The Management Team
GRPE Director
Prof Steve Beaumont OBE
Professor Steve Beaumont OBE CEng FREng FRSE has been Vice-Principal for Research & Enterprise at the University of Glasgow since 1 January 2005.
Steven Beaumont (Steve) has overall responsibility for the University's Research & Knowledge Transfer strategy and policies, and their delivery, and for operational matters including negotiations and relationships with research sponsors and strategic partners. He is also responsibile for the University’s enterprise activities, including research links with industry and the promotion of spinout companies. He chairs and sits on many University Committees and Groups as well as external Committees.
Steve is the International Dean for the Middle East at the University.
JRI Directors
Professor Walter Johnstone PhD, BSc (Hons), CEng, FIET, CPhys. FInstP
Electronics, Communications and Power Systems
Professor Walter Johnstone completed his education at the University of Strathclyde where he graduated with a BSc.(Hons) degree in Chemical and Material Sciences in 1977 and a PhD in Laser Physics in 1982. He is currently Professor of Photonic Systems and Head of the Dept. of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Strathclyde University where he has been a member of academic staff since 1986. His research into optical waveguide components, fibre lasers, distributed fibre sensing systems and optical gas sensing has led to more than 200 technical publications and several patent applications. As well as carrying out the basic research, his group are involved in the engineering of such systems for in situ industrial deployment. His teaching duties include principles of communications systems, signals and systems, optical communications and photonics. Recent research has led to two novel approaches in tuneable diode laser spectroscopy (TDLS) to enable calibration-free, accurate measurement of gas concentration, pressure and temperature in complex gas processing systems such as fuel cells at temperatures up to 1000oC and pressures of 5-8bar or in jet (gas turbine) engines at high temperature and high gas velocity.
In addition to his academic career, Prof. Johnstone is a Director of OptoSci Ltd which was established in 1994. Major product lines in OptoSci Ltd. include a range of optical and fibre optic educator kits, optical instrumentation, optical fibre amplifiers and a range of optical gas sensors.
During the years 1980 to 1987 he was employed by Pilkington Optronics Ltd. and held various project engineering and management posts involved with the research and development of high power lasers, optical fibre communication systems and lithium niobate integrated optics. In 1985 he was appointed to the post of Development Manager at Logitech Ltd. In this role he was a full member of the company's Management Board with responsibility for all technical functions including new product development.
Robert M. Kalin BSc MSc PhD CEnv FICE FRSC FGS
Environment, Infrastructure and Transportation
Professor Kalin’s academic and professional interests are focused on Environment Science and Engineering to underpin the global sustainability agendas. His work ranges from hydrogeology and palaeohydrology of local to regional scale groundwater systems, and study of global biogeochemical cycles and climate change, to site specific biogeochemistry of contaminated land and groundwater (including engineering design of sustainable remediation methods), development of new enhanced in-situ remediation methods that manage sustainable risk.
Prof Kalin, as Director of the David Livingstone Centre for Sustainability, is working to underpin Sustainable Environmental Development including the move to a carbon neutral society. This is a core concept that most of the World aims to address in the Decade 2005 to 2015. Prof. Kalin through his scholarship clearly acknowledges the Millennium Goals and aims to make a significant impact to help humanity achieve sustainability through three complementary topics:
- Carbon and Water Footprint Management
- Urban Redevelopment for a Carbon Neutral Society
- Environmental Forensics and rebuilding of Environmental Capital
His work on sustainable environmental development is driven by an engagement with interdisciplinary focused problem solving and knowledge transfer, drawing in particular on the insights of environmental science and engineering and extending across research endeavours found in other disciplines (eg. environmental planning, environmental governance, paleo-ecology, environmental economics, environmental law, agriculture and land use change).
Professor Nenad Bicanic
Mechanics of Materials, Structures and Bioengineering
Professor Nenad Bicanic is the Regius Professor of Civil Engineering. He graduated with a Civil Engineering degree from Zagreb University, Croatia, and a PhD from the Civil Engineering Department of the University of Wales Swansea (under the supervision of O.C.Zienkiewicz and E. Hinton). He held academic positions at Zagreb and Swansea before being appointed Regius Professor at Glasgow in 1994. Head of Department of the Civil Engineering Department at Glasgow from 1997 to 2001. Director Joint Research Institute Mechanics of Materials and Structures and Bioengineering, Glasgow Research Partnership in Engineering.
Main research interests include computational mechanics, modelling of fracturing in quasi-brittle materials (concrete/rock), modelling of discontinuous media and constitutive modelling of concrete at extreme conditions (high temperature, earthquakes).
Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and Fellow of the International Association of Computational Mechanics.