Phil Purnell has recently taken on the role of Interim Head of School (Civil Engineering). He remains Deputy Academic Lead for the new £40M+ LETeC experimental infrastructure engineering campus (having previously been Academic Lead) and completed a 4-year role as Director for the University of Leeds’ Cities interdisciplinary research theme, co-ordinating interdisciplinary research from 100+ academics into Cities across Engineering, Environmental Science and Economics.
He is PI of the £5M UKRI “Self-Repairing Cities” Grand Challenge project and until recently was Convenor for the £7M NERC/ESRC/DEFRA Resource Recovery from Waste programme. From a background in cement and concrete technology, his research now investigates all aspects of infrastructure from materials to business models, sustainability and economics with a particular emphasis on the circular economy.
Phil’s current activity includes strategic advisory roles for DEFRA, UKRI, Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ and the Resource Council, and visiting positions at The University of Cambridge and the Royal College of Art. He has been PI or Co-I on 14 industrially-supported UKRI projects worth £30M from EPSRC, ESRC and NERC, has published >100 papers with >3500 citations and a current h-index of 32.
He is a regular contributor to science and technology media (e.g. BBC Radio 4 Plastic Fantastic, BBC4 TV Ceramics: How They Work and ITN Pothole Wars) and delivered the 2017 IoM3 Mellor Memorial Lecture.
He is PI of the £5M UKRI “Self-Repairing Cities” Grand Challenge project and until recently was Convenor for the £7M NERC/ESRC/DEFRA Resource Recovery from Waste programme. From a background in cement and concrete technology, his research now investigates all aspects of infrastructure from materials to business models, sustainability and economics with a particular emphasis on the circular economy.
Phil’s current activity includes strategic advisory roles for DEFRA, UKRI, Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ and the Resource Council, and visiting positions at The University of Cambridge and the Royal College of Art. He has been PI or Co-I on 14 industrially-supported UKRI projects worth £30M from EPSRC, ESRC and NERC, has published >100 papers with >3500 citations and a current h-index of 32.
He is a regular contributor to science and technology media (e.g. BBC Radio 4 Plastic Fantastic, BBC4 TV Ceramics: How They Work and ITN Pothole Wars) and delivered the 2017 IoM3 Mellor Memorial Lecture.