Engenius

Manas, Saif and John speak with Dr. Flavia De Luca, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering at University of Bristol. Her expertise is within the field of structural and earthquake engineering, with a specific focus to Reinforced Concrete frame structures. She is part of the Earthquake and Geotechnical Engineering Research Group.

In this episode, we focus on her experiences working in countries around the world and explore the impact of engineering research in developing countries. We also explore the details of how earthquake engineering is optimised to save as many lives as possible in disasters.

This episode was recorded in February 2023.

----

Engenius is produced by a team of engineering students at the University of Bristol. To ask a question, submit an idea, or just say hi, email us at engeniuspodcast@gmail.com.

Intro/outro music kindly provided by @yemzo.

Engenius is brought to you by Engineers Without Borders Bristol. Find out more about our work on our social channels:

How’s this for a late Christmas present on the 12th day of Christmas? DOFPOD Thursdays are back!

Alby and Ellie sat down with Matt from Bristol City Council for our last recording of 2022 to talk behaviour change, heat pumps, community engagement, “sprinkling innovation” and much more. 

This is a great listen if you’re interested in how public sector innovation works or you love thinking about how we can engage more people in addressing the climate crisis. 

It’s not for you if you want to hear Alby talking about nuclear fusion for 5 minutes because Ellie insisted on cutting that out

Enjoy, tell a friend, get in touch, and keep an eye out for LOTS of exciting podcasts from Degrees of Freedom in 2023.

----

Engenius is produced by a team of engineering students at the University of Bristol. To ask a question, submit an idea, or just say hi, email us at engeniuspodcast@gmail.com.

Intro/outro music kindly provided by George Vessey.

Engenius is brought to you by Engineers Without Borders Bristol. Find out more about our work on our social channels:

Manas and Saif talk to James Norman and Dominika Malkowska, about the future of sustainable civil engineering. James is an award-winning engineer and teacher, he has designed landmark buildings and developed innovative teaching that combines practice with learning. He’s written several books for engineers and students making sustainable building a reality. Dominika is a PhD student, under James' supervision, researching the use of Bamboo as a sustainable building material.

We talk to James and Dominika about the role civil engineers play in solving the climate crisis, focussing on the materials that are used in sustainable building. They also share their experiences working in industry and the challenges they overcame progressing to academic research and teaching.

Welcome to the new Meet Your Lecturer series. Over the next few weeks, we will be interviewing a number of lecturers at the University of Bristol, getting to know them better, learning about their research projects and asking them what motivates their ventures. 

Beth and John kick off our Meet Your Lecturer series by interviewing Dr Hermes Bloomfield-Gadêlha. Brazilian-born Dr Bloomfield-Gadêlha is a poly-disciplinary mathematician working at the fertile union of mathematical logic, physics, engineering and medicine. He employs creative mathematics not only to nature, but also the industry and the arts, focusing on novel questions and unexplained phenomena in a broad range of physical systems. Alongside his research work, Dr Bloomfield-Gadêlha lectures in the Engineering Mathematics Department at the University of Bristol. 

In this episode, we speak to Hermes about his fascinating research profile, explore his thoughts on synchroneity of creativity and design, and speaks about his beginnings as an academic.

----

Engenius is produced by a team of engineering students at the University of Bristol. To ask a question, submit an idea, or just say hi, email us at engeniuspodcast@gmail.com.

Intro/outro music kindly provided by @yemzo.

Engenius is brought to you by Engineers Without Borders Bristol. Find out more about our work on our social channels:

Beth and Emma speak to Colin Palmer, a naval architect turned renewable energy engineer, who has been working in the sector since its inception. He has been active in renewable energy since the late 70s, working first on wave energy with Gifford and Partners near Southampton. In 1988 he founded Windcluster Ltd, a wind energy company that financed and built one of the first wind farms in the UK.

We heard about how he traversed through the sectors and how he crafted his extraordinary career path. Colin goes on to provide some useful advice for young engineers on how they can achieve their goals in projects they are passionate about. 

----

Engenius is produced by a team of engineering students at the University of Bristol. To ask a question, submit an idea, or just say hi, email us at engeniuspodcast@gmail.com.

Intro/outro music kindly provided by @yemzo.

Engenius is brought to you by Engineers Without Borders Bristol. Find out more about our work on our social channels:

Beth and Emma speak with Daniel Kenning, a Chartered Mechanical Engineer, Energy Engineer, and Chartered Environmentalist. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, a member of the Energy Institute and an Associate of the Institution of Environmental Management and Assessment. Daniel is also the co-founder and Chair of the Global Association for Transition Engineering (GATE), founded in 2014. GATE is a global professional membership association which promotes the engineering that is needed to transition to a completely sustainable world. 

In this episode, we discuss how society can transition towards a more sustainable future by changing the way we think about our problem solving strategies. Additionally, we explore the practice of 'Transition Engineering' and why it is vital to securing the future of the planet. 

You can learn more about Transition Engineering and Daniel's work at Splendid Engineering by clicking on the links below.

Beth and Gabriel speak with Alastair Boswell, a Chartered Engineer with the Institute of Engineering and Technology, and the Associate Director for Intelligent Mobility Schemes for Arup. With over 20 years’ experience in the field, Alastair has worked on a wide range of projects, including a recent role supporting Highways England with their national roll-out of electric vehicle charge points.

We discuss both the opportunities and challenges that are on the horizon as we make the switch from Internal Combustion Engines to Electric Vehicles. Additionally, we spoke about autonomous and shared mobility, and the crucial role they will play in helping us move towards a 'zero-carbon' future.

Harshinee and Beth speak with Miles Franklin, a mechanical engineer with expertise in innovation and sustainable energy. Having previously worked at Dyson, and participated in numerous "appropriate technology" projects in developing countries, Miles' current role is as the Lead Engineer at an Edinburgh-based startup called Gravitricity. Gravitricity develops grid-scale mechanical energy storage technology, which aims to complement hydro power and batteries in solving an age-old problem: how to store electricity.

As well as learning about Gravitricity's product and business ambitions, we discuss the central role of energy storage in the journey to net zero, and Miles' experience of working at both large and small companies.

Emily, Tom and Harshinee speak with John Armstrong, a mechanical engineer by training, current Chief Operating Officer at the British Pipeline Agency, and author of a recent book entitled The Future of Energy.

We discuss personal and professional development as an engineer, some major trends in the energy sector, and the energy transition more broadly. We also consider the societal impacts of major shifts in energy generation and usage, and the importance of engaging customers in the process.

Seren and Gabriel speak with Antoni Ros Martinez, Program Manager of Disaster Services at Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, which supports global humanitarian action and community development through open map data. Toni has acquired extensive working knowledge of humanitarian action and disaster management in complex environments, while collaborating with many international NGOs. We talk about Toni's past and current projects around the world, including numerous volunteering experiences, and recent work on the UN's vaccine distribution mapping programme.

Harshinee, Emily and Tom speak with Martin Bolton about his two roles as Head of Assembly at the Airbus Wing of Tomorrow project, and over the past year, assembly lead for VentilatorChallengeUK: one of the UK government's flagship programmes in the fight against COVID-19. 

It was fascinating to hear about the ambitious goals of both of these efforts, the similarities and differences between projects operating on vastly different timescales, and what can be achieved by cross-disciplinary teams, united by the common language of engineering.

Harshinee, Beth and Seren speak with Ved Krishna, Strategy Head at Yash Pakka: an India-based paper manufacturing company, which uses agricultural sugar cane waste to create its products. In 2017, Ved launched CHUK, an offshoot of the Yash Pakka brand which specialises in creating 100% home compostable tableware and packaging solutions. With CHUK, Ved aims to provide alternatives to single-use plastic and polystyrene foam, hopefully leading to a healthier and less polluted planet.

We thoroughly enjoyed chatting to Ved about how his products are made and how he draws inspiration from biomimicry in searching for innovative solutions. 

To find out more about Yash Pakka, head to https://www.yashpakka.com/.

----

Tom and Jade speak with Alan Champneys, a Professor of Applied Non-linear Mathematics at the University of Bristol's unique department of Engineering Mathematics. Alan's candid and engaging lecturing style is loved throughout the Engineering faculty, and we talk about this at length in this eclectic conversation.

We also cover his technical research and the power of abstract mathematical problem solving, the grand challenges facing engineers of the future, and the importance of open and honest discussion about mental health and wellbeing.

Seren and Tom speak with Sven Schmitz-Leuffen, an environmental engineer and information management expert at the United Nations Environment Programme. Sven has over 12 years of work experience in 10 different countries, tackling water, sanitation and resource management challenges using Geographic Information Systems.

Sven shares stories of working in countries hugely impacted by natural disasters, conflict and climate change, and gives his thoughts on where we should be investing our time today to have the greatest impact in solving these problems.