Biography

I was awarded a BSc in Geology by the University of Durham in 1994. After graduating, I worked for Surrey County Council, first in Highways and Transportation and later in Materials and Construction Management. In 1997, I continued my studies at the University of Manchester, gaining an MSc in Geotechnical Engineering in 1998 and a PhD in Civil Engineering in 2002. I was also awarded an MBA with Distinction in International Engineering Business Management by Manchester Business School in 2011. From 2001 until 2015, I worked for the University of Manchester as a Senior Consultant in High Performance Computing.

I joined the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering as a Lecturer in April 2015. I hold a number of other posts at the University including Head of Synthetic Environments and Systems Simulation in the Aerospace Research Institute; Honorary Lecturer in the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences and Research Fellow in the Interdisciplinary Centre for Ancient Life. I also have external appointments as Visiting Academic in the Oxford e-Research Centre at the University of Oxford and as Associate Research Fellow in the Colorado School of Mines, USA.

I hold a number of leadership roles in external organisations, where I actively promote the industrial exploitation of High Performance Computing in engineering simulation. These include elected Chair of the NAFEMS HPC Technical Working Group; elected member of the NAFEMS Technical Liaison Committee and elected Chair of the PRACE Industrial Advisory Committee. I am also a member of a UK Task Force, initiated by the British Embassy in Chicago and EPSRC, which seeks to promote and encourage collaboration between the UK and the USA in the exploitation of High Performance Computing.

I am the initiator and owner of the open source engineering software ParaFEM and author of the accompanying text book “Programming the Finite Element Method”. The software and text book are used in teaching, research and industry across the globe. I am always very open to discussing new collaborations at any level, from blue skies research projects to technology transfer through consultancy.