Vesselin Paunov

Professor Paunov received his PhD in Physical Chemistry in 1997 from the University of Sofia where he studied the lateral capillary interactions between colloid particles adsorbed at liquid surfaces. He also specialized as a visiting researcher at the University of Patras, Greece in 1995, at the University of Erlangen, Germany in 1996, and as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Hull, UK 1997-1998 and the University of Delaware 1998-2000. He was appointed as a lecturer in Physical Chemistry at the University of Hull, UK in 2000 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2004, Reader in 2008 and Professor of Physical Chemistry and Advanced Materials in 2013. At the end of 2020 he moved to Nur-sultan city, Kazakhstan, where he was appointed as a Chair of the Department of Chemistry at Nazarbayev University.

Professor Paunov is internationally recognized for his highly interdisciplinary research in nanoscience and bio-nanomaterials. His research interests include colloid science of foams, emulsions, formulations, anisotropic materials, smart surfaces, colloid particles at liquid interfaces, microencapsulation, stimulus triggered release of actives, directed cell assembly, tissue engineering, whole cell biosensors, bioimprints and antimicrobial nanocarriers. His research has been funded by the UK Research councils EPSRC, BBSRC, Cancer Research UK, HEIF and industrial partners, like Unilever, Janssen and Lonza. He has published over 170 scientific papers in peer reviewed international journals and is a co-inventor of 13 patents. He has given more than 120 invited and conference presentations.