Opportunities in the EPSRC Centre in Doctoral Training (CDT) in Innovation for Sustainable Composites Engineering

Posted on by jo.rich

The University of Bristol is offering four projects for doctoral studies with a focus on the creation of sustainable and efficient solutions for the design of composite structures. The projects will be part of the new CDT launched in 2024 following on from five previous successful centres in Bristol Composites Institute (BCI) https://www.bristol.ac.uk/composites/cdtsustainablecompeng/.

The purpose of the CDT is to train future leaders to doctoral level with the skills and expertise to address the design, manufacture and assurance of composite products. Alongside conducting  your research project you will follow a taught programme that provides an in-depth knowledge of composite materials and their use with a focus on sustainability and the circular economy. You will follow a structured professional development programme, alongside the research, to prepare you for a future career in industry or academia.

We are seeking highly motivated and committed individuals with an eye on the future, who are interested in conducting stimulating and essential industrially relevant research and have a passion for finding sustainable solutions. There are many challenges in understanding the behaviour of composite materials and structures, so the projects seek to develop new manufacturing routes, design concepts, analysis procedures and development of new solutions.

Type of award: Engineering Doctorate/Doctor of Philosophy

Research focus areas: Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Design Engineering, Research group Bristol Composites Institute

Scholarship Details An enhanced stipend of £25,789 for 2024/25, a fee waiver and generous research financial support for the successful candidates.

Duration 4 years

Eligibility Home/International

Start Date January 2025

Project 1: Improved design and damage tolerance of lightweight composite sandwich structures – Supervised by Professor Ole Thomsen

The key design drivers for the adoption of sandwich structures include high specific stiffness and strength, damping, thermal insulation and excellent fatigue properties by adopting particular constituents and tailored geometric layouts. The PhD project will:

  • Devise a multi-scale modelling framework for the prediction of the load response and progressive damage and failure behaviour of CFRP sandwich structures.
  • Provide a high-fidelity experimental methodology combining imaging approaches applied to data-rich analysis of the load response and progressive damage and failure behaviour of CFRP sandwich structures.
  • Enable novel design concepts for damage tolerant CFRP sandwich structures.
  • Stimulate your interest in composites and mechanical design to unlock doors for the next-generation of analysis/design procedures and efficient lightweight engineering structures to facilitate Net-Zero sustainability goals.

Project 2: Novel flexible photonic based sensors for health monitoring of composite structures Supervised by Professor Janice Barton

A radical redesign of optical fibre architecture has enabled a new in-situ measurement paradigm that elicits quantitative assessment of through-thickness strains in laminated composite structures during manufacture and service. The novel sensor technology will inform composite design and manufacturing strategies to facilitate Net-Zero sustainability goals by reducing scrappage and extending operational lifetime. You will work closely with industry to:

  • Design procedures that enable the flexible photonic sensor to make multiple measurements quickly with real time reporting on the health of the structure.
  • Develop the new sensors for both manufacturing control and service life predictions of a composite structure.
  • Stimulate your interest in new, developmental sensing methods used as the basis for the creation of future sustainable composite products.

Project 3: Repeated impacts on composite aero-structures (sponsored by Rolls-Royce) Supervisor Professor Stephen Hallett

Aerospace composite components are subject to a multitude of seemingly minor impact threats, for example due to ice shedding or hailstones. Over a part’s lifetime, this can result in millions of such impacts. Whilst no single impact at this energy is sufficient to cause degradation, it is known that repeated loading can lead to fatigue of the material and ultimately failure. There is very limited research into repeated impacts, especially those occurring below the damage initiation threshold, hence you will address an unexplored gap in understanding. Working closely with project sponsor Rolls-Royce within our Composites University Technology Centre you will take a combined experimental and numerical approach to:

  • Investigate repeated loading under low velocity to establish the material’s damage threshold and establish the threshold of initiation and evolution of damage.
  • Provide numerical damage models based on the Bristol Composites Institute’s comprehensive experience to predict the onset and progression of damage, as well as to understand the mechanisms and drives for damage development.
  • Undertake higher strain rate testing, via the use of a drop weight impactor and gas gun to provide understanding of potential rate effects, ensuring the research is relevant for real-world impact loading scenarios.
  • Establish impact fatigue allowables for composite component design, to unlock more sustainable and efficient aircraft designs with reduced engine power requirements.

 

Project 4:

Application of Artificial Intelligence in Life Cycle Assessment of Composites Manufacturing  (sponsored by the National Composites Centre) Supervisor Dr Iryna Tretiak

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a methodology increasingly used in industry for assessing the environmental impact associated with all life cycle stages of a product, process or service. Gathering comprehensive, accurate data for every stage of product life cycle can be challenging, meaning data can be incomplete thus impacting the reliability of LCA results. Moreover, identifying the best impact assessment is subjective and can affect the final result. For composite structures, these effects are further compounded by decisions made early in the design process such as: fibre and matrix selection, geometry and manufacturing processes. Artificial intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML) could potentially overcome these challenges, enhancing the precision, efficiency, and depth of environmental impact assessments.

You will join a large cohort of CDT students sponsored by the National Composites Centre, which has been supporting Engineering Doctorate students for more than 10 years. Supported by this wealth of experience, you will develop AI tools capable of estimating the LCA impact of design decisions early on in the design process. The research will comprise:

  • Surveying existing LCA capabilities for composites to identify gaps in current tools and data.
  • Collect and homogenize primary data for composite manufacture from literature and in collaboration with OEMs. Design and implement a Universal Database Structure for LCA on composite materials.
  • Build an AI framework for design decisions support. Through the use of deep learning technologies, you will make system capable of automatic parametrization of structural geometries and materials, by making use of the widest range of primary LCA data.
  • Design, build and evaluate LCA-AI framework for a demonstrator structure.

 

Candidate Requirements

Applicants must hold/achieve a minimum a 2:1 MEng or merit at Masters level or equivalent in engineering, physics or chemistry. Applicants without a master’s qualification may be considered on an exceptional basis, provided they hold a first-class undergraduate degree. Please note, acceptance will also depend on evidence of readiness to pursue a research degree and performance at interview.

To apply please submit a personal statement, outlining your experience and why you are interested in PhD/EngD project, your CV and transcript of results to https://www.bristol.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/apply/. Please do not submit a project description; this is unnecessary as the project is already defined. Clearly state the project (s) you are interested in order of preference. For projects 1 to 3 select PhD in Advanced Composites and for Project 4 select EngD in Composites Manufacture. In all cases please enter Professor Janice Barton the Director of the CDT as the 2nd supervisor (janice.barton@bristol.ac.uk)

Closing date: 27th October 2024.

 

HyPower Bristol’s development of a 5kN bipropellant liquid rocket engine and supporting liquid feed system

Posted on by jo.rich

HyPower Bristol are a team of students from the BristolSEDS society, working on building and launching cutting edge student sounding rockets since 2020. Last year we entered the 2023 EUROC competition, which is held in annually in Ponte de Sor, Portugal. This Europe wide competition is hosted by the Portuguese Space Agency and brings the best rocketry teams from universities across the continent, including Delft, TUM and of course, University of Bristol. Our compact team managed to achieve 3rd place in the ‘Off the shelf’ solid motor category last year and have since built towards even greater engineering challenges for this year’s EUROC 2024 competition.

Following conversations with the Portuguese Space Agency last year, we have embarked on the ambitious development of a 5kN bipropellant liquid rocket engine and supporting liquid feed system. This engine will run on with isopropanol fuel and nitrous oxide oxidiser, exhausting the 19L of propellant tanks in under 6s.

To meet our goals of flying this liquid engine at the EUROC 24 competition, we have had to flight test many new aspects of our design throughout the year such as control electronics and software. To easily make these flight tests, we started the year by manufacturing a half size sized “sub scale” rocket which uses a hybrid metallic/ composite structure.

In this design, the lower carbon section is made up of removeable panels which bolt into an underlying metallic frame, facilitating quick access to the electronics under test. The carbon parts are made with a wet layup of Prime 37 and 600gsm triaxial carbon, and the glass parts used biaxial plane weave E-glass. The parts were laid on to aluminium tools and cured under vacuum. The laminates have not been optimised for mass and are quasi-isotropic, as the requirements of the test vehicle call for high reliability and spare thrust budget is available. A focus of the EUROC 2025 programme will be minimisation of mass through an optimised fully composite structure.

The fin section has been designed to be removeable which allows the testing of different fin configurations and adjusts the rocket’s mass distribution. For this part, individual fins were first laid up using 3d printed aerofoil moulds, before being aligned and bonded to a section of carbon tube. Further uni-directional carbon was then applied between the tips of adjacent fins to reinforce the bonded joints and suppress aeroelastic fin “flutter” which is a common failure mode for similar unstiffened fins. The structure has been flown twice this year and has proven very reliable: this was exemplified by a failed parachute deployment and subsequent drop from 250m which only required the replacement of a single fin. These launches have demonstrated the many systems including robust telemetry and our inflight deployed air brakes which will allow us to control to a specified altitude in Portugal.

The launches have also been key to developing our test procedures and checklists for the future flights. Depending on funding availability, we would like to conduct a final set of launches in September to trial additional functionality with our custom electronics.

Following our work on the test vehicle, we have begun manufacturing the full-size entry for Portugal. The airframe design will be similar to the subscale, with an internal metallic structure to mount valves and electronics, and a stressed carbon panel skin which prevents buckling but still allows quick access to the propulsion system. Our initial design held propellant in commercially available COPVs, however these were difficult to package and would cause the vehicle to be over 5m long. We have therefore developed an aluminium coaxial propellant tank, which minimises the vehicle length by using the entire cross section to store propellant and passes the inertial and aerodynamic flight loads through the tank wall. Despite the less efficient material, this tank option reduces the total mass by more than 5kg by reducing the vehicle length to 3.5m.

The composite manufacture has begun with experiments using low-cost foam tooling, this has been successful for the panel sections. The next step will be manufacture of tube sections, however the internal surface is more critical for these parts, and we will need to see if we can achieve an adequately flat finish for bonding to the metallic and polymer adapters. We recently received the 3d printed Inconel chamber, and the machined propellant tank components are nearly ready for test.

We have also had the opportunity to work with the AENGM0050 Design, Build, and Test unit this year to develop a highly efficient payload mounting structure. This design has been inspired by sea sponge skeletons found in nature and manufactured with prepreg carbon tape. The structure has been built by the students and successfully tested far in excess of the loads that will be experienced in flight. The structure will support our 1kg stack of 3 cube satellites during flight in Portugal.

Some members of the team have also recently built an entry to the UK high powered rocketry competition which took place in Scotland last year. For this we constructed a simple fibreglass airframe based on tape wrapped glass tubes. This rocket hit its target apogee of 2200m and set a new Bristol speed record of 1030km/h and then safely returned on computer deployed parachutes, winning us the UK title.

Our next steps for this design cycle are to pressure test the propellant tank and perform an integrated hot-fire which will prove the engine, propellant loading system, and remote control system. The team would like to say an enormous thank you to the BCI community for supporting us in our rocket journey so far, and we hope you are as excited as us to see what we manage in Portugal!

If you have any thoughts about our design or perhaps can think of a way to support us, please feel free to reach out to lk2093@bristol.ac.uk and hypowerbristol@gmail.com

Follow our journey here: LinkedIn or Instagram and https://euroc.pt/  to learn more about the EUROC competition.

Lillian, Jacob, and the HyPower Bristol Team.

 

BCI Showcases Research at ECCM21

Posted on by jo.rich

In previous years, the European Conference on Composite Materials has been at the forefront of showcasing innovation and key research developments into composites: ECCM21 (July 2024) was no different, with over 25 presenters from Bristol Composites Institute alone! A full list of presentation titles and abstracts can be found here on our blog.

Hosted in the city of Nantes, France, an impressive variety of topics ranging from structural performance and material fundamentals all the way up to large-scale industrial process and simulation were on offer. Comprising of a mix of introductory tutorials, posters and parallel presentation sessions, the conference delivered on providing insight and highlighted trends towards more sustainable use of composites – an ever-growing topic of importance in today’s world.

Of particular note in this conference was the focus on machine learning and data-driven approaches to composites: for example, to advance current simulation and process modelling of liquid composite moulding, to in-line monitoring during deposition using novel sensors and inspection techniques. Data is fast-becoming an increasingly valuable asset used by manufacturers and customers, particularly in the aerospace sector, to make more informed decision-making about how to best navigate the challenges in a post-pandemic global supply chain.

However, the ways in which data is processed is just as important, but can be expectedly variable given the diversity and spread of the composites community. Take the microstructure of a composite laminate, typically, a micrograph of the laminate cross-section is captured and the fibre volume fraction quantified using image-analysis.
The challenge? Methods X, Y & Z used to analyse the same image all return different values. The first step towards a solution? An image-based benchmark to establish guidelines for improving the consistency between researchers and therefore, increasing confidence in their analyses and maturation for industrial applications.

It is clear that composites has a far-reaching impact on many sectors and research themes. To capitalise on these innovations, the continued active dialogue between industrial and academic partners is of critical importance.

written by Umeir Khan, PhD Aerospace Engineering.

———————————————————————————————————————–

NextCOMP enjoyed a very successful set of 5 special sessions at ECCM21 which took place across two days on the subject of “Understanding and Improving longitudinal Compressive strength”.  With a keynote from Prof Michael Wisnom a highlight, the sessions which took place in a large auditorium at le Cite Congres, Nantes were very well attended and sparked considerable interest, conversations and discussions in and outside the sessions.  Speaker contributions from academia and industry meant the sessions successfully showcased the excellent research into composite compression being undertaken around the world. Once again, this focussed session has facilitated the creation of new connections and collaborations to extend the NextCOMP Programme’s research in the future.

The NextCOMP team from BCI and Imperial College enjoyed a very productive week at the conference, and were pleased to attend numerous fascinating talks on a range of different subjects including the latest composites research.  After-hours highlights in the lovely city of Nantes included many crepes, visits to fascinating historical buildings and some unique street and creative arts spaces – certain members of the NextCOMP team might have even been spotted watching some entertaining Euro football matches (with colleagues and friends from around the world).  We thank the organisers for a fantastic conference, which we all thoroughly enjoyed!

written by Jo Gildersleve, NextCOMP Project Manager.

Festival of Enterprise returns for third year

Posted on by jo.rich

Our Early Career Enterprise Fellows, James Uzzell and James Griffith were fine ambassadors for BCI at the 2024 Festival of Enterprise. Both delivered excellent presentations with aplomb to an expert panel of judges and answered questions on their work.

Judging was extremely tight and both were highly commended; James Griffith being a narrow second in the panel judgement but won the audience vote and prize for the most engaging presentation titled “Developing Composite Solutions for Cryogenic Liquid Hydrogen Fuel Storage on Zero Carbon Emission Aviation (Developing Materials for Net-Zero Flight).”

James Uzzell’s presentation was focused on dynamic induction coils for energy efficient composites manufacturing.

The event, which was held in the Bill Brown Design Suite within the Faculty of Engineering on Thursday 20 June, focused on showcasing the range of research and enterprise activities, the people that have been supported and the impact of the funding and training provided by the University Enterprise Fellowships (UEFs) and Early Career Enterprise Fellowships (ECEFs).

The event featured presentations by the 23/24 Cohort of UEFs, and a series of PechaKucha style presentations by our ECEFs with an expert panel of judges who awarded the prize for best presentation with regards to project outcome & impact, in addition to an audience vote and prize for the most engaging presentation on the day.

Bristol spinout raises more than £17.5m to deliver cutting-edge composites

Posted on by jo.rich

University of Bristol spinout company iCOMAT has secured more than £17.5m in funding to deliver lighter transport solutions faster and at a lower cost.

iCOMAT is one of the leading manufacturers of advanced composite structures for the aerospace and automotive industries Image credit: iCOMAT

Founded by Dr Evangelos Zympeloudis, iCOMAT is one of the leading manufacturers of advanced composite structures for the aerospace and automotive industries.

iCOMAT’s Rapid Tow Shearing (RTS) process means carbon fibre tapes can be used in physically curved positions without being damaged or becoming defective.

Unlike traditional methods which create components by layering straight fibre layers, iCOMAT’s solution allows for the fibres to be directed precisely, optimising the structural property at any given point. The technology can significantly reduce weight compared to existing commercial solutions, and considerably improve production rates.

The investment round was led by 8VC, a technology and bio-sciences venture capitalist firm, alongside the NATO Innovation Fund. Other investor partners include Syensgo Ventures and existing iCOMAT investors Velocity Partners VC.

The Bristol-based company has had a long affiliation with SETsquared and its academic partners at the University of Bristol.

iCOMAT is currently working with more than 25 customers from across the aerospace, defence and automotive sectors, and has successfully delivered parts for demanding applications including fighter aircraft panels, space launcher structures, and Formula 1 components.

To meet demand, iCOMAT is in the process of building its first production factory in Gloucester. The state-of-the-art facility will house three RTS production lines, alongside an array of other advanced processing equipment. It is anticipated that the factory will be fully operational by the end of 2024.

iCOMAT founder and CEO, Dr Evangelos Zympeloudis, said: “Our RTS process not only offers unparalleled structural efficiency, but unlocks fully automated production workflows.

“We are thrilled to partner with our investors and accelerate progress toward our mission – to revolutionise transportation by delivering the lightest structures and vehicles possible.”

Bristol scientists to participate in £42.5M national Centre of Excellence in advanced materials

Posted on by jo.rich

The University of Bristol and its Bristol Composites Institute is part of a new Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) funded £42.5M partnership with academia, industry and RTOs to deliver ground-breaking new research into materials for extreme environments.

 

Advanced materials play a vital role in keeping people and equipment safe in the harsh physical environments such as polar or tropical heat, shock, space and extreme water depth. The new Defence Materials Centre of Excellence (DMEx) will be led by the Henry Royce Institute along with 23 other partners from academic, industry and research organisations. Using leading edge technology, the Bristol Composites Institute, along with other researchers across the Science and Engineering Faculty will contribute to this national effort in advanced materials research.

 

Regius Professor Phil Withers FRENg FRS, Chief Scientist at the Henry Royce Institute and Regius Professor at the University of Manchester, said: “I am very excited about this opportunity for the Royce to team up with Catapults, industry, other universities and Dstl to bring many of the brightest minds and state of the art capabilities together to undertake materials research and development in support of the UK.”

 

Stephen Hallett, who led the University of Bristol’s participation in the bid and will represent the Air Domain as Partner Principle on the DMEx Science Board said: “It is great to be part of this successful consortium, that will allow Bristol researchers to contribute their expertise and skills.”

 

As the DMEx centre gets underway and gathers momentum, research at Bristol will support the upscaling of exciting new materials and technology and feed into the growth of advanced materials activity, which is estimated at £14.4 billion in gross value to the UK economy.

 

Written by Simon Quinn, BCI Engagement Manager.

Net Zero Challenges Policy Project

Posted on by jo.rich

The Bristol Composites Institute (BCI) has recently welcomed Dr Jack Dury, a Civil Service Fast Streamer, on a 6 month secondment to identify how academia, the National Composites Centre (NNC) and industry can best influence and inform future policy making and practice so that composite materials are utilised to their full potential to meet the global challenge of Net Zero.

The work will identify policy blockers, workshop solutions through engagement with the composites community, and summarise findings in a white paper. The white paper will make the case for composites, describe the policy blockers and how Governments can support the composites industry, in addition to what the future regulatory landscape will look like and potential solutions.

To support the work, please complete this survey on your experiences of the industrial use of composite materials and government policy. The findings will be disseminated widely in autumn 2024.

For further information, or to engage with the work, please contact jack.dury@bristol.ac.uk.

BCI have been awarded funding from EPSRC and 29 industrial partners of £20M for 6th Centre for Doctoral Training

Posted on by jo.rich

Following our successful application to EPSRC led by Professor Janice Barton for our sixth Centre for Doctoral Training, we are delighted to announce we will be able to train 67 doctoral students over five years starting in 2024.

The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Innovation for Sustainable Composites Engineering will train highly skilled future leaders equipped with the expertise and resilience to address the sustainable design, manufacture, and assurance of composite products. 

The focus of the Centre differs considerably to the previous ones with sustainability as a continuous thread and close interaction with industry, with research projects running across the four years of the programme. An entirely new taught programme has been designed, which aligns with structured professional development activities that focusing on creating the leaders of tomorrow.  

Dr Lee Harper from the University of Nottingham presents the key points of the research programme

The research projects will provide a means of achieving environmental neutrality for composite products through production, service, and reuse. The research topics include the pursuit of more sustainable composite materials, creation of energy efficient manufacturing processes and novel data-driven design approaches that take advantage of the freedoms offered by composite materials to generate efficient structural concepts.
The target is to create inherently sustainable composite solutions, able to perform in diverse environments, and made using new scientific advances, with new energy efficient, waste-free manufacturing procedures.  

Attendees were encouraged to discuss thoughts and ideas in the afternoon break-out session

We recently hosted a CDT in Innovation for Sustainable Composites Engineering Start-up meeting with Industrial Partners at the University of Bristol, which created an opportunity for researchers and industry experts to discuss the key targets of the centre and how these will be achieved. It was a successful day with a space for thoughtful conversation welcomed in the break-out group session.
The event targeted the setting up of new research projects with common goals identified such as low-cost tooling to enable high-rate manufacture, in-process NDT, new approaches to acceptance and certification and development of a life cycle assessment tools. Professor Janice Barton remarked “I am pleased that so many of our industrial partners were able to attend and help shape the start of the CDT. The engagement across academia and industry is key to the success of all aspects of the CDT.”

The CDT is strongly supported by the UK composites sector and is a partnership with University of Nottingham, the National Composites Centre, National Physical Laboratory, Henry Royce Institute, and 26 industrial partners representing a diverse range of sectors: Aerospace (Airbus, Rolls-Royce, Dowty, Leonardo, GKN), Defence (QinetiQ, AWE, BAE Systems), Automotive (Gordon Murray, JLR), Wind Energy (Vestas, EDF-Renewables), Marine (Tods), Rail (Network Rail), Oil and Gas (Magma Global), Hydrogen (Luxfer), Material suppliers (Hexcel, Syensco, iCOMAT, SHD), Design and manufacturing companies (Pentaxia, Actuation Lab, LMAT, Carbon ThreeSixty), RTOs (NPL, NCC, Royce, HVMC).  

The list is not exclusive; we welcome participation from other companies. If you would like to be involved, please contact composites-institute@bristol.ac.uk  

 

BCI Alumni Q&A: Reece Lincoln

Posted on by jo.rich

As part of our Alumni Series, we speak to Reece Lincoln, Senior Engineer at Frazer-Nash Consultancy about life after the BCI…

Why did you choose the Bristol Composites Institute for your studies?
I chose the Bristol Composites Institute as it is a world-class research institute for composites. I was interested in researching composite structures and there was no better place to go. I was attracted to the PhD programme as it was cohort-based, meaning it wouldn’t be a completely solo adventure. I was also at Bristol Uni for my undergrad, so I knew the lecturers and research staff were excellent. 

What research area did you specialise in whilst you were here?
I specialised in structures, specifically shell buckling. I researched how a BCI-created manufacturing technique, Rapid Tow Shearing, could be used to reduce the sensitivity of thin-walled shells to premature buckling under axial compression. I showed that with Rapid Tow Shearing, a more mass-efficient structure could be manufactured, which could lead to direct mass savings on a structure. 

 

After leaving the BCI where did you go?
I have been working at Frazer-Nash Consultancy for the past 15 months, working on data science and machine learning projects. 

What are you currently working on and what do your future plans look like?
My projects are wide ranging – but general process is similar – I work in a team of two to five that creates a model of a complex system. We then visualise this model in an interactive tool for the client. I have worked on modelling the graphite within nuclear reactors, the roll-out of gigabit-capable internet across the UK, the cost and performance of a space-based solar-power satellite, the resilience of the UK energy network to weather events, and the post-processing of nuclear waste. My future plans are to continue what I’m doing now – working on tough problems that are impactful and interesting. 

How did the BCI prepare you for work outside of academia?
BCI prepared me for work outside academia by teaching me how to be rigorous in understanding a problem, methodical in my approach to creating a solution, and critical of the results any solution produces. BCI also taught me how to communicate clearly and concisely, recognising that technical problems have ‘stories’ to tell and the story is as important as the solution. 

BCI Alumni Q&A: Riccardo Manno

Posted on by jo.rich

As part of our Alumni Series, we speak to Riccardo Manno, Research and Development Engineer at Ansys about life after the BCI…

Why did you choose the Bristol Composites Institute for your studies?
Back in 2017 I was involved in a research project that saw me spending some time in an University in US. That time I realized I wanted to pursue a PhD in some relevant University. I therefore, started searching for the best academic institutes around the world and I came across BCI. Looking at the website I suddenly understood that it was the place to be for an Advanced Composites Doctorate. 

What research area did you specialise in whilst you were here?
I was mainly involved in the numerical modelling of advanced Ceramic Matrix Composites within the Rolls Royce University of Technology Centre at BCI. I also had the opportunity to collaborate with engineers working at Rolls Royce as well as other researchers based at Imperial College London and University of Oxford. I have to say it was an incredible journey. 

After leaving the BCI where did you go?
After finishing my PhD I won a Knowledge Transfer Secondment of which I was the Principal Investigator. During this time, I transferred all the work that I had produced during my PhD to Rolls Royce. While, completing the file period of the KTS I secured a position at Ansys as Research and Development Engineer. 

What are you currently working on and what do your future plans look like?
In my day to day, I implement models and pieces of software which are used for performing multiscale simulations of composite and lattice materials. I am happy to work at Ansys and I am trying to build as much knowledge as possible for progress within the company. 

 How did the BCI prepare you for work outside of academia?
I think BCI is an excellent starting point for working within academia as well as outside academia. It is really well known around the world from companies working in the composites field. Furthermore, all the trainings provided by the BCI prepared me well to make the leap into industry after my PhD and Postdoc.