Professor Phil Purnell
- Position: Professor of Materials and Structures
- Areas of expertise: materials; infrastructure systems; resource recovery from waste; interdisciplinary research; durability and resilience; autonomous systems and robots; infrastructure economics; circular economy
- Email: P.Purnell@leeds.ac.uk
- Phone: +44(0)113 343 0370
- Location: 503a School of Civil Engineering
- Website: Twitter | Researchgate
Profile
Phil Purnell is Professor of Materials and Structures in the School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds (UoL). He manages projects and networks at the intersections between Engineering, Economics and Environmental Science. Phil's background is in concrete technology but his current publication portfolio also spans composite durability, biomaterials, critical materials, infrastructure transitions, carbon footprints for construction materials, 3D printing and non-destructive testing, waste management and the circular economy. He is an advisor for UKRI and DEFRA and holds visiting positions at the Royal College of Art and the University of Cambridge.
Responsibilities
- Deputy Head of School, Civil Engineering
Research interests
- Circular Economy in Textiles (Co-I): https://www.rca.ac.uk/research-innovation/research-centres/materials-science-research-centre/textiles-circularity-centre/
- Transforming Foundations Industries (Co-I): https://transfire-hub.org/
- Resource Recovery from Waste (Convenor and PI): https://rrfw.org.uk/
- DEFRA Resources and Wastes Targets Expert Group: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/resources-and-waste-targets-expert-group
- Smart, Sustainable Plastic Packaging (Panel chair): https://www.ukri.org/what-we-offer/our-main-funds/industrial-strategy-challenge-fund/clean-growth/smart-sustainable-plastic-packaging-challenge/
- Self-repairing Cities (PI): https://selfrepairingcities.com/
<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Any research projects I'm currently working on will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://eps.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>
Qualifications
- PhD
- BEng (Civil)
- PCPCE (HE) - ITL Accredited
- ACTLHE - SEDA Accredited
Student education
I currently contribute to teaching of Civil Engineering materials in 2nd - 4th year, and 3rd year advanced structural analysis. I have also delivered courses on general engineering principles and life-cycle assessment plus delivery of research and design project programmes.
Research groups and institutes
- Robotics
- Cities, Infrastructure and Energy