Phil Purnell

Phil Purnell is Professor of Materials and Structures in the School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds (UoL). Prof. Purnell is a previous Director of the Institute for Resilient Infrastructure and the current Director of the UoL "Cities" research theme, leading research to ensure that infrastructure systems can adapt to changes in how we use them and the social and physical environment in which they are financed, created, managed and used.

He has managed projects and networks at the intersections between Engineering; Materials; Social, Environmental and Medical Sciences; Art; and Music and is currently PI on both the £4.2m EPSRC “Grand Challenge” project investigating the role of robots in city infrastructure maintenance and the £1.4m NERC/ESRC CVORR project, looking at revaluing wastes and the processes that produce them. He co-ordinates the Leeds WPs for the EPSRC/ESRC £4m iBUILD Infrastructure Business Models Centre, and EPSRC £3m DURACOMP proposals and is Convener for the £7M NERC Resource Recovery from Waste Programme Coordination Team.

Prof. Purnell'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.