Taking Bio Composites and nanotechnology to the next level dominated the GUEST lecture presented by Professor Sabu Thomas, which took place at DUT’s Hotel School Conference Centre at the Ritson Campus in Durban recently.

Professor Sabu Thomas is the Director of the International and Interuniversity Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. He is a full Professor of Polymer Science and Technology at the School of Chemical Science of Mahatma Ghandi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India. Professor Thomas is an outstanding leader with sustained international acclaims for his work in Polymer Science and Engineering, Polymer Nanocomposites, Elastomers, Polymer Blends, Interpenetrating Polymer Networks, Polymer Membranes, Green Composites and Nanocomposites, Nanomedicine, Green Composites and Green Nanotechnology.

Professor Thomas who is in the list of the most productive researchers in India drew concepts from Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings such as self reliance which can be used in scientific research and people’s day to day lives during the lecture. He shared ideas with the audience on how to make use of agro waste.

DUT Vice-Chancellor, Prof Ahmed Bawa, said the university has made great strides in incorporating technology and research in the curriculum.

“We have identified between 10 and 15 research centres at the university level which are going to be the core of the research enterprise at DUT. Six centres are already fully functioning with large numbers of students with research output that’s on good level. There are also developing centres and I’m very pleased to say that the composites research group led by Professor Krishnan Kanny, is in the first group so it’s a centre that we would see as a very critical one for the way which we consider the building of the research system at DUT,” said Professor Bawa.

DUT has its own Composite Research Group (CRG). The research group consists of Post Doctoral Fellows, Doctoral and Masters students, and In-service trainees. The main stream research conducted by the group focuses on the processing, analysis and modelling of synthetic and natural composites, biocomposites, and nanocomposites. Processing of these materials are performed in-house using conventional fabrication techniques as well as high speed robotics.

Prof Bawa said, “We really want to focus on those areas which allow us to grow the university as an engaged university. The university has to be a bridge between researchers, teachers and students in developing societies.”

Dr Thomas’s ground breaking inventions in polymer nanocomposites, polymer blends, green bio-nanotechnological and nano-biomedical sciences, have made transformative differences in the development of new materials for automotive, space, housing and biomedical fields.

– Gift Nyamapfene

Pictured: Professor Thomas with DUT Vice-Chancellor, Prof Ahmed Bawa, at the lecture.