The Team
Our people work in both Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering disciplines with research projects ranging from dynamic composite evaluation to biomechanical investigations of the lung. Currently recruiting PhDs and Postdoctoral Fellows to the lab at Swansea University.
Hari Arora MEng PhD ACGI DIC FHEA
Principal Investigator
Hari is a Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Engineering at Swansea University. He did his undergraduate studies 2004-2008 in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College London, where he also later completed his PhD titled "Blast loading of fibre reinforced polymer composite structures". He worked in the Mechanics of Materials Section and Soft Solids Group 2011-2013 as a postdoc, completing computational and experimental projects related to impact, nonlinear material behaviour and fracture.
In 2013, he was awarded a Research Fellowship funded by The Royal British Legion and Imperial College London to study Lung Mechanics in the Department of Bioengineering and The Centre for Blast Injury Studies. Here, he developed his research area focused on creating optimised protection strategies against injury, through characterisation of human body biomechanics in trauma.
David Howells
PhD Student
Funded by KESS2 and Radnor Range ltd. David is studying the combined injury risk from primary and secondary blast effects in confined spaces.
Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarships (KESS) is a pan-Wales higher level skills initiative led by Bangor University on behalf of the HE sector in Wales. It is part funded by the Welsh Government’s European Social Fund (ESF) convergence programme for West Wales and the Valleys. This work is part funded by the Welsh Government’s European Social Fund (ESF) convergence programme for West Wales and the Valleys.
New PhD scholarship and Postdoctoral opportunities advertised here. Independent fellowship applications are also supported on a case by case basis.
SU Undergrads
SPIN Interns 2020
Funded by Swansea University a group of talented undergraduates from across the College of Engineering (Mechanical, Medical, Chemical and Electrical) and year groups (1-3) have teamed up to study COVID-19 under the supervision of Dr Arora, Dr van Loon and Dr Carson in the Biomedical Research Group at Swansea University.
Former Members
Emily Rolfe
PhD Student
Funded by the Office of Naval Research and EPSRC to characterise and develop novel composite layups for improved blast resistance. Emily is now working at Atkins.
Lorna Barron
PhD student at Imperial College London
"I did a summer project where I made computational models of lung microstructure loaded under blast. I learned a lot about finite element method and had a great time getting to know the research group."
Mark Kelly PhD
Senior Engineer at BAE Systems Submarines
"I was investigating the blast resistance of polymeric sandwich composite materials for use in the hulls of naval vessels. Alongside learning about foam test methods and finite element analysis, I was able to do real-life blast testing on large sandwich composite panels!"