Three University of Leeds professors have been elected as Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering, in recognition of their significant contribution to the field.
Professors Giles Davies, Andrew Bell and Mojtaba Ghadiri’s fellowships were announced this week at the Academy’s Annual General Meeting in London.
There are just 1,500 Fellows of the Academy in total, and only 50 are elected each year. Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering is considered to be one of the highest national honours that an engineer can receive. The senior fellow of the Academy is HRH Prince Philip.
Congratulating all three, Professor Peter Jimack, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, said: “Fellowship of the Academy is a highly regarded tribute by leading engineers in the country.
"The election of three members of staff from Leeds in a year is a sign of our continued leadership, strength and depth in this sector, and will give confidence to current and future undergraduate and research students.”
Professor Davies explains the quantum cascade laser to former minister Anna Soubry.
Professor Davies is Pro-Dean for Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Engineering. His research focuses on terahertz frequency science and engineering and includes, in particular, the development of quantum cascade lasers.
He also has interest in the fields of molecular and biomolecular nanotechnology, and semiconductor nanotechnology. He was awarded a Wolfson Research Merit Award in 2011 from the Royal Society, and was jointly awarded the 2014 Faraday Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics.
Professor Bell is a leader in the field of the science and engineering of ferroelectrics, piezoelectrics and related materials, and is noted for the optimization of these materials for industrial applications.
He is currently the holder of an EPSRC Established Career Fellowship devoted to additive manufacturing of functional oxides and is the leader of the Functional, Materials, Products and Devices research group within the faculty.
Professor Ghadiri is a world-leading chemical engineer with research activities focussed on particle technology. He has had immense influence on developing the underlying engineering science of particulate processes and products by advancing modelling and measurement techniques to analyse and predict their behaviour in industrial systems.
His work on the electrostatic effects led to the invention of the Electromechanical Valve for Solids.
All three professors thanked the many colleagues at Leeds and other institutions who have supported the research programmes over a number of years, which the Royal Academy recognised as making significant contributions to the sector, leading to the award of the Fellowships.
Professors Davies, Bell and Mojtaba are all active in both teaching and research work at the University. They join 15 other current or former members of staff who are fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering:
- Anne Neville
- Elaine Martin
- Ian Hunter
- Anthony Cohn
- John Fisher
- Muhammed Basheer
- David York
- Duncan Dowson
- Derek Bradley
- Alan Williams
- Anthony May
- Cliff Jones
- David Edmonds
- Peter Heggs
- David Rhodes
- Hai-Sui Yu
Professor Dame Ann Dowling, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, said: “I am delighted to welcome to our fellowship 50 more of today’s very best engineering minds.
"From life-changing equipment revolutionising our hospitals to new tools that are enabling high-tech businesses to flourish, their work has delivered great value to society.
"We are very much looking forward to working with all our new Fellows as we continue to make the UK a leading nation for engineering innovation.”
Further information
Journalists should contact Peter Le Riche in the University of Leeds press office on 0113 343 2049 or p.leriche@leeds.ac.uk
A full list of the 2016 fellows is available here