Professor Matthew Unthank

Professor

School: Geography and Natural Sciences

Matt Unthank is a Professor of Chemistry at Northumbria University and has an established track record in polymer, coatings and surfaces research. Specifically, his expertise in functional polymers for network forming reactions, for use in thermoset coatings and composites is demonstrated with >15 years of patents, publications and speaker awards in this field. His career boasts both industrial leadership roles (AkzoNobel – Polymer Research Manager, GlaxoSmithKline – Senior Process Chemist) and academic roles (visiting academic at University of Manchester, Professor of Chemistry at Northumbria University). Over the last five years he has been awarded research grants from a wide range of funders including UKRI, EPSRC, DSTL and OfWAT in addition to higher TRL projects working with industrial partners such as AkzoNobel, Altana, Allnex, Northumbrian Water and others. He is an EPSRC Researcher in Residence Fellow, with the High Value Manufacturing Catapult (CPI and NCC) to develop sustainable high-performance composites and coatings, a member of the EPSRC Early Career Forum (ECF) in Manufacturing Research (https://ecfmanufacturing.com/current-members/) and co-lead for the bulk chemical sector in the £5M EPSRC-TransFire Hub involving 12 academic institutions, >100 companies and 14 non-governmental organisations (EP/V054627/1, https://transfire-hub.org/). Further to this he is a founding member of the ‘Synthesis and Polymer Innovation’ centre at Northumbria (SPIN, www.northumbria.ac.uk/spin) to support polymer, coatings and composite scale-up and commercialisation projects with industrial partners.

Campus Address

Room D225, Ellison Building,
Northumbria University,
Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 8ST

Email Matthew

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Effects of Polypropylene Waste and Functionalized Polypropylene Waste on the Properties of Sand Concrete and Lightweight Concrete Made with Sintered Fly Ash, Markandu, D., Railton, J., Nagaratnam, B., Ramli, J., Bousbaa, J., Unthank, M., Poologanathan, K. 13 Jan 2026, Proceedings of the RILEM Spring Convention and Conference 2025, Cham, Switzerland, Springer
Nepenthes pitcher plant inspired bio-polymer embedded porous surfaces for oil aquaplaning, Orme, B., Jenkins, A., Unthank, M., Barrioz, V., Wells, G., McHale, G., Agrawal, P. 12 Jan 2026, In: Scientific Reports
Environmentally Conscious Hydrophobic Spray Coatings on Bacterial Cellulose for Sustainable and Reusable Textiles, Gilmour, K., Dell’Agnese, B., Bonney, G., Unthank, M., White, N., Scott, J., Sherry, A., James, P., Jiang, Y., Dade-Robertson, M., Zhang, M. 10 Jul 2025, In: Journal of Cleaner Production
A Novel Molecular Imprinting Polymerbased Optical Fiber Sensor for Valsartan, Ma, H., Zhang, M., Ghassemlooy, Z., Yao, Y., Yuan, J., Unthank, M., Wu, Q. 19 Jul 2024, 2024 14th International Symposium on Communication Systems, Networks and Digital Signal Processing (CSNDSP), IEEE
Capillary wave tweezer, Orme, B., Torun, H., Unthank, M., Fu, Y., Ford, B., Agrawal, P. 30 May 2024, In: Scientific Reports
Conversion of Contaminated Post-Consumer Polyethylene Terephthalate into a Thermoset Alkyd Coating Using Biosourced Monomers, Thomas, B., Lopez,  ., Railton, J., Bousbaa, J., Perry, J., Unthank, M. 29 Apr 2024, In: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
pH-Responsive, Thermoset Polymer Coatings for Active Protection against Aluminum Corrosion, Watson, J., Balmforth, V., Gray, E., Unthank, M. 13 Mar 2024, In: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
Recyclable thermosets based on modified epoxy-amine network polymers, Anderson, L., Sanders, E., Unthank, M. 1 Mar 2023, In: Materials Horizons
Synergistic depolymerisation of alginate and chitosan by high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) and pulsed electric fields (PEF) treatment in the presence of H2O2, Rivero Ramos, P., Unthank, M., Sanz, T., Rodrigo, M., Benlloch Tinoco, M. 15 Sep 2023, In: Carbohydrate Polymers
Acrylate resins and powder coatings compositions and powder coated substrates including the same, Unthank, M., Fleetham, V., Gray, E. 7 Jul 2022

Current and Recent Projects

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Green growth skills, Watson, R. (Principal Investigator), Unthank, M. (Co Investigator), North of Tyne Combined Authority, 01/04/23 - 31/03/26, £463,160.00

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Participating in a conference, workshop, ...: Northumbria University - Experience day 2024

PGR Supervision

William Bunn New covalent adaptable network polymers for applications in sustainable organic coatings Start Date: 01/10/2025 End Date: 17/10/2025
MacKenzie Weir New sustainable and recyclable polymer-fibre composites from epoxy-amine-dioxazaborocane network polymers Start Date: 01/10/2025 End Date: 17/10/2025
Hoang Nguyen INVESTIGATING NOVEL COVALENT ADAPTABLE NETWORKS POLYMERS FOR APPLICATIONS IN LOW-TEMPERATURE-CURE POWDER COATINGS Start Date: 01/10/2021 End Date: 10/06/2025
MacKenzie Weir New sustainable and recyclable polymer-fibre composites from epoxy-amine-dioxazaborocane network polymers Start Date: 01/10/2025
Neave White The development of PDMS methacrylate co-polymers and surface-polymerised nanoparticles, for applications in easy-clean coatings Start Date: 01/10/2022 End Date: 01/06/2026
Neave White Functionalized nano-structured silica surfaces for robust self-cleaning and anti-scratch coating applications. Start Date: 01/10/2022 End Date: 17/10/2025
Rebecca Cass Sustainable Biomaterials and Biopolymers for Next Generation Industrial Applications Start Date: 01/10/2023
William Bunn New covalent adaptable network polymers for applications in sustainable organic coatings Start Date: 01/10/2025
James Cubitt An exploration of polymer network structure in high-performance epoxy-amine thermosets for use in marine environments Start Date: 01/10/2024 End Date: 17/10/2025
Rebecca Cass Sustainable Biomaterials and Biopolymers for Next Generation Industrial Applications Start Date: 01/10/2023 End Date: 17/10/2025
James Cubitt An exploration of polymer network structure in high-performance epoxy-amine thermosets for use in marine environments Start Date: 01/10/2024