About
Ian is the Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor for Research Culture. In the words of the Royal Society, ‘Research culture encompasses the behaviours, values, expectations, attitudes and norms of our research communities. It influences researchers’ career paths and determines the way that research is conducted and communicated’. Ian aims to champion a positive culture of research integrity, open collaboration and scholarship, leading on Swansea Open Scholarship creating a space where our People, Culture and Environment can all continually develop together. He works across the institution to embed our commitments to responsible research assessment and metrics, and encourages and advocates for change in research practice to embrace the opportunities presented through Open Scholarship across the Faculties. Ian was a founding fellow of the Morgan Advanced Studies Institute (MASI) and as of July 2024 will be the next Director of MASI. The First Minister of Wales launched MASI in 2021 as Wales’ first Advanced Studies Institute focussed on transformative interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. Since then it’s built a vibrant and diverse community of researchers (within Swansea and networked Globally) who are ready to respond to the world’s most critical opportunities and challenges. MASI and the work it enables are vital parts of Swansea’s research culture.
Prior to this Ian was the Enterprise, Partnerships and Innovation lead for the Faculty of Science and Engineering, supporting the innovation ecosystem across the faculty.
More about Ian
Ian’s research has mostly focussed on rapid heating or curing of industrial coatings and energy materials such as photovoltaics and energy storage, along with colleagues at the SPECIFIC Innovation and Knowledge Centre, a Queen’s Anniversary Prize recipient. He also has research interests in water, sanitation and hygiene. More recently his interests have evolved into transdisciplinary research and systems approaches to unpick global challenges including climate change. Ian has managed major projects at the University including centres of doctoral training, the reintroduction of a chemistry department and the formation of the SUNRISE network, a global challenges research fund project creating energy positive buildings with partners across India and the Global South. SUNRISE has won many awards including the Times Higher Education Award for ‘International Collaboration of the Year’ in 2020.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), holding CChem and CSci registrations and has been appointed as a member of the RSC’s professional standards board. Recently he chaired a full review of the CChem award. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining
(FIMMM), where he holds CEng status, sits on the membership committee and assesses CEng applications. Ian is dedicated to outreach and public engagement and is a trustee of the Engineering Education Scheme Wales / STEM Cymru. Ian is committed to innovation in teaching practice and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and is a member of HEFCWs Research Wales Committee.
Dr Ian Mabbett talks about the decarbonisation of industry and much more.
