Dr Vimal Dhokia is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Engineering Design, specialising in the interface between innovation, design and manufacture, personalised design and advanced manufacturing technology.

Vimal began his research career at the University of Bath in 2006, where he undertook his doctorate in ‘Cryogenic sculptured surface machining of elastomers.' This investigated the freezing of polymers to below their glass transition temperature allowing them to be directly machined using CNC machining methods, with the principle application of personalised insoles and shoe soles. As part of this, he was appointed to his first research post in 2007 on a UK research council funded project entitled ‘Cryogenic machining of shoe soles.’

Upon successful completion of his PhD in 2009, he was appointed to a post-doctoral position on a European project entitled ‘Dematerialisation of machine tools.' In 2011, Vimal was appointed to the position of Research Fellow and in 2013 he was appointed to the position of Lecturer in Engineering Design at the University of Bath.

Research

Vimal’s primary research interests lie in the design and manufacture space. Over the last eight years he has been involved with a plethora of cutting edge research related to cryogenic machining of elastomers and advanced metal alloys, through to the design of next generation dematerialised machine tools.

These research projects have made impacts in the way personalised products are directly machined using cryogenic methods, in the way advanced metal alloys are processed and in the way the next generation of machine tools are being envisioned.

Vimal also has significant interest in hybrid design and manufacture, where single independent processes are combined to enable a more fluid and less material and resource intensive manufacturing approach. This also impacts positively on the ability to reuse and reincarnate components and products providing additional functionalities. In addition to this, Vimal is also interested in the next generation of design for manufacture and the emerging concept of industry 4.0.

The exposure of working on national and European projects has allowed Vimal to create significant collaborative links with leading international institutes, including Tecnalia, Spain; KU Leuven, Belgium; ISW, Stuttgart; ISI Karlsruhe, Germany; North Carolina State University, USA; ITIA, Italy.

In addition, he has industrial experience in motorsport engineering from high performance engine specialists, Cosworth Ltd and high precision engineering experience from Renishaw Plc.

Interested in supervising students studying the areas of:

• Hybrid design and manufacture
• Advanced manufacturing technology
• Early stage design
• Reverse engineering
• CAD/CAM
• Personalised design
• Novel manufacturing processes
• Design and Innovation.