News
Biographical Memoir: Professor Ken Walters FRS
Ken Walters was a leading international figure in the field of rheology. He applied his mathematical training to the analysis of many common test procedures, contributed to the formulation of nonlinear constitutive equations for viscoelastic fluids and pioneered computational studies in rheology. The Royal Society has now published Ken's "Biographical Memoir", written by Russell Davies and Roger Tanner. It can be found at: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbm.2024.0002
Thornton Hall Conference, April 2025
The INNFM, in conjunction with the British Society of Rheology, will hold a “Spring Meeting on Rheology” between Wednesday 9th and Friday 11th April 2025. Further details can be found on the Events page, which will soon receive further updates.
New members, June 2024
The INNFM is delighted to welcome new members. Tom Barker and Steven Lind (both Cardiff) and Bjornar Sandnes (Swansea) join as Core Members, while Elisabbeta De Angelis (Bologna, Cardiff), Charles Schroeder (Illinois), Pier-Luca Maffetone (Naples) join as Associate Members.
Lake Vyrnwy Conference, April 2023
We are planning a special meeting in memory of Professor Ken Walters. Ken was instrumental in establishing the INNFM over 30 years ago. We will celebrate 30 years of the Institute and Ken’s contributions to rheology with a meeting covering the intentionally broad topic of ‘Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics’, a theme that captures Ken’s influence on all areas of our subject.
The meeting will take place at Lake Vyrnwy, Wales, April 3rd-5th, 2023. Further details and a registration form can be found on the website of the British Society of Rheology, who are co-organising the meeting.
Professor Ken Walters FRS 1934-2022
The INNFM records with deep sadness the death of Ken Walters, of Aberystwyth University, who passed away in March this year. Ken had a remarkable influence on rheology and on the rheology community, and was co-chair of the Institute. We are planning to hold a scientific meeting to celebrate his achievements.
Portmeirion 2020/21
To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the Institute of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, our next spring meeting was to have been held at Portmeirion village in North Wales.
The 2020 meeting was postponed with a view to reschedule, but unfortunately it remains impossible to foresee when conditions will allow such a meeting to take place.The meeting has therefore been cancelled.
Registered delegates should already have received this information, and will be sent further information about reimbursement in due course.
Professor Mike Webster 1953-2018
The INNFM records with deep sadness the death of Mike Webster, Professor of 
Engineering at Swansea University and Secretary of the Institute. Mike lived and breathed computational rheology, made a significant contribution to the rheological community, and was a dear friend and a trusted and sincere colleague.
An obituary was published in JNNFM.
Annual Lecture 2018
The 2018 Annual Lecture and AGM of the Institute of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics was held on July 10th at Swansea University’s Bay Campus. The Institute and Swansea University welcomed Prof. Gareth McKinley, MIT, as guest speaker. Gareth gave a very interesting lecture entitled “Optimal Fourier Transform Rheology for Probing The Linear Viscoelasticity of Gels and Time-Evolving Soft Materials” in which he described the use of Optimally Windowed Chirp waveforms in performing linear viscoelastic characterisation of transient materials. The work was enthusiastically received by a diverse audience and, as usual, seeded many discussions.
Prior to the lecture, Prof. Richard Davies (Vice Chancellor of Swansea University) conferred an Honorary Chair in Complex Fluids & Rheology on Prof. McKinley.