Dr Elena Mancuso (PhD, AFHEA) is a Lecturer in Biomaterials in the School of Engineering within the Nanotechnology and Integrated Bioengineering Centre (NIBEC) at Ulster University. Her background includes a PhD in Mechanical Engineering (Newcastle University, UK), which was awarded in July 2016, and an M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering from Politecnico di Torino (Turin, Italy). Prior to her current appointment she was a Research Fellow within IMPRESS, an EPSRC/NIHR-funded network based in the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Leeds (Leeds, UK). In addition to her academic experience, she worked 2 years as R&D Engineer in a biomedical company specialised particularly in manufacturing surgical meshes for the treatment of abdominal wall defects and stress urinary incontinence. Her research interests lie in the use of biomaterials and their processing as 3D tissue-like substitutes. Specifically, she focuses on conventional (i.e electrospinning) and non-conventional (additive manufacturing) engineering technologies as platform for the development of novel implantable medical devices to treat human health conditions (i.e bone and cartilage tissue diseases, pelvic floor prolapse and skin disorders).

She is currently involved in a variety of research projects both as PI and Co-I (i.e North West Centre for Advanced Manufacturing (NWCAM), a £8m project funded by the EU’s INTERREG VA Programme) and collaborates with industrial, academic partners and clinicians within the UK and internationally.

She is a member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Full member of the Peer Review College, Guest Editor of the Special Issue "Advanced Ceramics for Biomedical Applications" (Fibers, MDPI journal), and peer reviewer for multiple journals in the Biomaterial field, such as Material Letter, Journal of the European Ceramic Society and Journal of Biomedical Materials Research: Part B. She is affiliated to several professional bodies (i.e TERMIS, MEDE, ESB), and she is actively involved in chairing and organising conference symposia (TERMIS2016, UKSB2018). From a research impact perspective to date, the quality of her research has led to the delivery of multiple oral presentations as invited speaker, the publication of scientific papers in the leading journals in her field, and the presentation of her work at major national and international conferences (i.e. in Sweden, Spain, Italy, Poland, Greece, Israel and US).

Elena research and academic leadership has been recognised in a range of awards, including an industrial placement within a MedTech innovation HUB (Medipex Ltd), a Translate Technology Accelerator Package from the Translate:Me Programme (University of Leeds, UK) and a Newton Fund Award for a UK-India interdisciplinary workshop on advanced biomaterials and biosensors (IIT Ropar, India).