We have been delivering world-class teaching and research for over 135 years.
A unique feature is our strong links to industry and public bodies, which is integral to our research, teaching and knowledge exchange activity.
In 2022, we became the only engineering department in the UK to hold a Gold Athena Swan Award. This award marks our commitment to being an inclusive and supportive place to work and study, and recognises our efforts to improve and embed gender equality in all aspects of department activity.
Our international profile
Several of our staff are involved in international research or are members of international committees. For example:
- Doug Bertram and Richard Lord are members of the organising committee for the International Water Association’s Young Water Professional’s conference.
- Stella Pytharouli is project monitoring the behaviour of the reservoir, caprock and overburden of an active CO2 injection site, the Aquistore site in Canada.
- Alessandro Tarantino, Consortium Leader and Network Coordinator of the project 2014-2017 EC/Marie Curie IRSES project GREAT ‘Geotechnical and geological Responses to climate change:.
- Alessandro Tarantino is also Consortium Leader and Network Coordinator of the project 2013-2016, European Commission/Marie Curie Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways (IAPP), ‘MAGIC’ Monitoring systems to Assess Geotechnical Infrastructure subjected to Climatic hazards.
- Charles Knapp, “antimicrobial resistance in the environment” - active research collaborations in Canada, USA, India, Spain, Poland.
- Charles Knapp, Alessandro Tarantino & Grainne El Mountassir: “bio–geomechanics” - active research collaborations in China and India.
- Christine Switzer, Smouldering remediation: Student and staff engagement with Savron Solutions and Universities of Western Ontario (Canada), Queensland (Australia), and Edinburgh.
- Elsa João, one of the directors of the prestigious International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) for the period 2014-2017.
- Philippe Sentenac, FP7 project RISMAC (Measurements and assessment of desiccation cracks integrity in soils with the application of remedial solutions) with Texas A&M University, USA.
Our key members of staff
| Staff | Department role |
|---|---|
| Professor Vernon Phoenix | Head of Department |
| Professor Alessandro Tarantino | Deputy Head of Department |
| Professor Zoe Shipton | Deputy Head of Department |
| Professor Rebecca Lunn | Research Centre Head |
| Professor Christopher White | Research Centre Head |
| Professor Edoardo Patelli | Research Centre Head |
| Dr Grainne El Mountassir | Director for Research |
| Dr Marcus Perry | Director for Knowledge Exchange |
| Dr Neil Ferguson | Director for Undergraduate Studies |
| Dr Charles Knapp | Director for Postgraduate Studies |
| Dr Stella Pytharouli | Director of Postgraduate Research |
| Dr Shangtong Yang | Director for Internationalisation |
| Dr Jen Roberts | Director for MRes Studies |