Richard Dawson

Richard has a background as a classically trained civil engineer but recognised that codes and historical methods that have enabled so much in the past are not always suitable in this rapidly changing world because they often fail to consider the wider interactions between engineering systems and altering environmental and socio-economic conditions. As a result, much of Richard's research has focused around the application of engineering principles to broad scale modelling and analysis - recognition that engineering systems have a much wider influence than their physical form and need to be considered within their broader environmental and social context.

Richard holds an EPSRC Research Fellowship, is Director of the Centre for Earth Systems Engineering Research (CESER) at Newcastle University and coordinates the Cities Programme for the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.

In addition to these roles, Richard was appointed as Associate Director for the Institute for Sustainability in January 2014. In this new role, Richard works closely alongside the Institute's Director, Professor Phil Taylor, and our other Associate Directors to help formulate the Institute's strategy and provide strategic direction.

His main research interests are:
· Engineering urban areas for sustainability
· Climate impacts analysis
· Adaptation (particularly of civil infrastructure) to a changing climate
· Flood risk assessment
· Modelling of coupled human/natural/engineering systems
· Infrastructure management