Monthly Archives: October 2025

New paper in Advanced Functional Materials!

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A new paper titled “Charge-Induced Morphing Gels for Bioinspired Actuation” authored by Ciqun Xu (former joint PhD student with Bristol Robotic Laboratory), Saba Firouznia, Charl Faul, Majid Taghavi, and Jonathan Rossiter, is now available online Open Access in Advanced Functional Materials!

This study continued from the electric field-driven soft morphing matter, previously published in both Advanced Materials and Advanced Functional Materials. A novel electroactive homeomorphic isochoric gel (HIG) actuation mechanism is reported that exhibits substantial and reversible shape-changing while preserving topological and isochoric (volumetric) equivalence, resembling the behavior of muscle deformation. HIGs are capable of mimicing the movements of muscle-driven organelles in nature, including cilia-like beating and the chromophore-like muscular expansion.

Check the paper for more details!

Viva success! Congratulations to Dr John!

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The biggest and warmest congratulations to FRG member Dr. John Worth (CoSEM CDT, joint with Prof. Valeska Ting) on successfully defending his viva on Oct 22nd!

A fantastic achievement with his thesis “Polytriphenylamine Conjugated Microporous Polymers and Polymer of Intrinsic Microporosity Composites as Platforms for Hydrogen Storage”, along with outstanding research outputs already published in Small (Wiley), and the Int. J. Hydrogen Energy!

Thank you to external examiner Dr. Andrea Laybourn, University of Leeds, and internal examiner, Dr. Sebastien Rochat!

Mid-Autumn Festival and Group Celebrations!

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It’s been a joyful week for the FRG, marked by the cultural festival and group brithday celebrations!

On Tuesday 16th August of Lunar Calendar, three members of the group took part in the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival event held at the Global Lounge, where they shared experiences of traditional customs associated with this important cultural occasion of family reunion.

Later in the week, the entire group gathered for a shared evening meal to celebrate the birthdays of three group members, including Charl Faul, Ben Harker, and Yuerong Tian! It was a wonderful opportunity to relax and enjoy good food!.

China Scholarship Council-University of Bristol PhD Scholarships!

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国家留学基金委 (CSC) 与英国布里斯托大学 (UoB) 合作奖学金 – 博士研究生项目:

The annual 4-year fully funded CSC/UoB PhD Scholarship round for 2026/2027 entry is now open for application to join the FRG!

Sixty full PhD scholarships are available at the University of Bristol this year. The University of Bristol provides full tuition fees for each PhD programme, while the China Scholarship Council provides monthly stipend.

Please check the CSC official website for eligibility and details for domestic and overseas applicants. Please contact Prof. Charl F. J. Faul directly (with CSC/UoB PhD Scholarship in the subject line) for further information and to discuss your application. The FRG’s internal deadline for discussion of any applications is Monday, 24th of November.

See the UoB’s website for all application details here. Please note that the PhD programme application with a valid English language certificate must be submitted to the University of Bristol by 12 noon (UK time) on Monday, 1st of December 2025.