Materials science and engineering

I am a Fellow of The Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining and a Fellow of The Institute of Metal Finishing and was winner of Engineering Employers’ Federation Trophy and the Royal Academy of Engineering Global Research Award. I have a wide range of research experience in construction materials, speciality alloys, steels, and surface engineering products. I started research on geopolymers in 2013 and have had 6 funded projects and 4 PhD projects, on the development and microstructural characterisation of low carbon eco‐friendly and cost‐effective cementless geopolymer concrete.

In the recent five years, I have had research funding from Northern Ireland (NI) Department for the Economy, Innovate UK, Invest NI, and Horizon 2020.  The four most recent grants include partnerships in ten countries, in industry, research organisations, and universities, including academics and researchers outside my own discipline.  About 75% of my journal articles in recent years are co-authored with researchers in other countries.

Over this research career, I have always collaborated with other experts.  I regularly attend a broad range of conferences.  In 2023, I visited Tata Steel in Europe (Netherlands), Université de Mons (Belgium), University of Sheffield (UK).  I attended Workshop of RILEM Technical Committee on Mechanical Properties of Alkali-activated Materials (Belgium), 15th World Conference on Titanium (Edinburgh), and the 31st International Materials Research Congress (Mexico, Symposium Organiser).  In 2024, I attended the 78th RILEM Annual Week & RILEM Conference on Sustainable Materials & Structures (France).

My research focuses on materials for engineering applications. Recently funded research has been on sustainable construction materials, but the materials that I researched previously were mostly for applications in mechanical and aerospace engineering. Though recent funded research has concentrated on construction materials, I have continued with a wide range of research topics using PhD projects (15 PhD theses supervised to completion), including additive manufacturing of titanium alloy, composite coatings, shape stable phase change materials, and behaviour and optimisation of steel buildings.

My breadth of experience combined with a deep knowledge of materials and more latterly a focus on the development of low carbon materials would allow me to contribute knowledge and experience in the setting of technical priorities and needs, in terms of deep materials science and of how we can apply such technology to current net zero challenges. A key objective of my research in the last ten years has been developing construction materials based on reuse and recycling.  Research projects towards achieving this include Low carbon footprint precast concrete products for an energy efficient built environment, Innovate UK, £552k.

My research grants and publications include investigators and researchers outside my own School. For examples, my recent US-Ireland grant “Multi-scale investigation of bio-based mineral precipitation in carbonate bearing granular soils and construction waste” includes a co-investigator Dr D. Kumaresan, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences. The US partner is NSF Center for Bio-mediated & Bio-inspired Geotechnics, including Arizona State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and University of California Davis. My recent Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) grant “Low cost, rugged and reusable sensor technology for enabling digital manufacturing and product tracking for precast concrete” includes Dr G. Conway, in the Centre of Wireless Innovation at the Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology, School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. My own interdisciplinary research culminated in a single-author monograph combining two traditionally separate disciplines, Steels: from materials science to structural engineering.

My grants include external partnerships, academic, industry, international. For examples, my US-Ireland grant mentioned above is a joint project with University College Dublin (funding from Science Foundation Ireland) and Center for Bio-mediated & Bio-inspired Geotechnics (funding from National Science Foundation). The KTP grant mentioned above partnered with Creagh Concrete Products Ltd. Among other recent grants, EC-Horizon 2020 grant “Reuse and recycling of CDW materials and structures in energy efficient prefabricated elements for building refurbishment and construction” included thirteen partners, both RTD and industry. Innovate UK grant “Low carbon footprint precast concrete products for an energy efficient built environment” included seven university and industry partners in the UK and Malaysia (funding from Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology).