Avishek Pal has an interdisciplinary research background and a strong interest on functional materials. He is currently working in Prof Rahul R. Nair’s group, based in both the National Graphene Institute and the School of Chemical Engineering & Analytical Science at the University of Manchester. He received his BSc (Honours) in Chemistry from the University of Calcutta, India in 2006, and gained his MSc, specialising in Organic Chemistry, from the RTM Nagpur University, India in 2008. As a part-time lecturer, he taught at both Taki Government College and Basirhat College of the University of Calcutta for a year before commencing his doctoral study at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai. He worked at the Membrane Development Section, Chemical Engineering Group of BARC on the development and characterisation of charged membranes for separation studies pertaining to the XI- & XII-Plan projects of the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, and received his Chemistry PhD in 2016.

Avishek’s research interests include developing high-performance thin film composite (TFC) as well as thin film nanocomposite (TFN) type positively/negatively charged nanofiltration (NF) membranes. He has also focused on investigating the structure-property-performance relationships of different mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) with high-throughput, anti-bacterial, anti-fouling and radiation resistant features for sustainable ultrafiltration (UF) purposes. He is currently harnessing the unprecedented potential of the G2D-based membranes for next-generation health-care technology.