My current position at TU Dublin is the “Head of Building Engineering” with 250 students. I am the line manager for 19 academics and very actively engaged in the School Design Team, developing a new structure for the upcoming School of Mechanical Engineering. Furthermore, I am responsible for 3 undergraduate study programmes, the development of the 5 year Master of Engineering Programme for the subject group, and a multi campus plumbing apprenticeship programme. Additionally, I am establishing new national, and international research, and industrial collaborations for the discipline, and the School, as a whole. Previously, I was a Visiting Researcher at the University of Plymouth, after applying for, and accepting, the Voluntary Leaving Scheme of the University of Plymouth. This gave me time to focus on conducting materials research, writing research publications, and supervising PhD students, as well as spending extra time with my family. My position before that was Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering & Marine Engineering, after stepping down from the position of Associate Head of School (Engineering). This was again solely my own decision to focus again on my research and teaching, after I have fulfilled the nominally 3 yearlong management position for more than 3,5 years. At the end, I was in charge of all engineering (Civil, Coastal Engineering, in addition to Mechanical, Composite and Marine Engineering) within the School of Marine Science and Engineering, at Plymouth University. This included being the line manager of 41 Academic members of staff and approximately 1000 students. While my previous position as Assistant Head of School (Mechanical & Marine Eng.) and Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the School of Marine Science and Engineering of the University of Plymouth entailed heading of the Mechanical Engineering and Marine Technology subject group. This position included the line management of 19 Academic members of staff, overseeing of 8 study programmes with 550 students and the planning of the future of the subject group. We completely changed the delivery modus of all study programmes to be more student focused and in line with the Curriculum Enhancement Project (coordinating CEP) of Plymouth University. This meant a complete re-design and re-approval of all study programmes due to the tremendous changes to the study programmes and the development of 2 new study programmes. I was back to teaching Materials for the 2nd year BSc and BEng students, Engineering Design and Computer Aided Design to the 1st year students and supervising final year projects. Research and development activities include Crumb Rubber Knowledge Transfer Partner Ships (KTP) which focuses on new usages of recycled/powdered truck and car tyres and a corresponding PhD-Research project, as well as biomedical engineering projects in collaboration with our Medical School and Hospital, plus other R&D activities and supervision of 3 fully company funded PhD-students. One has finished her Materials Recycling Project in October 2019 and another one has just finished his PhD (Industry 4.0, Systems Engineering, Multipoint Tooling and Simulation Project) in December 2019, while the final one is working on her Industry 4.0, Wireless Sensor & Internet of Things Project. I am a board member of the Tamar Engineering Project Fund, which helps people from disadvantaged background to study engineering and to succeed in life. Furthermore, I am actively engaged in the Plymouth Manufacturing Group, which represents 59 manufacturers in and around Plymouth. Additionally, I am and have been the external examiner for engineering programmes of the Liverpool John Moores University, UK delivered at Beaconhouse, Pakistan, for the De Montfort University, Leicester, UK programmes delivered at Auston Institute of Management, Singapore and Colombo, Sri Lanka and have done the same at the Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland. I have as well conducted an CAA review for the Ministry of Education, of the United Arab Emirates, on the University of Birmingham Dubai, in Dubai. Finally, I have been an external examiner for several PhDs taken place at the University of Nottingham, at Queen Mary, University of London and at the Dublin Institute of Technology. My previous position as a Senior Lecturer at the School of Engineering of the University of Portsmouth included teaching Engineering Design and Computer Aided Design for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year students, including 3rd year distant learning and supervising final year and MSc projects. Other responsibilities included teaching Information Technology for the 1st year students, coordinating (leading) all my teaching units and being Personal Tutor, Supervisor of 2 PhD-students, as well as working as a consultant and lead academic for a KTP. Furthermore, I have successfully coordinated the Erasmus exchange programme with France, Greece and Germany during my time at the University of Portsmouth, what has significantly increased the student numbers, including full fee paying students. Additional activities were two research collaborations: The “Smart Materials Applications using Rubber Technology – SMART” project was funded by the Irish government and included partners from Ireland, Poland, Spain, France and UK. My role in this project was the supervision and mechanical and fatigue testing/simulation methods of magnetorheological elastomers. The second project, titled “Testing and Simulation of Carbon Nano Tube Reinforced Elastomers”, was company supported and included partners from the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham, UK and Deutsches Institut für Kautschuktechnologie (DIK) - German Rubber Institute, Hanover, Germany. As a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Solid Mechanics & Materials Engineering Group, Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford, I developed a testing system and conducted FEA simulation and tested flexible pipes for the project “Vortex Induced Vibration and Fatigue of Deep Water Flexible Riser Pipes”. This EPSRC funded study investigated the fatigue/wear life of deep water flexible (composite) risers for the oil industry and was a collaboration with Brunel University London and Imperial College. During my time, there I provided tutorial lectures for 2nd Year Engineering Science students in Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics courses at St Anne’s College and at St Hilda’s College, of the University of Oxford. Previously, I was working at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Division of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics, School of Engineering at the University of Dundee. My successfully completed proof of concept project consisted of the design, simulation and the testing of new types of middle ear prostheses using non-linear effects and special polymeric fluids, which resulted in a patent, taken up later by a company. This work included the design of a special high frequency dynamic test rig using Laser Doppler Vibrometer for non-linear materials and structures as well as writing the corresponding patents for the prostheses and test rig. Additionally, I was teaching on the Smart Materials & Structures in Medicine MSc course, of Biomedical Engineering, at the University of Dundee. I worked for two years at the Automotive Competence Centre at the University of Applied Sciences, Heilbronn, Germany. There, I built up their new research centre including the dynamic testing facilities. My research was focused on fatigue life and fracture mechanics for non-linear, elastomeric materials. This included the testing, simulation and prediction of service life/fatigue life of materials and also automotive components. I was in charge of advanced testing methods, development of new prediction methods and fracture mechanics for nano-particle filled elastomers, plastics, and aluminium. At the German Rubber Institute (DIK), a research and development Institute specifically founded as the “missing link” between Universities and Industry; I worked for 4 years in the Elastomeric Physics Department, mainly on industry projects like predictive testing of passenger car tyre materials. The project was focused on the development of testing methods and design test rigs to simulate the wear and friction behaviour of nano-particle filled elastomers. I also worked on various small projects (as high speed testing) for industry and state funded research. Additionally, I supported the DIK in the acquisition of industry projects and public research grants. I was also responsible for operating different types of testing machines, data analyses, development of new test specimens, design of test rig modifications, presentation and documentation for different mainly industry projects (covered by confidential agreements). In 1995, I changed from a general mechanical engineering degree program to one specialized in process, energy, heating systems, and environmental technology. This was based on personal interest and experience in the production & installation of environmental technology equipment, research in the field of developing new environmental analysis techniques and testing systems for laser work, solar-catalytic treatment methods of wastewater. I learned the theory and application of the different traditional and renewable energy technologies, as well as of environmental technologies to clean air and water. Directly after graduation, I started working at my University as a fulltime researcher on the building engineering project “Saving Energy with Building-Automation for Public Buildings with Teaching Concern” using the latest technology available at that time.

Rubber (Elastomer) , Fatigue behavior, Failure Analysis, Engineering Design, Advanced Dynamic Testing