Dr Akshay Deshmukh

Dr Akshay Deshmukh is a Research Group Leader (Principal Investigator) in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge. After graduating from the University of Cambridge he obtained his PhD from Yale University in the United States, where he studied energy-efficient desalination,  before beginning his postdoctoral career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He joined the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology in 2026.  

Dr Deshmukh’s research focuses on developing new processes and materials for sustainable to recover critical metals from complex mixtures, including brines and recycling leachates, using membranes. The work aims to reduce reliance on today’s energy, water and chemically intensive separation methods, helping to reduce the economic and environmental costs of critical metal extraction and purification.