Vesna Najdanovic is a Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering at Aston University. She obtained a BSc degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Belgrade (Serbia) in 1998 and a PhD degree in Chemical Engineering at the New University of Lisbon (Portugal) in 2004. Her area of research lies within the sustainable valorisation of biomass-derived products and carbon dioxide, including i) Recovery of valuable products from waste fermentation broth; ii) Electrochemical production of hydrocarbons from hydrogen and carbon dioxide; iii) Utilisation of biomass as a source of biofuels and biodiesel; and, iv) Enhanced conversion of biomass-derived feedstock using nuclear energy.

Most recently, Vesna was a PI on the EPSRC grant “Renewable Hydrogen: Simultaneous Storage of Biorenewable Energy and Carbon Dioxide” (EP/R000727/1) and EPSRC – Impact Acceleration Account project Valorisation of waste fermentation broth“ co-funded by Marlow Foods (Quorn). In recent years, she was PI of various projects supported by the EPSRC-IAA (PI of the “Valorisation of residual biomass” project in collaboration with Griffin Renewables Ltd, 2014-2015), BBSRC (PI of the “Extraction of a novel chelate from nettles” project in collaboration with Levity Crop, 2015-2016) and industry (PI of the “Valorisation of Spent Coffee Grounds” project funded by Biosel Ltd, 2014-2015).           

She has published over 50 peer-reviewed papers with a high citation record (2099 citations in total, of which 1986 are citations without self-citations and h-index of 22 – Web of Science®, November 2020). Her recently published paper on the nuclear fuel cycle for renewable energy (Sustainable Energy Fuels 2019, 3, 1693-1700) has been highlighted as a HOT ARTICLE by the Royal Society of Chemistry. She is an elected member of the publication committee of the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).

In 2019, Vesna showcased her research on “Biofuels in a Renewable Future” to parliamentarians, business leaders and fellow academics at high profile event in the House of Commons organised by the Industry and Parliament Trust.

Vesna is an associate editor of Frontiers in Chemistry - Molecular Liquids, an Academic Adviser to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) and a member of the Royal Society International Exchanges Scheme panel.