News and Events

News & Events

Dr. Budi Zhao wins Early Career Award from Institute of Civil Engineers, London

Dr Budi Zhao, Assistant Professor at UCD School of Civil Engineering, received an Early Career Award at the 75th Géotechnique Anniversary in the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE), London. His collaborative paper with esteemed colleagues focused on revealing the micro-mechanisms behind the breakage of individual sand particles under single-particle compression. With 273 citations on Google Scholar (30/10/2023), the paper has also been recognized as one of the top 1% highly cited papers in Engineering by the Web of Science.

Access their award-winning paper, ‘An investigation of single sand particle fracture using X-ray micro-tomography.’ Géotechnique, 65(8), 625-641. via this link

17Oct

Dr. Budi Zhao receives the 2022 Outstanding Article Award from Geotechnical Testing Journal

Dr Budi Zhao, Assistant Professor at UCD School of Civil Engineering, has received the 2022 Outstanding Article Award from Geotechnical Testing Journal for his collaborative paper with Prof. Carlos Santamarina from Georgia Institute of Technology. Their pioneering work on the utilization of NMR in soil mechanics of fine sediments provides valuable insights into pore space dynamics and moisture transport. This advancement facilitates accurate predictions of soil strength and deformation behaviour in experiments and potentially in-situ, thereby contributing to the precise monitoring of soil behaviour under various loading conditions. Such insights are crucial for ensuring the stability and resilience of geotechnical structures. Details of article linked.

14Jul

UCD Transport Research Hub podcast launch

The Transport Research Hub @ UCD (TREAH) has launched a podcast series, named the Transport Hub Podcast. This is a podcast series that offers discussion, analysis and dissemination of transport & mobility related research, industry innovations and international policy developments in an accessible and intelligible way for the general public and scientific community. It’s first episode featured Dr. Paraic Carroll, UCD Civil Engineering in discussion with Prof. Francesco Pilla, School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy. The podcast is now available on various podcasting service sites.

28Jun

Ripple became the 1st Irish project to receive a New European Bauhaus Award

CfIT project wins International Awards. Ripple became the 1st Irish project to receive a New European Bauhaus Award in the Reconnecting with Nature Champion Category. Ripple was led by Orla Murphy, Dr Sarah Cotterill, Dr Philip Crowe and Rebecca O’Malley from CfIT, Cllr Mark Duffy and Kevin Loftus of Ballina Greenest Town and artist Ríonach Ní Néill. Most importantly the success of Ripple is down to the hard work and energy of the community in Greenhills, Ballina who imagined, co-designed and care for the climate-, water-, and nature-friendly Paradise Garden. For more info about the project click here.

23Jun

International Women in Engineering Day 2023

Today, 23rd June 2023, we celebrate International Women in Engineering Day. Each year, a different theme is chosen and the theme for 2023 is 'Make Safety Seen'. This year also marks the 10th anniversary of International Women in Engineering Day. This day recognizes the great contribution which women make to the industry. The School of Civil Engineering in UCD is lucky to work with such incredible women who make invaluable contributions to the industry. Here are just some of the exciting research projects that they are working on.

22Jun

iCRAG Impact Award 2023

Dr. Jennifer Keenahan won the iCRAG Impact Award 2023 at their annual summit on Tuesday night, with colleague Mark Coughlan. The iCRAG Impact Award 2023 is awarded to a researcher(s) whose work has made a demonstrable impact on society, policy, economy, businesses, environment, and international engagement. Acknowledging the award winners Prof. Murray W Hitzman, Director of iCRAG, said: “I want to congratulate all the award recipients. The iCRAG Awards recognise the significant achievements from our researchers, highlighting the impact and the ways in which iCRAG is making a difference on the environment, economy and society. The awards highlight the quality of our research, and the immense talent and dedication of our researchers.”

15Jun

18th OpenFOAM Workshop

Dr. Jennifer Keenahan of UCD Civil Engineering made a keynote presentation at the International OpenFOAM 18 Conference in July. Jennifer is an Assistant Professor in Civil Engineering at University College Dublin. She graduated with her Ph.D. in bridge engineering in 2014 before spending a number of years practicing as an engineer at Arup. She was awarded chartership with Engineers Ireland in 2016. Her current research interests are in the computational modeling of wind effects on long-span bridges, modeling of erosion of wind-turbine foundations, and the optimization of wastewater treatment reactors.

19May

‘Beautiful’ Irish town project shortlisted for prestigious EU prize

A community project to mitigate climate change in Ballina has been shortlisted for a prestigious New European Bauhaus prize. Counted among just 61 shortlisted from over 1,450 applications, the competition highlights ‘beautiful, sustainable and inclusive projects’ from all across the EU and Western Balkan States.

The New European Bauhaus (NEB) is a creative and interdisciplinary initiative that connects the European Green Deal to EU citizens’ living spaces and experiences. The final winners of the competition will be decided by public online vote (closing date 24 May) and jury selection, and announced in Brussels on 22 June 2023.

16May

Dr Sarah Cotterill was recently awarded Runner-Up

Dr Sarah Cotterill was recently awarded Runner-Up in the 2022 UCD Research Impact Case Study Competition. Her research explored how Ireland can conserve water, resulting in a policy brief and recommendations for An Fóram Uisce. Through a programme of outreach, including policy workshops and media appearances, Dr Cotterill is working to ensure these recommendations are translated into policy, so that we can save water and protect the environment.

On winning the award, she said, “I’m delighted to have entered the case study competition as the opportunities that followed were superb. The impact masterclass was a fantastic experience, both in terms of the colleagues I met and in opening my eyes to the different ways that research can potentially make an impact.” The competition launches again for 2023 in the Spring.

Sarah's case study and video, "Every drop counts - making a case for water conservation in Ireland" is available here.

28Apr

TRA2024 Conference Information

Dublin, will host the leading European transport event, the Transport Research Arena 2024, covering all transport modes and aspects of mobility from 15th to 18th April 2024.

$Assoc. Prof. Mike Long\'s Q&A on improving soil characterisation$ 25Apr

Assoc. Prof. Mike Long's Q&A on improving soil characterisation

Mike Long is currently the BGA (British Geotechnical Association) Touring Lecturer. He is giving a lecture in Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester and Leeds.

Click here to read, Associate Professor, Mike Long's Q&A on improving soil characterisation. This interview featured in Ground Engineering magazine

20Mar

UCD Civil Engineering Awards

On Friday 3rd March UCD welcomed award recipients, their families and friends, and donors, to the campus for the annual UCD Awards Day Ceremony. The School of Civil Engineering is very proud of all of those who received awards on the day, and extends its congratulations to all of the awardees.

23Jan

Projects from Engineering and Architecture researchers recognised in UCD Research Impact Competition

Today, UCD Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact Professor Orla Feely announced the winner and runners-up of the 2022 UCD Research Impact Case Study Competition.
The annual competition encourages researchers of all disciplines to write a case study that tells the story of how their work has made a positive difference.

16Nov

TRA Visions Young Researcher Competition award winner

Congratulations to PhD student Robert Corbally who was awarded 3rd prize in the 'road' category of the TRA Visions Young Researcher Competition for his PhD research where he is developing an approach for network level bridge health monitoring using in-vehicle sensors and machine learning. Robert received the award during the opening ceremony of the Transport Research Arena (TRA) conference in Lisbon this week.

07Dec

Dr Amiya Pandit wins the Thomas Mitchell medal of excellence

Dr Amiya Pandit, Post-Doctoral researcher in the UCD School of Civil Engineering was awarded the Thomas Mitchell medal of excellence. The Thomas Mitchell medal is awarded to the top ranked postdoctoral scholar in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics category in the Government of Ireland Irish Research Council funding scheme, marking outstanding achievement.

06Dec

Asia Matters Business Awards 2022

UCD were announced as the winners of the Higher Education Partnership of the Year award category at the 2022 Asia Matters Business Awards Ceremony on Friday 2nd December. This award recognises the successful partnership between UCD and Chang’an University – the Chang’an Dublin International College of Transportation (CDIC).

08Nov

Award for Jennifer Keenahan

Dr Jennifer Keenahan and her co-authors were awarded the Infrastructure Asset Management prize from the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) at the annual Awards Ceremony 2022 in London

26Aug

2022 CERAI Lifetime Achievement Award awarded to Prof. Eugene O’Brien. “Lifetime award winner bridges the research – practice gap.”

As a person with national and global impact at the highest level and a world-renowned expert in the area of weigh-in-motion of bridges, the 2022 Civil Engineering Research Association of Ireland’s Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to Prof. Eugene O’Brien of University College Dublin.

26Jul

Dr. Muhammad Arslan Khan receiving the Broberg Medal

Dr. Muhammad Arslan Khan, who completed his PhD in 2020 from the School of Civil Engineering at University College Dublin (UCD), won the Broberg Medal for the Best PhD in UCD in Mechanics, 2020 on 2nd June 2022. Dr. Khan’s PhD focuses on the Bridge Health Monitoring using the direct vibration measurements from bridges, novel redeployment strategies and the bridge weigh-in-motion techniques. His PhD, under the supervision of Prof. Eugene OBrien and Dr. Daniel McCrum, aims to detect structural damage of bridges without the need for any traffic disruptions and difficult sensors deployment. Currently, Dr. Khan is working, as a Postdoctoral Researcher at UCD, in the area of Drive-by Railway Infrastructure Monitoring, using train accelerations, automation, and machine learning techniques.

09May

Academic Advising in Civil Engineering: Design and Evaluation of a Hybrid Model

A project to formalise and expand Academic Advising has been implemented at the UCD Civil Engineering School. The goals of this project were twofold: on the one hand, it aimed at training faculty members in Academic Advising roles and providing them with the necessary resources. On the other hand, the project sought to expand student interaction, in particular by engaging students informally in order to build a rapport between them and the academic advisors that we expect will bring long term benefits.

07Feb

Strategies to Keep the Taps Running, Whatever Happens

Climate change is just one more factor making the unpredictable world of fresh water supply and demand even more uncertain. Dr Sarah Cotterill is interested in finding ways of ensuring continuity of supply when, not if, water systems fail. Despite everyone’s best efforts this will happen, she says, possibly resulting from two or more things occurring at the same time or in swift succession. “That’s where resilience comes into play.” The arrival of just such an event, the COVID pandemic, provided her and a team of researchers from Ireland and the UK with the opportunity to examine how well existing water company risk management strategies performed in response to the challenges presented by a high impact, unpredictable threat. This information is of immense value in helping the water industry and policymakers devise better, more adaptable, approaches to risk management in an increasingly uncertain world.

13Apr

Winthrop Engineering Student Prizes

On the evening of 13th April the Head of the School of Civil Engineering, Associate Professor Amanda Gibney, welcomed students, parents, friends, supporters, faculty and our prize sponsor, Winthrop Engineering Ltd., to our Student Awards Evening. Tom O'Leary, the Chief People Officer from Winthrop Engineering, addressed the audience, congratulating the prize winners, noting the key role which civil and structural engineers play in construction and the excellent opportunities which exist in Winthrop Engineering for graduates of our programmes.

30Mar

CWRR researcher Dr. Sarah Cotterill wins NovaUCD Award

Dr Sarah Cotterill was awarded “Consultancy of the Year” at the 2022 NovaUCD Innovation Awards, for a policy brief completed for An Fóram Uisce through ConsultUCD.
The study entitled ‘A Framework for Improving Domestic Water Conservation in Ireland’, found that almost a fifth of the energy used in Irish homes is used for heating water, and therefore a relatively small reduction in household water use (of say 20%) in all homes in Ireland, could lead to a significant reduction (hundreds of thousands of tonnes) of greenhouse gas emissions a year.

21Mar

Making Building on Sand a Realistic Option

n the Bible Saint Mathew warns of “the foolish man who built his house on sand”. Dr Michael Long and his colleagues at the UCD-based, Science Foundation Irelandfunded Irish Center for Research and Applied Geoscience (iCRAG) are hoping that a project they have recently commenced will overcome such uncertainty. The project explores the potential use of a relatively new approach to ground improvement, making use of either bacteria or enzymes to accelerate the natural process of cementation between grains of sand to increase their strength and load bearing capacity.

21Feb

Dr. Abdollah Malekjafarian will be leading WindLEDeRR project

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has announced that it has awarded a total funding of almost €20m to 49 projects supporting and enabling a wide range of energy research in Ireland. This includes the three-year WindLEDeRR project led by Dr. Abdollah Malekjafarian from UCD Civil Engineering, in partnership with Trinity College Dublin, National University of Ireland Galway, University College Cork, Munster Technological University and Gavin and Doherty Geosolutions with a total funding of €628,265.

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