Chemical Engineering welcomes new Head of Department

Professor Omar Matar begins his term as Head of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London.

The Department of Chemical Engineering is delighted to welcome Professor Omar Matar as its new Head of Department. Professor Matar has held several senior roles within the Department and Imperial College London, including Director of Undergraduate Studies, Director of Research, and Vice-Dean (Education). He brings with him a wealth of experience in learning, teaching, and research excellence, and managing the delivery of significant projects.

“I am very much looking forward to serving as Head of Department and leading our community during this period of immense opportunity for Chemical Engineering". Professor Omar Matar Head of Chemical Engineering

Omar will take over from Professor Nilay Shah to whom we extend our thanks for his four years of service and wish him all the best for his future endeavours. He will remain a Professor in the Department and will take a one-year sabbatical to focus on his research outputs and external-facing activities.

Professor Matar said: “I’m extremely grateful to Nilay for the dedication he has shown to the Department over the past four years and the excellence, resilience and sense of community he has fostered during his leadership. His influence in the Department, and on individuals, will have a long-lasting legacy. 

“I am very much looking forward to serving as Head of Department and leading our community during this period of immense opportunity for Chemical Engineering, where the application of our research in energy, climate, healthcare and manufacturing will be vital in developing solutions to global grand challenges.”

Professor Matar first joined the Department as an undergraduate in 1989, before moving to Princeton University in the United States to pursue a PhD in Chemical Engineering. Following the completion of his PhD thesis in 1998, he returned to Imperial to take up his lectureship. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2003 and to Professor of Fluid Mechanics in 2007.

His research interests lie in interfacial fluid mechanics, multiphase flows, computational fluid dynamics, and machine learning. He is also interested in the use of immersive technologies for personalised education. He is a RAEng/PETRONAS Research Chair in Multiphase Fluid Dynamics, Director of the PETRONAS Centre for Engineering of Multiphase Systems (PETCEMS), the Principal Investigator of a UKRI-funded 4-university Programme Grant, PREMIERE, and the Imperial lead on several large programmes including BONSAI, EMBOSS, and MUFFINS, with Birmingham, Brunel, Cambridge, Newcastle, Nottingham, and UCL. Professor Matar is also the co-founding CEO of Quaisr, an Imperial-Turing spinoff specialising in cloud-native solutions for digital twins.

Professor Matar’s term begins on 1 October and will continue for a term of four years.