Amin Nobakhti
Principal Investigator
About
The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) can trace its origins to the Manchester Mechanics Institution, founded in 1824 by prominent merchant John Henry Reynolds. Its mission was to provide skilled workers for the hub of the industrial revolution, Manchester. Its vision was to bridge the schism between the passion of academics and the needs of industrialists. Such was the strength of the conviction of its founders to this vision, that after 175 years, the legacy still reverberated at Reynold's building, and strongly resonated with the engineer within Amin.
From 2000, he spent eight years at UMIST, doing an M.Sc, Ph.D., and four years of postdoctoral research work on Control Theory and Application, the sweet spot of deep mathematical concepts topped with challenging real-life problems. As he continued his academic career at the Sharif University of Technology as a Professor of Control Systems, he tried to build his own bridges in Iran's archaic system by bringing teams of like-minded people in tech start-ups such as Maharban Control Engineering.
His best opportunity in building bridges came via the establishment of the Phanous Research and Innovation centre; The first high-tech R&D centre fully funded by the private sector in Iran. He feels passionate and privileged to lead a team of scientists, experts, and engineers that share the same vision and drive for innovation with real business impact. Perhaps the resources of John Henry Reynolds are lacking now, but the passion for research and development to solve future life challenges is very much present. Amin is an engineer, as well as a researcher and academic. In the legacy of J.H. Reynolds, he strives to be a true "bridge-builder" for Phanous.