Rohit Pillai
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On this page

  • Education
  • Academic Positions
  • Research Grants
    • Principal Investigator
    • Co-Investigator
  • Invited Talks
    • Selected Keynote Presentations
  • Service & Leadership
    • School Roles
    • External Roles
    • Journal Reviewing
  • Media Coverage
    • Selected Press
  • Professional Memberships
  • Publications

CV

Education

PhD, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering University of Melbourne, 2017 Thesis: Stretching, bursting, splashing, and bouncing: Electrohydrodynamics of microfluidic drops

MSc, Mechanical Engineering University of California Davis, 2012 Thesis: Transport Phenomena in a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell


Academic Positions

Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering University of Edinburgh, 2023-present

Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering University of Edinburgh, 2018-2023

Postdoctoral Research Associate University of Edinburgh, 2017-2018


Research Grants

Principal Investigator

Year Funder Project Value
2024-2029 ERC Starting Grant NANO-COOL: Nanomaterial-enhanced liquid cooling for extreme thermal management £1,270,000
2024 EPSRC/ARCHER2 Spectral heat transfer at metal/graphene/water interfaces £32,000
2021-2022 EPSRC/CIRRUS Nano-engineering of surface de-icing £35,000
2019 EPSRC eCSE Efficient Multi-Scale Simulations £100,000

Co-Investigator

Year Funder Project Value
2025-2026 EPSRC/ARCHER2 Stabilising Bulk Nanobubbles £38,600
2023-2024 EPSRC/CIRRUS Ultrahigh-frequency surface vibrations for freeze-desalination £50,000
2019-2020 EPSRC Nano-Engineered Flow Technologies (internal grant) £100,000

Invited Talks

Selected Keynote Presentations

  • 2025: NEMD Conference, Osaka, Japan
  • 2022: China University of Petroleum Summer School - Modelling Multiscale Heat and Flow Systems
  • 2020: Sino-Japan-UK Frontiers in Phase Change Heat Transfer
  • 2019: Hewitt-Reese Spring School, UK Fluids Network
  • 2018: Surface Wettability Effects on Phase Change Phenomena, Brighton

Service & Leadership

School Roles

PDRA Champion (2022-present) Leading initiatives to support postdoctoral researchers, including reformed annual reviews, fellowship screening processes, and career development events.

Co-chair, Staff Development Committee (2022-2024)

Member, People & Culture Committee (2025-present)

Academic Representative, Diversity & Inclusion Committee (2022-present)

External Roles

Expert Evaluator, European Research Council (2024-present)

College Member, EPSRC Peer Review College (2024-present)

Conference Organiser:

  • Conference Chair, Non-Equilibrium Molecular Dynamics Conference, Edinburgh, UK (2026)
  • Organising Committee, 9th International Conference on Micro and Nano Flows, Edinburgh (2025)
  • Organising Committee, UK Fluids Network SIG in Non-Equilibrium Molecular Dynamics, London, UK (2024)
  • Co-organiser, UK Fluids Network Early Career Researcher Event, Warwick, UK (2018)

Journal Reviewing

Regular reviewer for: International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Langmuir, Physics of Fluids, Physical Review E, Journal of Molecular Liquids, Applied Mathematical Modelling


Media Coverage

Selected Press

  • 2023: The Conversation, Phys.org, TechXplore - Cicadas and self-cleaning surfaces
  • 2021: EurekAlert, ScienceDaily, Phys.org - Nanobubbles for ultrasonic cleaning
  • 2018: BBC Scotland, ScienceDaily, Phys.org, The Times, Metro, Daily Express, The Sun - Acoustothermal atomization

Professional Memberships

  • Scotland Beyond Net Zero (2025-)
  • RSC Interest Group in Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics (2022-)
  • UK Fluids Network SIG on Non-Equilibrium Molecular Dynamics (2019-)
  • Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (2014-)

Publications

See Publications page for full list (20 journal articles, 1 book chapter).