Dr Silvia Varagnolo

Professional biography

Dr. Silvia Varagnolo completed her BSc and MSc in Physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Padua (Italy). In 2016, she completed her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering in the same institution. 

Subsequently, she worked for four years as a Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Warwick (UK).

Currently, Silvia is a Lecturer in Mechanical and Materials Engineering in the School of Engineering and Innovation at the Open University (UK).

Research interests

Silvia's research interests include microfabrication, droplet wetting and motion, photovoltaics, bidimensional materials and sustainability. Her research focuses on the production and characterisation of micropatterned functional coatings.

Silvia's post-doctoral activity investigated a novel method for selective deposition of metals based on microcontact printing and metal thermal evaporation. This technique was applied for the fabrication of transparent and conductive metal electrodes for organic photovoltaic devices.

Her PhD research characterised the statics and dynamics of droplets on horizontal and inclined surfaces. Surfaces included smooth homogeneous substrates, chemically patterned surfaces, substrates coated with nanofibers and nano/microstructured hairy surfaces. Liquids included water, Newtonian water mixtures and non-Newtonian polymeric solutions.

From the scholarship side, Silvia is interested in inclusive teaching and gamification. She has been involved in a scholarship project entitled "Improving and evaluating inclusivity in group project work for distance-learning engineering students". She is currently leading the project "Gamification to increase participation ​in maths practice quizzes in Level 1 Engineering modules​".

Teaching interests

Silvia has achieved the status of Fellow (FHEA) awarded by Advance Higher Education in 2024.

Silvia's current teaching activity includes:

• module T192 - Engineering: origins, methods, context (presentation)
• module T193 - Engineering: frameworks, analysis, production (presentation and chair of the re-write)
• module T229 - Mechanical Engineering: Heat and flow (production and presentation)
• module T329 - Mechanical Engineering: Computer Aided Engineering (production and presentation)

During her postdoctorate, Silvia delivered workshops related to the Energy module CH3F7 for third or fourth-year undergraduate students at the University of Warwick.

During her PhD, Silvia was a personal tutor of first-year undergraduate students in Materials Science for the first module of Classical Physics at the University of Padua. She was also a teaching assistant in Laboratories of Physics related to the same module.