I am Associate Head of School for Research in the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics at the University of Plymouth (UoP). As Associate Professor of Structural Engineering, I have obtained over £1 million in research grantsfrom EU Horizon 2020, the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) since 2014. I have been working on projects involving steel and concrete structures, graphene oxide concrete, recycled aggregates in concrete and plastic bottle houses, which have led to over 40 research publications. The latter project on developing local capacity for building affordable, self-sufficient homes (bottle houses), funded by a RAEng Frontiers of Engineering Seed Funding, was tweeted by the UK Prime Minister’s Office in August 2018.
As Associate Head of Civil Engineering at the UoP from 2015 to 2018, I made huge contributions to the management and operation of the Civil Engineering programmes on a daily basis. I have demonstrated exceptional leadership skills to motivate and inspire people within and beyond the University.
I established the UoP Civil Engineering Professional Mentoring Advisory Committeein 2018 to pair Civil Engineering students with Plymouth graduates who are working in the Civil Engineering Industry and has been successfully implementing the mentoring scheme since. As a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a Chartered Structural Engineer, the Past Chair (2018-20) of the IStructE Devon and Cornwall Regional Group, and a member of the Engineering Professors’ Council, I have actively been promoting civil and structural engineering.
Prior to joining the University, I was a lecturer at the University of Portsmouth from 2002 to 2006 and at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen from 2000 to 2002.

2022- Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers (FIStructE), London, UK. 
2019- Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (FICE), London. 
2018- Member of the Engineering Professors Council, UK.
2015- 22 Member of the Institution of Structural Engineers (MIStructE), London, UK. 
2015- Chartered Engineer of the Engineering Council (CEng), UK. 
2004- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), UK. 

2018-20 Member of the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) Council, London. 
2018-20 Chair of the IStructE Devon & Cornwall Regional Group. 
2016-17 Vice Chair of the IStructE Devon & Cornwall Regional Group. 
2016- Member of the IStructE Academic Qualifications Panel, London.
2015- Member of the IStructE Devon & Cornwall Regional Group committee.

• 2022 Buckling behaviour of perforated cold-form steel channel-section beams with circular holes in the web, PhD, Nanting Yu, University of Plymouth.
• 2019 Analysis and design of castellated beams, PhD, Sahar Elaiwi, University of Plymouth.
• 2018 Micro-scale study of multi-component ionic transport in concrete, PhD, Ganlin Feng, University of Plymouth.
• 2015 Fire performance of cold-formed steel sections, PhD, Shanshan Cheng, University of Plymouth. 

Ph.D theses that examined: 

• 2019 Aissa Bouaiss, Synthesis and manufacture of high performance FA-GGBS-HMNS based geoploymer concrete. School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, University of Plymouth, UK. 
• 2016 RaymondSieh, Self-lubricating non-cyanide Ag-PTFE composite coating for threadedcompression fittings, School of Engineering, Plymouth University, UK.
• 2014: Qing-feng Liu, Muli-phasemodelling of multi-species ionic migration in concrete, Marine Scienceand Engineering, Plymouth University, UK. 
• 2004: Eng Han TEE, Geometric optimisation of yield line patterns using generic algorithms, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univerisity of Portsmouth, UK.

I teach the following structural analysis and design modules:

• STAD200 Structural Analysis and Design 1- This module extends the theoretical base established by the Stage 1 Mechanics and Structures module. It is intended to combine the basic principles of analysis with design to develop an integrated approach to solving problems in Structural Engineering. The module is supported by the use of computer software (MasterSeries) and laboratory work.
• STAD300 Structural Analysis and Design 2- This module focuses on the analyses and design of whole structures, i.e. multi-storey buildings. It includes computer modelling and analysis using LUSAS FEA, and methods of the validation of the obtained results using approximate analysis.