UCD PhD candidate wins Royal Academy of Engineering early-stage career award

UCD PhD candidate Frank O’Leary is one of five young engineers in the UK and Ireland who have received early-stage career awards of £3,000 from the Royal Academy of Engineering.

The Civil Engineering PhD candidate’s research at UCD focuses on analysing the behaviour of retaining walls in clay. Frank works in the UK with engineering firm (opens in a new window)Arup as a geotechnical engineer. He is currently working on the design and construction of a basement beneath a hotel in London.

(opens in a new window)Thanks to all at the Royal Academy of Engineering for a great night last night. #raengawards2017

A post shared by Frank O'Leary (@fwalnuts) on Jun 30, 2017 at 3:07pm PDT

He and his colleagues found a way to excavate a five-storey basement beneath the building while ensuring that it remained fully operational.

“Frank is an exceptionally capable and driven engineer who has excelled in all of the varied and challenging roles he has undertaken at Arup,” said Tim Chapman, Infrastructure London Leader, Arup.

Frank shares his research and field expertise with the engineering community by giving presentations to industry bodies, publishing peer-reviewed papers and being a peer reviewer for the (opens in a new window)Institution of Civil Engineers.

Together with the University of Cambridge, he has won funding from the (opens in a new window)Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for a PhD studentship and will be the industrial supervisor of the research.

The overall winner of The Royal Academy of Engineering early-stage career awards, Dr Ruth Misener from (opens in a new window)Imperial College, also received the Sir George Macfarlane Medal for excellence in the early stage of her career.

The (opens in a new window)Royal Academy of Engineering was founded in 1976 and is the UK’s national academy of engineering.

By: Jamie Deasy, digital journalist, UCD University Relations