Welcome — happy to have you here.

My name is Deepak Venkateshvaran. I use these pages to document my main professional interests.

I’m an academic at the University of Cambridge, with responsibilities spanning research, teaching, institutional leadership, and science policy.

Research
I hold a Royal Society University Research Fellowship at the Cavendish Laboratory, where my group develops novel force mapping techniques to measure mechanics at the nanoscale. We study multifunctional soft systems, from organic semiconductors to biological matter.

Teaching
I’m a Fellow and Director of Studies in Physics at Selwyn College, Cambridge. My role covers undergraduate admissions and interviews, organising tutorials, and overseeing students’ academic progress through the Natural Sciences Tripos. I also teach a master’s-level course at the University on energy harvesting and energy generation technologies.

Institutional Leadership
I serve as a trustee of Selwyn College and sit on its access and outreach committee, which works to make Cambridge more accessible to students from economically disadvantaged parts of the country. I also sit on the graduate funding committee at the Cavendish Laboratory and on several competitive research fellowship panels across Cambridge, contributing to decisions on funding for postgraduate applicants and postdoctoral researchers.

Science Policy in Government
In 2024, I worked part-time at the UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) on policy relating to energy and low-dimensional materials. I led an internal report assessing the impact, promises kept, and lessons learned from over £600 million of combined government and equity investment in graphene research and development in the UK.