Student Spotlight

Tell us a little about yourself

I was born in Worthing, though I’ve also spent a lot of time in Barcelona, where my mum lives. I did most of my schooling in the UK, with two years in Barcelona, so I’ve grown up between the two places.

I’m three years into my PhD in Engineering at Clare. Outside of my academic work, I used to be very active socially in my first year, going to formals and MCR events. As my workload has increased, that’s become less frequent, but I still enjoy getting involved when I can.

What made you decide to come to Clare?

It was actually a visit back in 2016, when my dad stayed here during a bell-ringing tour. I really liked the atmosphere at the time, and when it came to applying for PhDs, it felt like a natural choice.

What kind of research do you do?

My research focuses on hybrid manufacturing, combining laser processing with inkjet printing to fabricate electronic and sensing devices. The goal is to benefit from each approach to control surface properties, miniaturise devices, and improve performance.

I especially enjoy working at an early Technology Readiness Level (TRL), where ideas can be explored and iterated quickly. That early-stage conceptual work is what I find most interesting.

Can you tell us the story behind GreenMixes?

My research focused more on physical chemistry, so I wanted to develop skills from my undergrad in organic and inorganic chemistry while working on something with larger, immediate impact.

During a trip to India, I saw a lot of construction waste and dust, which inspired me to explore solutions in that area. The idea evolved toward capturing carbon within cement, as CO2 is a global issue with a much larger impact than just clearing up dust.

What is GreenMixes’ mission, and what kind of work does it do?

GreenMixes focuses on innovative ways to capture carbon within cement, with the aim of decarbonising the cement industry. Existing solutions face limitations in scalability and cost, so we aim to provide a solution that is cheap and scalable immediately, rather than taking a decade to develop.

A key turning point was joining the Impulse Programme at the Maxwell Centre. I brought in my co-founder, Dushanth, a postdoc in my group. We initially worked out of his backyard, prototyping our admixture, and have since moved into a fully equipped lab.

We’re currently at around TRL 5 with promising results and are in discussions with cement companies, investors, and pilot projects, while finalising patent protection. There seems to be strong interest, as this is widely recognised as a major challenge with a need for cost-effective solutions.

What have been some of the key challenges and achievements so far?

One challenge has been learning to stay adaptable — it’s easy to get attached to an idea early on, but customer feedback and manufacturing costs often require you to pivot. Balancing GreenMixes with my PhD has been manageable because I genuinely enjoy both.

Winning the Postdoc Venture Creation Challenge in 2025 was the first milestone. The award is for postdocs with research ideas to commercialise, with a £20,000 prize. My co-founder is a postdoc and we were one of the few teams not directly continuing academic research.

After that, we won the Trinity Bradfield Prize this year, Cambridge’s most prestigious entrepreneurship competition, with a £10,000 award. We also won the Cambridge Climate Challenge, which recognises ventures tackling climate change at scale. These successes helped us move from early prototyping to an industrially scalable solution.

I was also named in the “21 to Watch” list for Cambridge and East of England in the People category, based on nominations from within the ecosystem.

Looking ahead, what are your plans for the future?

I’m interested in the process of taking ideas from concept to market, whether that’s through GreenMixes or future ventures. The potential impact of GreenMixes is hugely motivating, so my ideal plan is to work on it full-time and ramp up our fundraising immediately after I graduate.