Hadj Benkreira (CEng, FIChemE) received his B.Eng and M.Sc degrees (Chemical Engineering) from the University of Bradford (UK) in 1976 and 1977 respectively. He stayed on at Bradford and obtained his PhD in the Fluid Mechanics of Coating Flows in 1980 under the supervision of Professor W.L .Wilkinson (FRS).

Following five years of EPSRC postdoctoral research, he was recruited at the University of Bradford in 1985 under the “New Blood Lecturer Scheme” with the specific aim of “participating in the development of research in Polymer Processing and Applied Rheology”. Since then his research contribution has been notable particularly in the area of Thin Film Coating having published widely on roll coating flows, including forward, reverse, deformable and gravure and in recent years in Dynamic Wetting in Coating Flows. He was endowed a Personal Research Chair at Bradford in 1998 for research in Thin Film Coating and in Polymer Processing.

He is presently Associate Dean for Research & Knowledge Transfer at the School of Engineering, Design & Technology of the University of Bradford. This is one of the UK’s leading engineering research institutions which specializes in research in polymer and advanced materials engineering including coating technology & science; medical engineering; automotive and control engineering; civil and environmental engineering; and telecommunications engineering.

Professor Benkreira is member of several learned societies and colleges including the UK EPSRC Peer Review College, the ISCST of which he was the Vice President in 2006-8 and the European Coating Group which he founded with colleagues in 1992 and which now organizes the biennial series of European Coating Symposia. He is currently an ISCST Director.