Joseph N Grima

Joseph N Grima (1974-) is a resident academic at the University of Malta within the Faculty of Science (Department of Chemistry and Metamaterials Unit), President of the Malta Paralympic Committee, and President of Siggiewi Rowing Club. His academic work ranges from mechanical metamaterials to biomechanics and focuses on the strong relationship between geometry and function. His publications are highly cited (Google H-Index of 60) and his name features regularly in the Stanford List of Top 2% Scientists Worldwide.

Grima is also an Honorary Professor at the University of Exeter (UK), Visiting Professor at the University of Staffordshire UK) and Honorary and Vice-President of Malta Rowing Association.

In his role as resident academic at the University of Malta (Full Professor since March 2009), he leads a research group working on materials and structures exhibiting negative properties such as negative Poisson’s ratios (auxetic), negative thermal expansion and negative compressibility. His work includes a number of publications which examine how auxetic behaviour can be achieved from rotating rigid units, such as the well known “rotating squares“, a model for auxeticity which was first presented in Dublin, July 1999. Grima’s group has hosted a number of international conferences and workshops and co-edited various international journal special issues on these novel systems. The research entails the testing, modelling and/or simulation of the mechanical properties of materials in an attempt to discover or design materials with these unusual properties. Particularly interesting results include the discovery of negative Poisson’s ratios in graphene, tendons, the zeolite class of materials, the design of various networked polymeric auxetics and, the development of models for predicting the mechanical properties of auxetic foams and of microporous polymers. Some of these discoveries have a number of very important implications (e.g. the discovery that tendons have a negative Poisson’s ratio may necessitate a rethink of how injured tendons are treated). In addition to this, Professor Grima is involved in a number of biomechanics research projects with a focus on sports biomechanics and rowing, a sport which he practices.