Richard Sear

Dr. Richard Sear is an Associate Professor (Reader) at the School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Surrey. As Soft Matter, Biological and Medical Physics group leader and Sustainability Fellow, his work bridges computational physics with practical applications in biophysics and pandemic mitigation.

• Soft Matter Physics
• Biological Physics
• Computational Modeling of Transport Phenomena
• Airborne Disease Transmission Dynamics

His research reveals novel physical mechanisms in diffusiophoresis (2024 studies on nonlocal ion currents and 'action-at-a-distance' effects) and colloidal stratification (2016-2022 work on self-assembled coatings). He has quantitatively modeled COVID-19 mask efficacy (2021-2024), showing FFP2/N95 masks reduce transmission by ~9x through optimal fit and filtration.

Scientific contributions include:

• Pioneering diffusiophoresis studies in cellular environments (2019) and salt solutions (2025)
• Advancing stratification models for polymer colloids (2018, 2020)
• Discovering critical scaling laws for particle deposition (2023)
• Developing sonocrystallisation theory (2019)