Research projects

Explore our current awards which are shaping the future of the school's engineering research.

On

Current projects

Water Engineering
Title Funding Body PI
SENS Dr Isabel Douterelo Soler
The Ensis Trust Dr Isabel Douterelo Soler
Royal Society Dr Isabel Douterelo Soler
INFLUENCE: Impact of Nitrate Fluxes to Water from Seasonally Frozen Soils under Climate Warming Prof Steve Thornton
Dr Charles Rouge
Water-Quality-as-a-Service (Treatment to Tap) Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat)

Prof Joby Boxall

Dr Stewart Husband

Prof Joby Boxall

Prof Vanessa Speight

Dr Isabel Douterelo Soler

Dr Katherine Fish

UK Industry

Prof Joby Boxall

Dr Stewart Husband

Severn Trent Water

Dr Katherine Fish

Prof Joby Boxall

Managing Background Leakage Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat)

Prof Joby Boxall

Prof Vanessa Speight

Dr Richard Collins

Anaerobic biodegradation of ETBE Shell Prof Steve Thornton
European Union

Prof Simon Tait

Dr Alma Schellart

Dr James Shucksmith

Dr Isabel Douterelo Soler

Dr Henriette Jensen

Prof Simon Tait

Prof Joby Boxall

Geotechnical Engineering
Title Funding Body

PI

Rooting for Resilience EPSRC Dr Alessandro Leonardi
Dr Elisabeth Bowman, Prof Joby Boxall, Dr Richard Collins, Edward John
ICE Dr Elisabeth Bowman
Dr Alessandro Leonardi
Dr Colin Smith
Resources, Infrastructure Systems and built Environments
Title Funding Body

PI

Dr Danielle Densley Tingley
IAA Dr Hadi Arbabi
EPSRC IAA

Dr Charles Gillott

Dr Danielle Densley Tingley

Innovation Fund Denmark Martyn McLaggan; Ian Burgess; Buick Davison; Shan-Shan Huang
Dr Danielle Densley Tingley
Structural Engineering
Title Funding Body

PI

UKRI Dr Behzad Nematollahi
Safe, Sustainable and Swift Reconstruction of Ukraine INNOVATE UK Dr Maurizio Guadagnini
EPSRC Dr Zuhal Ozdemir
EPSRC IAA Dr Linwei He
Royal Society

Dr Behzad Nematollahi

Hybrid optimization of skeletal and continuum structures LIMITSTATE LTD Dr Helen Fairclough
Digitally engineered stone-masonry building structures EPSRC Prof Matthew Gilbert
New Generation of Sustainable Lightweight Cold-Formed Steel Structures Royal Society Prof Iman Hajirasouliha
SINCERE: The second life of modern period architecture: Resilient and adaptive renovation towards net-zero carbon heritage buildings European Commission - Horizon Europe Dr Giacomo Torelli
Predictive thermo-hygral design of concrete for nuclear energy de-risking EPSRC IAA

Dr Giacomo Torelli

Dr Maurizio Guadagnini

Contaminated concrete removal using controlled heat-induced spalling British Council Dr Giacomo Torelli
Efficient design approach for PV-membrane structures via layout optimization Royal Society Dr Linwei He
Study on the stability of high strength steel beams considering restraint and creep effects in fire Royal Society Dr Shan-Shan Huang
Innovation Fund Denmark

Dr Martyn McLaggan

Prof Ian Burgess

Prof Buick Davison

Dr Shan-Shan Huang

Prof Iman Hajirasouliha

Prof Buick Davison

Dr Maurizio Guadagnini 
Use of optimally placed laser cut steel to accelerate the adoption of low embodied carbon construction materials EPSRC IAA/Metlase (UK Industry)

Prof Matthew Gilbert

Dr Helen Fairclough

Dr Giacomo Torelli

Innovate UK Prof Iman Hajirasouliha
Blast and Impact Engineering
Title Funding Body

PI

High Explosive Advanced Diagnostics and Media Modelling (HEADaMM)

Prof Genevieve Langdon

Prof Sam Clarke

Dr Andrew Barr

Dr Sam Rigby

Prof Andrew Tyas

RAEng Industrial Fellowship - Machine Learning Applications for Blast Protection Engineering Royal Academy of Engineering Dr Sam Rigby

Dr Sam Rigby

Prof Sam Clarke

Prof Andrew Tyas

Prof Genevieve Langdon

RAEng Chair in Near and Far Field Blast Research

DSTL

Royal Academy of Engineering

Prof Andrew Tyas

Past projects

Water Engineering
Title Funding Body PI
Modelling Mixing Mechanisms in 1D Water Network Models Prof Ian Guymer
Efficient Surrogate Modelling for Sustainable Management of Complex Seawater Intrusion-Impacted Aquifers Dr Domenico Bao
Dr Georges Kesserwani
European Union /  Dr Andy Nichols
Unlocking resilient benefits from African water Prof Vanessa Speight
Distributed Fibre-optic Cable Sensing for Buried Pipe Infrastructure Prof Simon Tait
Hydro KTP INNOVATE UK Dr Andy Nichols
) Prof Virginia Stovin
Effect of microbial community interactions on ETBE biodegradation potential in groundwater Prof Steve Thornton
Material Destiny ANGLIAN WATER SERVICES LIMITED Prof Vanessa Speight
Prof Joby Boxall
Real Time Absraction Management INNOVATE UK
Dr Vanessa Speight
Inspiration Prof Steve Thornton
PoroFrac - A high-fidelity isogeometric simulation methodology for fracture in porous media Professor René de Borst
Focussing Localised Discolouration Modelling UNITED UTILITIES WATER PLC Dr Stewart Husband

HARM - High Attenuation Recycling Materials

Prof Steve Thornton
ICASP Hull Living with Water Partnership NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL Prof Vanessa Speight
Wat Qual Prof Vanessa Speight

The Addition of Phosphate Dosing to Dwr Cymru Welsh Water zone B10

Welsh Water Dr Stewart Husband
Dr Isabel Douterelo Soler
 
CENTAUR  EU Dr James Shucksmith
Dr James Shucksmith
Smart Water 4 Europe EU Prof Joby Boxall

Prof Ian Guymer

Prof Virginia Stovin

Prof Joby Boxall
Geotechnical Engineering
Title Funding Body PI
The Rosetta Stone Network: Physical testing towards a common understanding of debris flow LEVERHULME TRUST Dr Elisabeth Bowman
Particle-Scale Investigation of Seepage Induced Geotechnical Instability EPSRC Dr Elisabeth Bowman
Resources, Infrastructure Systems and built Environments
Title Funding Body PI
UKRI/Mitacs

Dr Danielle Densley Tingley

Dr Charles Gillott

DecarboN8
Technical and Behavioural challenges to improving ventilation is small scale hospitality PROTECT national core study in Covid prevention, 91Ö±²¥ City Council and HEIF Dr Abigail Hathway
UKRI Dr Abigail Hathway
HEIF

Dr Danielle Densley Tingley

Dr Charles Gillott

Active Building Centre Research Programme
CORONA
EPSRC

Prof Martin Mayfield-Tulip

Dr Danielle Densley-Tingley

Dr Giuliano Punzo

Structural Engineering
Title Funding Body PI
Three-dimensional electrical tomography for imaging large concrete members Dr Giacomo Torelli
British Council Dr Zuhal Ozdemir
Prof Matthew Gilbert
Structural performance of 3D concrete printed composites EPSRC Professor Luca Susmel
INTEGRADDE

Prof Matthew Gilbert

Prof Colin Smith

FRGeo-Crete Professor Kypros Pilakoutas

Dr Maurizio Guadagnini

FRAMED

Professor Luca Susmel
Modelling size-dependent electro-magneto-mechanical coupling Royal Society Professor Harm Askes
Practical 3D model of masonry arch bridges and tunnel linings NETWORK RAIL LIMITED

Masonry arch bridges containing internal spandrels NETWORK RAIL LIMITED
RCUK-TUBITAK Research Partnerships

Blast & Impact Engineering
Title Funding Body PI
MOD Dr Sam Rigby
Mechanisms & Characterisation of Explosions Prof Andrew Tyas
Blast and Impact Diagnostics Laboratory

Prof Sam Clarke

Dr Sam Rigby

Prof Andrew Tyas

Digitwin

DigiTwin was a £5M EPSRC funded programme grant, that ran from February 2018 until September 2023, led by the University of 91Ö±²¥.

EPSRC Professor David Wagg
Professor Simon Neild (Bristol)

EPSRC Centre in Doctoral Training in Water Infrastructure and Resilience (WIRe CDT)

The school co-hosts the EPSRC  which aims to nurture a new generation of research leaders to provide multi-disciplinary, disruptive thinking to enhance the resilience of new and existing water infrastructure. WIRe PhD projects are developed and co-funded in partnership with the water sector, details of current WIRe students, projects and sponsors can be found below. For more information contact j.shucksmith@sheffield.ac.uk.

WIRe CDT student researchers/projects
Student Academic Supervisor(s) Industrial Sponsor(s) Project Title & Details
Jade Rogers

Prof. Joby Boxall

Prof. Vanessa Speight

Dr. Kat Fish

Scottish Water

Reinar Lokk

Dr Stewart Husband

Prof. Joby Boxall

United Utilities

Thomas Langshaw

Dr Richard Collins

Prof. Joby Boxall

UKWIR

Matthew MacRorie

Dr Richard Collins

Prof. Vanessa Speight

Anglian Water, WaterAid

Dr Alma Schellart

Prof. Simon Tait

STANTEC

Edward John

Prof. Luca Susmel

Prof. Joby Boxall

UKWIR

Prof. Steve Thornton Scottish Water

Dr James Shucksmith

Dr Isabel Douterelo Soler

Prof. Vanessa Speight

Thames Water

Isabel Carneiro Cardoso da Silva Prof. Joby Boxall UKWIR

Dr Richard Collins

Prof. Joby Boxall

Scottish Water

Dr Iñaki Esnaola

Prof. Simon Tait

Prof. George Panoutsos

Prof. Vanessa Speight

Thames Water

Prof. Joby Boxall

Prof. Vanessa Speight

Scottish Water

Kaeli Brazier

Dr James Shucksmith

Dr Andy Nichols

H2020 EU Co-UD Labs

Dr James Shucksmith

Prof. Simon Tait

Dr Alma Schellart

Environmental Monitoring Solutions (EMS)

Prof. Virginia Stovin

Severn Trent Water

Prof. Kirill Horoshenkov

Prof. Joby Boxall

Northumbrian Water

Dr Kat Fish

Prof. Joby Boxall

Dr Fran Pick

Severn Trent Water

Welsh Water

Scottish Water

Anglian Water

Dr Stewart Husband

Prof. Joby Boxall

South Staffordshire Water

Dr Andy Nichols

Prof. Jungong Han

Network Rail

Centres of excellence

The University's cross-faculty research centres harness our interdisciplinary expertise to solve the world's most pressing challenges.