Dr. Balanand Santhosh, obtained his Ph.D. (cum laude) in Materials, Mechatronics and Systems engineering from the Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Trento, Italy. He is currently working as Research Assistant Professor at Gdansk Univerity of Technology, Poland. Formerly he was working as a post-doctoral researcher at University of Trento, Italy. His research expertise is mainly in the area of ceramic processing and technology with the main research activities been carried out in the field of ‘Polymer derived ceramic (PDC)’ processing. The precursor derived approach is an innovative technique to develop advanced ceramics and ceramic based composites with tailored compositions, structure and properties, which are otherwise unachievable by conventional processing techniques. He communicated most of his research findings to high impact journals (which also includes the most recent work conducted during his Post-doctoral period at the University of Trento). He has also presented his doctoral and post-doctoral research work at different international conferences and other technical sessions.

Before joining University of Trento in 2017, Dr. Santhosh had an extended research career in India spanning between 2013-2016, when he carried out his materials-based research activities at Amrita University (on a project funded by DRDO-India), Coimbatore and at CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram. During this period he developed expertise in different fields of materials processing, technology, and characterization, which include ceramic materials processing, polymer processing, plasma based deposition techniques, nano-composite fabrication, electrochemical studies, green processing of ceramics, photo-catalysis, corrosion studies, adhesive joining technology. He is well versed and has hands-on experience on many material characterization techniques, which includes: TG-DTA, FT-IR, SEM, TEM, AFM, XRD, XPS, BET, Raman, electrochemical analysis, Tribology, and in mechanical and thermal characterization of ceramics, polymers, and advanced composites. 

He has good experience in processing of polymeric pre-ceramics and the standard characterization of the evolving ceramics, which he has demonstrated through his publications. He also has brought good collaborations to the institutions where he has worked during his tenure and has contributed significantly to the state-of-the-art in ceramic processing and technology during his 9 years-long research career. To this end, he has produced 18 journal publications and has presented his research findings at more than 7 international platforms.