Jonathan Acheson is a Lecturer in the School of Engineering at Ulster University. His primary teaching concerns are Computer Aided Design/Engineering (CAD/CAE) and Operations Management and Biomaterials. Jonathan is also the Placement & Employability Coordinator for the School of Engineering. Jonathan is a Fellow of the Higher Education academy and has sucesfully supervised over 20 BSc/BEng/MEng final year projects and 3 MSc projects to completion.

His primary research is focused on bioactive and multifunctional coatings for biomaterial and engineering applications. Recent research includes:

- working on a US-Ireland center-to-center grant developing bioactive inorganic coatings for magnesium alloys with the overall aim to develop biodegradable magnesium alloys implant devices to replace conventional bone fixation products

- development of inorganic nano-composite coatings to deliver next-generation functionality to tissue scaffolds

- optimising the compressive mechanical properties and open cell pore structure of highly interconnected foams for lightweight load bearing applications with hydration actuated mechanical property changes

- cell co-culture studies on interconnected open cell structures through design and implementation of customised bioreactor apparatus

Jonathan’s research interests are focused on the development of organic/inorganic coatings and the creation of novel biomaterials for biomedical devices primarily focusing on bone related applications.

Jonathan attained his 1st class honours degree in Biomedical Engineering from Ulster University in 2014 pursuing a PhD from Queen’s University Belfast later that year and graduating with his PhD in 2018. His PhD encompassed the development of polymer-clay nanocomposite thin films for bone tissue scaffold applications via a process known as layer-by-layer assembly. These nanocomposite coatings were deposited onto 3D open cell structures for the purposes of tailoring the physical and mechanical properties of bone tissue scaffolds to match the properties of surround bone at the implant site. Jonathan focused on characterising the coatings under hydrated environments, optimising the hydrated mechanical properties and studying how to add functionality of controlled mechanical properties over time.

In his spare time Jonathan is a STEM ambassador, educating and exciting students about science and research encouraging future careers in STEM topics.