Personal statement

I am Senior Lecturer at the Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, which I joined in 2017 as a Strathclyde Chancellor’s Fellow.  I obtained my PhD in laser ultrasonics at the University of Warwick and I worked as post-doctoral research fellow at the Universities of Cambridge and Nottingham.

My main research is focused on sensing and imaging using light. I use light to generate and detect ultrasound and this capability is used for remote ultrasonic phased array imaging. These Laser Induced Phased Arrays have applications in remote non-destructive evaluation, in process evaluation and material characterisation.

My research interests include:

• remote ultrasonic sensing/imaging using optical methods
• in-line manufacturing process monitoring in extreme environments
• non-destructive testing
• material characterisation
• optically excited sensors
• laser induced ultrasonic phased arrays
• laser ultrasonics in advanced materials

Due to the industrial applications of my work I have an extensive record of industrial collaborations which include the UK Atomic Energy Authority, Sellafield and Hitachi.

I am co-chair of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion committee at the Electronic & Electrical Engineering Department, chair of the Physical Acoustics group, of the Institute of Physics and a member of the committee for ultrasonics (EPL/87) of the British Standards Institute.

PhD vacancies:

Fully-funded PhD project (details here):

• Fast and remote ultrasonic tomography using deep learning and laser ultrasound arrays (laser/ultrasound/materials)

The projects listed below are those which I am interested in supervising and I am currentlly recruiting students. If you are interested in applying for one of these projects, and you are a Home Student or a non-UK resident with PhD funding, please contact me by email to discuss this further. Please note this list is of projects which do not have guaranteed funding.

• Fantastic 2D arrays for 3D ultrasonic array prototyping using lasers (laser/ultrasound/signal processing).
• Fast laser ultrasound imaging using spatial and temporal encoding of a pulsed laser beam (laser/ultrasound/signal processing).
• Maximising the use of information in the laser ultrasound signal for non-destructive evaluation of defects encountered in industry (laser/ultrasound/signal processing).
• Optimisation of Laser Induced Phased Arrays for large area inspection during non-destructive evaluation (laser/ultrasound/signal processing).
• Measuring and mapping residual stress during and post manufacturing using laser ultrasound (laser/ultrasound/materials).
• Robotics, sensor miniaturisation and multi-sensor integration for automated, large area and complex shape ultrasonic inspection (robotics/laser/ultrasound/non-destructive evaluation).
• Remote ultrasonic tomography using deep learning and laser ultrasound arrays for bio-medical imaging (laser/ultrasound/materials).

This list is not exhaustive. If you have another idea for a PhD project please get in touch by email, well before the PhD admissions deadline  (beginning Sept 2025).