Dr Stella Pytharouli

Personal statement

Dr Pytharouli has a Masters in Civil Engineering and a PhD on Dam deformations from Patras University, Greece. With more than 20 years of experience in the monitoring and analysis of structural and ground deformations, her research in the past few years has been directed towards two main inter-related themes: (1) the characterisation of the subsurface and (2) early warning systems for slope instability. Both themes have applications in engineering projects, resulting in close collaborations with the Industry sector. Her research focus has been on the potential of microseismics, i.e. the monitoring (using microseismic arrays) and analysis (based on advanced signal processing techniques) of either weak seismic events (-3 < Magnitude < 3), or just seismic noise, to be used within the remit of the above two research themes, in combination with state-of-the-art surveying technologies. Recently she has joined forces with colleagues specialising in machine learning and artificial intelligence. The integration of microseismic monitoring with advanced geodetic monitoring (terrestrial and aerial) and automatic detection and classification algorithms is a highly promising technological solution, which she is currently testing on landslide sites across the UK. Dr Pytharouli's research group consists currently of four PhD students and a post-doctoral researcher, with another three of her PhD students having successfully completed their studies since 2014. She has been the Director of Post-graduate research in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Strathclyde since November 2020. Dr Pytharouli teaches the undergraduate Level 2 module of Land Surveying and Mapping and delivers a 1-day course on land surveying principles as part of the post-graduate module Survey, Preliminary studies and Investigations in Architectural Heritage within the Department of Architecture at Strathclyde. Dr Pytharouli is accepting new PhD students, get in touch if interested in joining her group.