News

CIRG member Callum White recently attended the STEM for BRITAIN 2025 exhibition organised by the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee at the Houses of Parliament as a finalist in the Engineering category.STEM for BRITAIN is a significant scientific poster competition and exhibition that has taken place in Parliament since 1997. Chaired by George …

Congratulations to Callum White, CIRG member who won an award at the recent Net-Zero Future conference in Oslo, Norway dedicated to advancing research, innovation, and collaboration in pursuit of a sustainable and net-zero carbon environment. Callum was awarded for his paper on “Fresh state properties of conventional range concretes containing blas…

CIRG members Swasthi Surendran and Susan Thapa recently presented their work at the Cambridge Civils Event hosted at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. The event included presentations by all civil, structural and environmental engineering students at the University of Cambridge and was sponsored by Cowi, AtkinsRealis, SOM, Mott MacDonald, Engenuiti, Gav…

Last week, members of the CIRG attended the 52nd Institute of Concrete Technology (ICT) Symposium. The Symposium covered the technical, operational, and political aspects of achieving lower carbon concrete use, with a particular focus on achieving Net Zero for the concrete industry. At the event, CIRG member Callum White was awarded a prize for his…

The Concrete Infrastructure Research Group (CIRG) welcomed several new members in October. Persefoni will work towards an MRes+PhD at the Future Infrastructure and Built Environment Centre for Doctoral Training (FIBE2 CDT), with Swasthi and Susan working towards the fourth year of their MEng degrees. Persefoni, Swasthi and Susan will focus on diffe…

Callum has recently published a paper in the Cement and Concrete Research Journal with the head of CIRG, Janet Lees. The paper focuses on the utilisation of the existing slump test to predict a useful rheological parameter, yield stress. Relating the empirical slump test to yield stress facilitates the capture of fresh state concrete performance in…

In late April, members of the CIRG attended the 51st Institute of Concrete Technology (ICT) Symposium, chaired by the head of the CIRG, Professor Janet Lees. The Symposium covered the technical, operational and political aspects of achieving lower carbon concrete use. There was a particular focus on the opportunities and challenges this presents fo…

A most exciting opportunity has arisen for a driven individual to join our active and diverse Concrete Infrastructure Research Group (CIRG) at the University of Cambridge. The funded PhD studentship will focus on mitigating the environmental impact of cement via performance based methodologies.Recently listed as the happiest place to live and work …

Some of the findings from CIRG member Jess’s PhD research were recently published in a new paper in the journal Materials and Structures. Jess's thesis aims to improve understanding of concrete carbonation through a combination of experimental research and analytical modelling techniques. She took two different approaches to assessing concrete carb…

Congratulations to CIRG member Michele, who was recently awarded the 2022 'Italy Made Me' Award in the European Research Council domain: Physical Sciences and Engineering for his doctoral work. The award was presented by the Ambassador of Italy to the United Kingdom, the Scientific Attaché and the Chief Financial Officer of the sponsor Pirelli UK a…

Michele has recently published two papers with the head of CIRG, Janet Lees. The two papers focus on arch action in reinforced concrete as well as carbon reductions and strength enhancement in functionally graded beams.Arch action in reinforced concrete subjected to shear:Reinforced concrete elements without transverse reinforcement are vulnerable …

The Concrete Infrastructure Research Group (CIRG) has recently welcomed Sam Cocking as a Research Associate. Sam adds valuable expertise on sensing technology and on his appointment, Sam provided his thoughts:"I am delighted to join the Concrete Infrastructure Research Group and contribute to its research on functionally graded concrete structures.…

CIRG member Hasini Weerasinghe presented her work "Shear Crack Analysis in Slender Reinforced Concrete Beams" at the recent St. Johns College Graduate Research Symposium. The event was hosted at St Johns College of the University of Cambridge. Hasini was part of a group of speakers covering a broad spectrum of topics from next generation green tech…

The Concrete Infrastructure Research Group (CIRG) welcomed several new members in October. Nishangani will work towards a PhD, with Grace and Zoe working towards the fourth year of their MEng degrees. Nishangani, Grace and Zoe will focus on different challenges facing concrete infrastructure, including embodied carbon and material utilisation. Our …

Deterioration and detailing deficiencies present an ongoing challenge when assessing existing reinforced concrete structures. To investigate this problem further, CIRG member Michele recently performed a study which looked to understand bond in the context of differing confinement conditions such as cover depth and the presence of transverse reinfo…