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Wind & Marine Energy Systems & Structures Centre for Doctoral Training
Our Academic Team
Bill Leithead
Head of WECC
Bill Leithead is head of WECC. He has led the Wind Energy research team at Strathclyde for 30 years. He is Director of the present CDT-W&M and Chair of the Supergen Wind Hub. He has very close links with the wind energy industry with which he has had many collaborative projects including involvement in the design of multi-MW wind turbines. His expertise is in wind turbine and farm control systems design and wind turbine loads
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Chris Martin
Professorial Research Fellow
Chris Martin is a Professorial Research Fellow in geotechnical engineering at UoO, with more than 20 years’ experience in the application of plasticity theory, numerical methods and laboratory testing to support the design of offshore foundations and subsea infrastructure. Industry sponsors from the oil and gas sector have included BP, ConocoPhillips, Technip, Petrofac, Subsea 7 and the SAFEBUCK Joint Industry Project. His current research through CDT-REMS is focused on offshore wind turbine foundations, including EngD projects sponsored by Atkins and Fugro.
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Feargal Brennan
Director of the Offshore Engineering Instittute
Feargal Brennan (formerly Director of Energy and Power at Cranfield University) has recently moved to UoS to lead a new University of Strathclyde Offshore Engineering Institute. He is the Director of CDT-REMS and is Co-Director on the new Supergen ORE Hub with responsibility for offshore wind. He has over 25 years’ experience within the offshore sector and is a leading authority on the development and assessment of offshore renewable energy. He is the incoming UK standing committee member of the International Ship and Offshore Structures Congress leading the UK delegation of industry, academic and certification authority experts in offshore structures.
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Conchúr Ó Brádaigh
Professor of Materials Engineering
Conchúr Ó Brádaigh is Professor of Materials Engineering at UoE and Head of the School of Engineering. Previously he was Director of the Marine Renewable Energy Ireland (MaREI) Centre at University College Cork. He is also a co-founder and Director of the university spin-out companies Éire Composites Teo and Composites Testing Laboratory Ltd., both located in Ireland and employing c. 60 people. His research interests include manufacturing, testing and modelling of composite materials for renewable energy applications (wind and ocean energy). Industrial sponsors of his work have included Suzlon Energy, Scotrenewables Tidal Power, ÉireComposites, Toray Carbon Fibre, Airbus, Bombardier Aerospace and other companies.
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Ali Mehmanparast
Professor in the Naval Architecture, Ocean and Marine Engineering Department
Ali Mehmanparast is a Professor of Structural Integrity at the University of Strathclyde. He has been the Manager and Co-Investigator of the Cranfield-Oxford-Strathclyde Universities Renewable Energy Marine Structures (REMS) Centre for Doctoral Training since the beginning of the programme in 2014.
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Alasdair McDonald
Professor in the Institute for Energy Systems and Mechanical Engineering
Alasdair McDonald’s research interests are focused on the design of wind turbine powertrains, electromechanical modelling and reliability engineering.
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James Carroll
Reader in the Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering.
Dr James Carroll is a Strathclyde Chancellor’s Fellow and was formerly an analyst with Vestas and alumnus of the CDT in Wind Energy Systems, the precursor of CDT-W&M. He is expert in wind turbine powertrain reliability and the application of machine learning to condition monitoring systems. James was an EPSRC Doctoral Prize winner, which allowed him to initiate his independent research career at Strathclyde.
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Ignazio Maria Viola
Professor of Fluid Mechanics and Bioinspired Engineering
Ignazio Maria's research is in fluid mechanics and it focuses on those conditions where the forces on a body immersed in a fluid are due to the formation of vortical flow structures. This often occurs in nature, where natural evolution has led to optimal solutions for complex problems. Hence, he seeks inspiration from the fluid mechanics of plants and animals to develop new technology. Vortices, for instance, are exploited by natural flyers to fly stably and efficiently in the turbulent wind. Similarly, the forces on very thin surfaces, such as the wings of small drones and the sails of a yacht, are dominated by vortex flow. Ignazio Maria is the Director of Research and Innovation of the WAMSS CDT.
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Vengatesan Venugopal
Professor and Head of IES
Vengatesan Venugopal, is a Reader and Head of the Institute for Energy Systems. He has more than 20 years’ experience in ocean engineering science. His primary research contributions are in numerical and physical modelling of ocean waves and tidal currents, wave and tidal current energy resource assessment and the analysis of wave-current interactions with fixed and floating maritime structures. He is PI of the EPSRC FlowTurb project.
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Byron Byrne
Professor of Engineering Science and Ørsted/Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair in Advanced Geotechnical Design
Byron Byrne is Professor of Engineering Science and Ørsted/Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair in Advanced Geotechnical Design. He was PI for the Carbon Trust/Ørsted/Industry funded PISA project, which won the BGA’s Fleming Award for 2017. He is the Oxford Director, and Co-I, of CDT-REMS. He is a Co-Director on the new EPSRC Supergen ORE Hub.
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Richard Willden
Co-Director on the new EPSRC Supergen ORE Hub
Richard Willden holds an EPSRC Established Career Fellowship in tidal energy, having led fluid mechanics research for tidal and wind turbines for more than ten years. His expertise is in multi-scale analysis and design of rotors for efficient energy extraction. He is a Co-Director on the new EPSRC Supergen ORE Hub.
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