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Staff Profile

Professor Jarka Glassey

Prof of Chemical Engineering Education

  • Address: School of Engineering
    Merz Court
    Newcastle University
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE1 7RU
Background

I am a Professor of Chemical Engineering Education in the School of Engineering at Newcastle University. 


Roles and Responsibilities



  • Executive Vice President of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering
  • Executive Vice President of the European Society of Biochemical Engineering Sciences
  • Chair of RAEng Engineering X's Skills for Safety Board
  • Past Vice President Learned Society of IChemE 
  • UK representative of Working party on Education, EFCE
  • Executive Member of the Education Subcommittee of IChemE 
  • Editor in Chief, Education for Chemical Engineers


Area of expertise

  • Bioprocess development
  • Modelling (first principles, multivariate data analysis and hybrid modelling) 
  • Bioprocess optimisation
  • Quality by design (QbD)
  • Process analytical technologies (PAT)
  • Chemical engineering education
  • Immersive technologies (VR, AR, games, etc) in chemical engineering education
  • Active learning
  • Peer assisted learning 
  • Employability competencies 

Qualifications

  • Ing (1990) STU, Bratislava, Slovakia (equiv. to MEng Hons)
  • PhD (1995) University of Newcastle upon Tyne
  • Chartered Engineer (CEng, 2010)

Memberships

  • 1994 IChemE
  • 2006 MSfAM


Honours and Awards

  • 2024 IChemE Global Awards, Process Automation and Digitalisation category
  • 2021 Fellow of Royal Academy of Engineering
  • 2014 Principal Fellow HEA
  • 2013 National Teaching Fellow
  • 2010 VC Distinguished Teacher Award
  • 2010 ExxonMobil Teaching Excellence Award
  • 2010 Fellow IChemE 

Languages

  • Slovak - native
  • Czech - native
  • Hungarian, Russian - fluent
Research

My research career as a biochemical engineer focused on delivering high-quality research at the interface of academia and industrial impact. My research outputs in the areas of bioprocess development, modelling, monitoring and control, Quality by design (QbD) and Process Analytical Technologies (PAT) have made significant contributions to R&D in the biopharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals and food & drink sectors both within and outside the UK.

My research approach is based on the fundamental understanding and monitoring of the biological processes using post genomic methodologies and combining it with engineering principles of scale-up and process intensification. Most recently my group is investigating the use of these methodologies in monoclonal antibody manufacture, cell gene therapy, viral production and ADC production. Specifically, my main interests stem from the area of advanced monitoring and control of processes and, over the years, I have developed and disseminated novel control strategies for the optimisation of recombinant protein production by integrating the physiological and engineering approaches.


These approaches include machine learning, artificial intelligence and multivariate data analysis methods, successfully combined with first principle models to increase the predictive power of the resulting models. We used these models for the optimisation of the whole process, accounting for important interaction between individual unit operations, so often disregarded. The agent-based technology allowed us to make this process very efficient both in time and resources required and hence a direct applicability to industry is straightforward. This is particularly important in the current climate of driving for rapid development of viral production processes and more effective biotherapeutic manufacturing.
Teaching

Undergraduate Teaching

Biotechnology, Biochemical Engineering, Bioprocess Engineering, Design Project, Research project

Postgraduate Teaching

Control and Modelling of Bioprocesses

Publications