Research Flashcards
Describe your research. How does it contribute to the field?
What are your research interests?
What is your research and how does it contribute to ocean engineering?
What specific areas of research would you like to pursue at our University?
Describe in layman’s terms why your research project is interesting in two minutes.
My research is focused on developing smart solutions that leverage numerical modelling and machine learning to improve the reliability and sustainability of offshore foundations, which would help reduce the cost of offshore renewables
Towards this end, I’m currently developing an intelligent end to end system that seeks to improve the reliability and cost effectiveness of the foundation design process
There are 3 key research themes within this system: and that is better ground models, better design methods and better prognosis.
What is your main research contribution?
What are your most significant achievements to date?.
My main research contribution would have to be the development of OxCaisson. Let me explain.
When I first started my PhD, there was a lack of design methods for suction caissons that are highly suited for offshore wind and this was hindering the adoption of caisson foundations in the industry
Now the development of oxCaisson has removed this obstacle and suction caissons can compete with monopile on a more level playing field
Furthermore, looking into the future, offshore wind are expected to move into deeper waters and for such sites, suction caissons are expected to be increasingly deployed. Hence, this work is expected to be increasingly important.
Briefly describe your experience in supervising students?
I’m currently co-supervising two masters students.
The first project is on automated identification of soil layering using machine learning and
the second project is on the development of a fast, data-driven design method to predict the surface foundation stiffness on arbitrary, multi-layered grounds
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
In the first 2 years, I plan to quickly immerse myself in the roleand establish my research group and look for opp. to strengthen my teaching effectiveness
At the end of 5 years, I would like to have established a national and international reputation as a research leader in my field, esp. in smart data-driven solutions for foundation engineering
I would like to have had obtained funding and won grants to support my research activities and have collaborations both nationally and internationally.
I would like to have established a strong portfolio of publications in top journals and to have contributed to the admin of the department
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
What will you be known for?
What will you be the ‘go to’ person for in 10 years’
time?
What will you be a future academic leader in?
Why do you want to be a future leader in this field /
topic?
What will be the focus of your research group?
What will you contribute to the field?
I hope to be a professor, leading a well-funded research group, tackling interesting and important problems in geotechnics
I would also like to be known as the ‘go to’ person for smart solutions for foundation engineering
I would also like to have my design methods incorporated in the design codes where they can make a strong impact
Why is your research important?
Provides a new paradigm on how we can design more resilient and and more sustaiable foundations, which would provide a critical pathway to the reduction of cost of offshore renewables
Please detail your understanding of the external research environment
Well aligned with the
Resilient nation and energy priorities of the uk govt.
- provides solutions that would lead to more cost effective and sustainable energy supplies and more resilient smart infrastructure
What are your plans for applying for external grant funding?
- ARC DECRA funding
- ARC Linkage funding (Industry partners e.g. offshore wind developers or offshore infrastruture companies)
Or
I am planning to apply for the EPSRC new investigator award funding and the Supergen flexible funding scheme. The proposed topic would be the development of smart monopile foundations
I am also planning to apply for the EPSRC standard grants together with my collaborators and the proposed topic would be on automated ground modelling using machine learning
I also intend to further develop my industry network to obtain industry funding directly
What would your research group look like?
How will you build your team? How big do you want your group to be? What is your timescale for setting up the group?
At steady state, 1-2 postdocs and 4-6 PhD students.
How do you increase impact in your work?
How would you bridge the gap from your research to research users?
The university is keen to serve the wider community and economy. Does your planned research have any potential in these areas?
Increase impact of my work in both the academic and non-academic circles
• For academics
o Go to conferences
o research papers are publicly accessible
o Maintain up-to-date website
• For industry and the wider society
Public engagement e.g. write to a broader lay audience in blogs such as theconversation
use social media such as Twitter
Engage with industry practitioners in industry workshops
How would you convince a funding body that they should fund your research rather than one of the other hundreds of proposals they receive?
I will focus on explaining the potential impact of the project (eng. productivity, cost savings etc.)
I will highlight how well-aligned it is with national interest (e.g. how it would provide lower cost, sustainable energy supplies and more resilient, smarter infrastructure)
Which piece of work you have done best shows who you are and what you have to
offer?
What did it change about how people approach this field?
I think the work that best shows who I am would be my development of a novel framework that can automatically formulate well-behaved yield functions.
I say this because this is a potentially high impact work not just in foundation engineering but in general constitutive modelling, as it is a major upgrade over the traditional approach of formulating yield functions using a manual and time-consuming ‘trial and error’ process.
This work also showcases some of my strengths, such as my focus on producing rigorous science as this framework is underpinned by rigorous mathematical theory. Also, this work shows my creativity and ability to think outside of the box, as I used a novel technique from the field of convex optimisation that has never been used in civil engineering before
What is sustainable foundations?
foundations that are
- More cost effective
- minimise environ damage (suction caisson easy to decommision)
- Longer lifespan
What type of research lab would you develop?
Rigorous, collaborative and interdisciplinary
What evidence do you have of independence?
My current research activities are very much my own independent work, that are distinct to the other ongoing research activities in the group.
That is why I have to establish my own collaboration network with researchers from other departments to turn my ideas into reality
What makes you distinct? What’s unique about
your skill set, your experience?
I bring a unique blend of skills and experience that combine academic rigour, numerical expertise and a strong sense of practical perspective, that ensures that my work are well aligned with the needs of the industry so that they can make a real impact, while still staying academically rigorous
Furthermore, I have several strengths….
Tell me if you have any high ref paper and give me the supplementary impact statement
Novel framework that can automatically formulate yield functions, which is a major upgrade over the traditional approach of formulating yield functions by trial and error
This work has led to the development of an elastoplastic winkler model for suction caissons, which has made a tangible impact in industry as it has been deployed for the in house design of caissons by orsted
Furthermore this work has led to further research on a novel framework for developing robust and thermodynamic ally consistent soil constitutive models
What is your contributions in the data driven approach? Are you developing new algorithms?
My main contribution is the development of the complete monitoring and analytics system, from the hardware to the software.
This includes identifying what data to collect , how to pre process them and which is the best machine learning algorithms for the problem and customising them for the problem requirements (because the default mode usually does not work well)
