-1976 |
Physicist, Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France.
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| 1972-1973 |
Research Fellow, Institut Charles Sadron, Strasbourg, France.
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| 1968-1972 |
SRC Research Fellow, Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester, UK.
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| 1966-1968 |
Physics Teacher, Mexborough Grammar School, Yorkshire, UK.
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| 1964-1968 |
D.Phil in Physical Chemistry, University of Oxford, UK.
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| 1961-1964 |
BA Physics, Somerville College, Oxford, UK.
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Research interests
In my group we study the behaviour of complex materials, and particularly polymers, in terms of their molecular structure, organisation and motion. One of our specialities is the application of neutron scattering techniques to such problems. Neutrons are unique probes for polymeric systems both because of their wavelength and energy characteristics and because isotopic substitution of deuterium for hydrogen allows whole molecules or parts of molecules to be highlighted within a sample in order to understand their behaviour. Of course we use other laboratory based spectroscopic and scattering techniques to give a complete picture.
We currently focus on mixtures of polymers. Some binary mixtures are miscible at a molecular level but only over a limited range of temperature and composition. One large area of current activity focusses on understanding these miscibility limits in terms of the molecular components and their interactions, studying the process of separation into two co-existing phases when these limits are exceeded, and in particular studying the effect of flow on the limits and the phase separation process. Another is the study of interfaces between polymers - either observing the interdiffusion as they form in order to understand bonding and adhesion of composites, or looking at the activity of copolymer additives as interfacial agents to improve properties of blends of thermodynamically immiscible polymers.
Selected research projects
- "Polymer Blends : Stretching What We Can Learn Through The Combination of Experiment and Theory." Julia S. Higgins, Michael Tambasco and Jane E. G. Lipson. Progress in Polymer Science, 30, (2005) 832-843.
- "New Routes to Characterisation and Prediction of Polymer BlendProperties." Michael Tambasco, Jane E. Lipson and Julia S. Higgins, Macromolecules, 37, 9219-9230 (2004).
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"Real Time Neutron Reflectivity Study of The Early Stages of Diffusion Into and Dissolution of Glassy Polymers." D. G. Bucknall, J. S. Higgins and S. A. Butler. J. Pol. Sci., Part B, Pol. Phys., 42, 3267-3281 (2004).
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"Topography of Phase Separated Critical and Off-Critical Polymer Mixtures." J. T. Cabral, J. S. Higgins, N. A. Yeruna and S. N. Magonov. Macromolecules, 35, 1941-1950, (2002).
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