I have more than 40 years’ experience in civil and environmental engineering. After completing my doctorate, I worked for Brown & Root (UK) Ltd, helping design the Hutton Tension Leg Platform (the World’s first vertically moored, floating oil platform for deep-water applications) which won the Queen’s Award for Technological Achievement in 1984. From 1990 to 2011, I was a Tutorial Fellow at St Edmund Hall and Lecturer, Reader, and then Professor in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford. From 2007 to 2010, I was Deputy Head of Department and organized its Centenary celebrations. From 2011-13, I was Head of Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at University College Cork, where I was Founding Director of the €29M SFI Centre for Marine and Renewable Energy Ireland. MaREI now employs more than 200 people across Ireland, and involves more than 50 companies. I am an Emeritus Professor at The University of Edinburgh, where I was Professor of Applied Hydrodynamics from 2013-2019. I hold (or have held) adjunct professorships at seven universities in China, Ireland, and the UK.  I am presently a Visiting Professor at Peking University and Visiting Distinguished Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China (2018-2021).

Employment History ...

Engineer, South West Water Authority, summers of 1976, 1977 and 1978.

Research Assistant and Demonstrator, Liverpool University, 1979-1982.

Engineer, Brown & Root (UK) Ltd, 1982–1983.

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Water Resources, Salford University, 1984-1990.

Tutorial Fellow, St Edmund Hall Oxford, 1990-2011.

University Lecturer/Reader in Engineering Science, Oxford University, 1990-2002.

Professor of Engineering Science, Oxford University, 2002-2011. Deputy Head, 2007-2010.

Head, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, UCC, 2011-13.

Professor of Applied Hydrodynamics, U of Edinburgh, 2013-19, Professorial Fellow, U of Edinburgh, 2019-2021

Professor of Applied Hydrodynamics, U of Plymouth, 2021-24.

Chartered Engineer                                     CEng                1985

Institution of Civil Engineers                              MICE                1987

European Engineer (FEANI)                              Eur Ing               1988

Institution of Civil Engineers                              FICE                 2003

Royal Academy of Engineering                            FREng               2014

Royal Society of Edinburgh                               FRSE                2015

In the past 10 years, I have served on research assessment panels for the UK REF-14 and Italian Research Quality Exercises, chaired an Evaluation Panel for the Estonian Research Council, and reported to UK Government on issues relating to floods and energy security. I have reviewed university departments in Australia, Estonia, Ireland, South Korea, and the U.K.  

I was a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Nominations Committee (2016-19) and the Lessells Committee (2017-19), a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Awards Committee (2016-19), and the Review Panel for the Global Challenges for Research Fund (GCRF) Networking Grants (2017).

I acted as an external reviewer for the 2017, 2018, 2019 State Natural Science Awards, People’s Republic of China.

Chair, International Scientific Advisory Committee for SFI MaREI Centre, Ireland (2014-)

Advisory Board of EPSRC CDT in Water Informatics at Exeter, Bath, and Cardiff Universities (2014-18).

Chair, Scientific Advisory Board for EU FP7 Marine Energy Research Accelerator, University of Highlands & Islands (2014-17).

Chair, RSE Working Group responding to U.K. Scottish Affairs Committee’s inquiry into the renewable energy sector in Scotland (2016).

Member, Scientific Advisory Committee of International Joint Laboratory for Regional Pollution Control (IJRC), Ministry of Education of China (2019-).

I have co-supervised 61 doctoral students to completion.

I acted as external examiner/reviewer of 45 PhD and 2 MSc candidates in U.K., China, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, and Norway.

I have also acted as internal examiner to 1 DSc, 18 DPhil and 3 MSc candidates at Oxford, 1 PhD and 1 MEngSc at UCC, and 6 PhD candidates at Edinburgh.

Edinburgh (2013-19)

MEng, MSc, and EngD lectures on Open Channel Flow, Hydraulic Engineering, and Marine Renewable Energy, and organised a Mechanical Engineering Design exercise. Lectured on tidal energy to the CDT on Wind and Marine Energy at the University of Strathclyde.

University College Cork [UCC] (2011-13)

BE lectures on Environmental Hydraulics.

University of Oxford (1990-2011)

MEng lecture courses on Mathematics, Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, Hydraulics, Engineering Hydrology, Coastal Engineering, Offshore Engineering, Water Engineering, and Plates & Shells, and MSc lectures on Engineering Hydrology in the Geography Department.

Undergraduate teaching for St Edmund Hall, Oxford (1990-2011)

Tutorials in Mathematics, Energy Systems, Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Engineering & Society, and Environmental Risk & Sustainability.

Final Year Projects

I have supervised more than 100 final year dissertations. In 2012, my student, Maggie Creed, won a European SET Award from the Lloyd’s Register Education Trust for the Best Maritime Technology Student.

Over the years, I have organised my research group as a community to develop talent. I have employed 21 research assistants, and co-supervised 61 doctoral and 7 MSc students to completion. Several of my ex-students have gone on to successful careers in academia (including 7 full professors, 1 reader, 2 associate professors, and 6 lecturers).