Professor Vasileios Koutsos

Professor and Deputy Director of Mechanical Engineering

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Location

1.132 Sanderson Building

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Engineering Discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Research Institutes

Materials and Processes
Research Publications
Prof Vasileios Koutsos

Vasileios Koutsos, FInstP, FIMMM, CEng MIMechE, FHEA, is a Professor (Chair in Soft Materials and Surfaces) with the Institute for Materials and Processes, in the School of Engineering. Formerly a Marie Curie Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Laboratory of Condensed Matter Physics in Collège de France (Paris, France, 1998-2000), he holds a BSc in Physics (Physics Department, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, 1992) and a PhD in Polymer Science (Chemistry Department & Materials Science Centre, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands, 1997). 

Since joining the University of Edinburgh in 2000, VK has transitioned from Lecturer to Professor, leading an interdisciplinary research group at the interface of materials science and mechanical engineering. With over two decades of academic and research leadership, he has secured £8M in funding and currently directs an advanced AFM facility. A defining feature of his career is a deep-seated, user-oriented approach that bridges the gap between fundamental research and industrial application. He has attracted over £1.5M in direct industrial funding from world-leading partners—including Michelin, SABIC, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, WES, and Greencoat UK Wind—to tackle complex materials science and engineering challenges.
 
VK served as Head of the Research Institute for Materials and Processes for a full 5-year term (2014-2019) and as Deputy Head of the Research Institute from 2019 to Feb. 2026; he currently serves as Deputy Director of Mechanical Engineering (since 2024).

  • Ph.D. in Polymer Science, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, 1997
  • B.Sc. in Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, 1992

  • Chartered Engineer and Member, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, CEng MIMechE
  • Fellow, Institute of Physics, FInstP
  • Fellow, Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, FIMMM
  • Fellow, Higher Education Academy, FHEA

Current:

  • Course Organiser of Industrial/European Placement 4 (MEng)
  • Course Organiser of Professional Issues for Mechanical Engineers 3 (BEng/MEng)
  • Final Year Mechanical Engineering Individual Project Supervision (BEng/MEng)
  • Industrial/European Placement Supervision (MEng)
  • Digital Design and Manufacture (DDM) M.Sc. Project Supervision

Major Past Teaching:

  • Surface Engineering and Coatings 5
  • Polymers and Composite Materials 4
  • Polymer Science and Engineering 5
  • Dynamics 4
  • Advanced Materials 5
  • Nanotechnology 5
  • Thermodynamics 2
  • Mechanical Engineering 2nd Year Laboratory; 12 experiments in dynamics, thermodynamics, fluids, and structures

 

  • Materials Science and Engineering
  • Surfaces and Interfaces
  • Composites and Nanocomposites
  • Recycling and Sustainability
  • Adhesion and Tribology
  • Mechanics of Materials
  • Thin Films and Coatings
  • Materials for Biomedical Applications
  • Materials for Energy
  • Materials for sensors

  • Polymers and Nanoparticles on Surfaces and Interfaces
  • Self Assembly
  • Elastomers and gels
  • Soft Coatings
  • Micro/nanomechanics
  • Wettability of Surfaces, Wetting, Dewetting
  • Droplets, bubbles, and liquid foams
  • Additive manufacturing
  • Electrospinning and fibrous materials
  • Surface Metrology and Characterisation
  • Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)