Rate My Professor Patrick Grant

Professor Patrick Grant is the Vesuvius Chair of Materials and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Oxford. He received his Bachelor of Engineering degree from Nottingham University and a DPhil in Materials from the University of Oxford. He has held the Vesuvius Chair of Materials since 2004. His previous appointments at Oxford include Deputy Head of the Mathematical Physical and Life Sciences Division from 2012 to 2014 and Head of the Department of Materials from 2015 to 2018. He was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research in 2018 and chairs the Research and Innovation Committee. He is also a non-executive director of Oxford University Innovation Ltd.

Professor Grant’s research focuses on the interface between advanced materials and manufacturing, addressing a wide range of structural and functional materials. His current activities include the development of structured electrodes for supercapacitors and batteries, 3D printed materials with spatially varying electromagnetic properties for microwave devices, advanced metallics for power generation, and X-ray imaging of microstructural evolution in solidifying alloys. He employs industrial manufacturing techniques such as vacuum plasma spraying and field assisted sintering, as well as novel processes developed in-house, including spray deposition of multi-suspensions and 3D printing of dielectric materials. His work incorporates numerical modelling to inform device design, understand process physics, and relate heat and mass flows to final microstructure and properties, with close collaboration involving industry and other universities. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (elected 2010), a Chartered Engineer, and a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. He has published over 200 papers and holds six patents, three of which have been licensed.