Professor Vasant Kumar

Professor Vasant Kumar, FIMMM, FEI, FIAAM, FRSC

R Vasant Kumar is Professor and the Distinguished Research Fellow of Materials Chemistry. He has published over 380 papers, 25 patents, 18 Chapters in Handbooks and 2 edited books (High energy density Li batteries, Wiley-VCH 2010, also translated in Chinese, 2013, new Edition on Rechargeable Ion Batteries Wiley - VCH 2024). He has supervised over 45+ PhD students, 45+ post-doctoral researchers, 20+ visiting students and hosted over 15+ visiting professors. He is Honorary/Guest Professor in 4 Universities in China (2008, 2012, 2016 and 2019) and two in India (2021, 2022). Has received Honorary Engineering Degree in University of Malaysia (2011), Kroll Medal from IOM3 for translating research into industrial applications (2014). He is the Editor-in-Chief of IOM3 (SAGE Publishing, London) journal, "Mineral Processing & Extractive Metallurgy" from 2004; Editor-in-Chief of "Battery Materials" (Pivot Sciences, Canada) and a Board Member of IOM3's Technical Division, Editorial Board Member of (i) "Advances in Nanoparticles" of Scientific Research Publishing from 2012; (ii) "Materials Today Chemistry" of Elsevier Ltd from 2017; (iii) Materials Circular Economy, Singapore from Oct 2018. He is Advisory Board Member of TECHMET Ltd, London (from 2019) and Korea National Lithium Research Centre (from 2020).

Many of his research has led to licenses and industrial practices and he has founded four start-up companies which are commercialising some of his inventions. Currently, Professor Kumar's research group is working on a number of research projects underpinned by harnessing of electrochemical reactions in a variety of applications that range from energy devices such as batteries and fuel cells to environmental research in mineral carbonation, sensors, sustainability and recycling of materials and photocatalytic reactions.

Honours & Awards

• Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry, 2022
• Fellowship of IAAM, Sweden in June 2022
• Adjunct Faculty Professor in IIT-Bhilai, India from 2022
• Adjunct Faculty Professor in BHU-IIT, India in June 2021
• Guest Professor awarded by Nankai University in May 2019
• Fellow of the Energy Institute, (FEI) from May 2019
• Guest Professor awarded by Xinyang Technical College in June 2016
• Appointed as "Specialist consultant of the Xiangyang Association of the Automobile Manufacturers", China in Dec 2015
• Fellowship of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, (FIMMM) from Jan 2015
• Kroll Medal and Prize 2014, awarded by IOM3, in recognition of significant contribution that has enhanced the scientific understanding of materials chemistry as applied to the industrial production of materials
• DOW Sustainability Innovation Students Award Grand Prize on "High energy density Li-S batteries", won by my PhD student Kai Xi, June 2013
• DOW Sustainability Innovation Students Award Runners-Up on "Photocatalytic Materials" won by my PhD student Najeeb Ullah, June 2012
• Honorary Doctorate of Engineering at University of Malaysia, Perlis, 17 September 2011
• Guest Professorship at Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan, China awarded, 29 March 2011
• Armourers & Brasiers Venture Prize for the invention of a new technology for recycling automotive batteries in an environmentally friendly process, June 2007
• Honorary Professorship at Hebei University, Tansheng, China awarded, 14 September 2006
• Innovative Metrology Award  DTI/NPL, "Emission measurement of exhaust gases" - Nov 2000
• Fellow in Natural Sciences of Trinity Hall since 1 January 1999
• Advisory Board Member of TechMet Ltd; and Korea Lithium National Research Centre 

Links to Relevant Sites

1. Advisory Board Member of TechMet, a private industrial company that is building controlling or significant minority positions in world-class projects across the technology metal supply chain. https://www.techmetlimited.com
2. Editor-in-Chief of “Mineral Processing & Extractive Metallurgy” A journal of IOM3 (UK) and AUSIMM (Australia), published by Sage Publications. www.sagepub.co.uk
3. Editor-in-Chief of “Battery Materials” published by Pivot Science Publications (Canada). https://pivotscipub.com/bm
4. Editorial Board Member of "Materials Today Chemistry". https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/materials-today-chemistry/
5. Editorial Board Member of "Journal of Heat & Mass Transfer Research", https://publicationethics.org/members/journal-heat-and-mass-transfer-research
6. Editorial Board Member of "Circular Economy", a new journal of Springer Nature Singapore
7. A new process developed in the group has been licensed to Regenerate Inc (USA) and Ever Resource Limited; Registered Office Address: St. John's Innovation Centre, Cowley Road, Cambridge CB4 0WS; United Kingdom; Tel +44 (0)1223 422041 Processing site: Field Street, Willenhall, WV13 2NY; United Kingdom; www.ever-resource.com
   A pilot plant is under construction. In Jan 2019, the project received Rushlight Awards, organized by IUK, Department of Business, Energy & Sustainability along with UKRI  for innovations in two categories held in Royal Society, London. (https://warehousenews.co.uk/digital/mar119/ and https://warehousenews.co.uk/2019/02/aurelius-celebrates-success-at-the-rushlight-awards/)
8. Founder & Director of start-up company producing high temperature gas sensors for environmental monitoring, process control and energy reduction: https://www.emclimited.co.uk
9. Founder & Director of start-up company producing instruments for safety monitoring, hydrogen measurement & control and leak detection: https://www.solutions4hydrogen.com
10. Director of advances sensors manufacturing and marketing using licenced technology from University of Cambridge: www.multinanosense.com
11. Editor of the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3) journal Trans. IMM: Section C, incorporating Proc. AusIMM: https://mpm.edmgr.com
12. Staff Fellow, Director of Studies, Tutor of Trinity Hall, Cambridge: https://www.trinhall.cam.ac.uk
13. Board Member of the IOM3's technical division Mineral Processing & Extractive Metallurgy: https://www.iom3.org/content/mineral-processing-extractive-metallurgy-division
14. Editorial Board Member of "Advances in Nanoparticles" of Scientific Research Publishing from 2012: https://www.scrip.org
15. DoITPoMS - Dissemination of IT for the Promotion of Materials Science (DoITPoMS); Teaching & Learning Packages, Supervised construction of a number of packages: Batteries, Recycling, Thermal Analysis, Ellingham Diagrams: https://www.msm.cam.ac.uk/doitpoms
16. LinkedIn profile: https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/r-vasant-kumar/5/b08/bb0

Conferences

Previous Conferences: (for recent conferences, please check "News" section)

1. Invited Speaker at the Institute of Materials, Metals and Minerals (IOM3) to celebrate 150^th year of the Institute - The Iron Cycle Fe-150
2. Plenary Speaker in Int. Conf. & Expo on Batteries, in Jan 2019, Goa, India – www.bfi.org.in
3. Organizer of the sixth Sustainable Battery Symposium in Cyprus in Oct 2019- The links to the flyers in PDF and PNG format: https://www.flogen.org/sips2019/pdf/Battery_Flyer.pdf ; https://www.flogen.org/sips2019/img/Battery_Flyer.png
4. Organizer of the 5^th (Rio, Brazil), the 4^th (Cancun, Mexico), the 3^rd (Hainan China), the 2^nd (Antalya, Turkey) and the 1^st (Cancun, Mexico) Sustainable Battery Symposiums. – www.flogen.org/SIPS
5. Plenary Speaker in the 2^nd (Antalya) and the 1^st (Cancun) Sustainable Industrial Process Symposiums
6. Plenary Speaker in the 2^nd International Conference on Electrochemical Science & Technology in Aug 2017, Benguluru, India – www.iconest.inwww.ecsi.in
7. Organizer of "Materials for hydrogen production, storage and fuel cells" in the XXVI Int. Materials. Research Congress in Aug 2017, in Cancun, Mexico – https://www.mrs-mexico.org.mx

Current Project Areas

• Batteries: Li-S, Li-ion, Na-ion, K-ion, Lead Acid, High temperature operation
• Environmental: Circular Economy, Recovery, Upgrading, Recycling, carbon capture
• Fuel Cells: Solid Oxide Fuel cells, Photocatalytic reactions
• Sensors: Electrochemical, Optical, Semiconducting CMOS-MEMS, Thermal
• Metallurgy: Iron & Steel, Base Metals, Molten Salt processes, Electrochemical

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Grants: EPSRC, RCUK, H2020, Innovate UK, British Council
• Industry: Ever Resource Ltd,  Regenerate Inc (USA), Mercuria plc (Switzerland) , Lumina (Luxemburgh-Greenland), Metrol Ltd, Reliance Industries Ltd (India), Johnson Control (USA) Plasma-App Ltd, Sigma Lithium Ltd, Johnson Matthey plc, Knauf, Atotech (Germany), Carmeuse (Belgium), Sigma Lithium Ltd, TATA Group (UK, India), Environmental Monitoring & Control Ltd, Multi-Nano Sensing Technology (India), Insensor Ltd, TechMet Ltd (Dublin), Attero Ltd (India), Enzyme Energy (The Netherlands), Cambridge Enterprise, Cambridge Advanced Materials, Chinuka, iQ International, Antares (Brazil), WPIC (Hong Kong, The Netherlands, S Korea)
• Research Institutes / Universities: Open University, QMUL, Imperial College, St Andrews University, Beijing Institute of Technology, University of Science & Technology Beijing, HUST Wuhan, Nankai University, North Eastern University Shenyang, BHU-IIT, IIT-Bhilai, IIT-Bombay, Nizwa University, Tsinghua University, XJU (Xi'an), IIT-Delhi, IISc-Bengaluru, Non Ferrous Technology Development Centre Hyderabad, University of Ghana, University of Tanzania, Delft University, Sofia University, ARMINES –Paris, NUS Singapore, IEES Sofia, CNR Italy, UCM Skopje