News

During the Geotech and Environmental Group induction session for the 2025-26 academic year, PhD student Zhijun Xu was awarded the 2025 Turner Prize for his work on developing equipment to model excavations in clay.  The work substantially improved the understanding of stability of novel excavation systems.The award was established by Philip Turner,…

Associate Professor in Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering Dr James Hambleton was honoured by US President Joe Biden with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). PECASE is the highest honour bestowed by the US government on outstanding scientists and engineers early in their careers, with nearly 400 honour…

During the Geotech Group induction session for the 2024-25 academic year, PhD student Doug Morley was awarded the 2024 Turner Prize, which carries a cash prize of £1,000. The award  was established by Philip Turner, a mechanical engineer in the Department of Engineering (University of Cambridge), who designed a wide range of innovative devices incl…

Dr Brian Sheil, Laing O'Rourke Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction, has been awarded a prestigious five-year fellowship from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). This ground-breaking fellowship, titled "Digital Underground Construction," is set to revolutionise the inte…

Prof Gopal Madabhushi has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in recognition of his outstanding and continuing contributions to the profession. The Royal Academy of Engineering's decision to elect Professor Madabhushi as one of the 71 leading figures in engineering and technology to its Fellowship is a testament to his pioneer…

During the 17th YGES 2024 Symposium, held at the University of Cambridge 1-3 July 2024, Cambridge PhD student Federico Lattuada was awarded the Atkins Highly Commended Paper Prize. His paper can be found in the Proceedings of the 17th Young Geotechnical Engineers Symposium YGES 2024 (cam.ac.uk).

Anya Burakowski is the recipient of the Atkins Prize 2024 Award for Best 4th Year Project at the Geotechnical and Environmental Research Group. Her project "Investigating the effects of sand boils on soil behaviour" was carried out at the Schofield Centre under the supervision of Prof Stuart Haigh. The prize comes with a £300 cash award.

The Geotechnical and Environmental Research Group has announced that the Young Geotechnical Engineers Symposium 2024 will be held at the University of Cambridge on July 1-3, 2024. The event will be co-chaired by Prof Giulia Viggiani, Professor of Infrastructure Geotechnics, and Prof Gopal Madabhushi, Head of Geotechnical Group. YGES2024 will bring …

PhD students Chisom Ifeobu and Andrei Dobrisan have been awarded the Young Scientist Award at the recent 5th International Conference on Geotechnics for Sustainable Infrastructure Development, which took place in Hanoi, Vietnam, 14th-15th December 2023. The award honours first authors younger than 35 years. Chisom and Andrei were recognised respect…

Schofield Centre Director Prof Gopal Madabhushi has been elected to the Fellowship of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Prof Madabhushi’s research focuses on earthquake risk mitigation of geotechnical and structural systems. His research has led to a better understanding of the response of these systems under extreme earthquake loading and soil l…

The British Geotechnical Association (BGA) announced that Dr Barnali Ghosh of Mott MacDonald has received the 2023 John Mitchell Award. She received the Award at an Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Awards Ceremony in October 2023 and will give the BGA John Mitchell Lecture in January 2024. Dr Ghosh studied for her PhD at the Schofield Centre at…

Many congratulations to PhD student Carlos Español-Espinel who was bestowed the 2023 Turner Prize, which carries a cash prize of £1,000. The prize was established by Philip Turner, a mechanical engineer in the Department of Engineering (University of Cambridge), who designed a wide range of innovative devices including the 10 m diameter beam centri…

The Schofield Centre is pleased to welcome Dr Jim Hambleton as Associate Professor in Soil Mechanics & Geotechnical Engineering. Dr Hambleton holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering, MSc in Civil Engineering and a PhD in Civil Engineering (University of Minnesota). The focal point of his work will be the understanding of how soils are moved and shape…

Schofield Centre PhD student Douglas Morley was awarded 'Best Researcher Presentation' at the National Highways 2023 conference for his presentation titled 'Designing Smarter Integral Bridges'. The conference brought together all PhD research sponsored by National Highways across UK universities, with the award given by Chief Executive Nick Harris.

The Geotechnical and Environmental Research Group Workshop 2023 took place on the 26th June at the IfM. The event was sponsored by Atkins and Andrew Thomson, Chief Geotechnical Engineer, presented awards to the top three MEng projects in Geotechnical Engineering: Libby Gande (First Prize), Andrew Canning (Second Prize) and Miriam Davies (Third Priz…