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People

Group Photo 2025

Group Leader

Dr Christian Málaga-Chuquitaype

Room 322, Skempton Building, South Kensington Campus

Affiliations:

Emerging Structural Technologies

Structures Section

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Ashraf Nayel, PhD Candidate
Benha (Egypt), Cairo (Egypt) Project: Advanced protective solutions for historic buildings

Atif Rasheed, PhD Candidate
BUET (Pakistan),NUST (Pakistan) Project: Low-cost seismic isolation

David Chalco, PhD Student
UNSA (Peru), Brasilia (Brazil) Project: AI-supported seismic design of buildings

Jarvin Tsai, PhD Candidate
Beijing (China) Project: Structural layout optimization of RC walled buildings

Maria Rachwan, PhD Candidate
Co-supervised with Dr Ruiz-Teran, Project: Cable-stayed bridges with curved pylons

Opeyemi Ogunkuade, PhD Candidate
Are Babalola (Nigeria), AUST (Kenya) Project: Generative design for low carbon footprint structures

Dr Rikesh Amin, Research Associate
Imperial (UK), Project: RESIBUILD

Salih Ozdemir, PhD (visiting) student
ITU (Türkiye) Project: AI-supported design of 3D printed structures

Shirley Shen, PhD Candidate
Bristol (UK),Imperial (UK) Project: Physics-informed AI predictions of nonlinear responses

Yang (Jerzy) Zhao, PhD Candidate
UST (China), Tongji(China) Project: Structural design of extra-terrestrial structures

Yixuan Zhang, PhD Candidate
SWJTU (China), Leeds (UK), Imperial (UK) Project: Optimisation of rocking structures

Yu Cheng, PhD Candidate
HK Poly (HK), Imperial (UK) Project: Nonlinear instabilities in metamaterials for vibration control

Zilan Zhang, PhD Student
Liverpool (UK), Imperial (UK) Project: Nonlinear analysis of timber hybrid structures

PhD Alumni

Faridah Zhara (Graduated 2024) Performance based seismic engineering considering soil-structure interaction. Funding: University of Malaysia.
Carlos Melchor Placencia (Graduated 2024) Non-linear analysis of pot-tensioned timber elements. Funding: PRONABEC, Peru.
Eknara Junda (Graduated 2024) Application of Machine Learning algorithms to seismic response estimation of timber structures. Funding: Ministry of Education, Thailand.
Rodrigo Thiers (Graduated 2020) Seismic control of multiple-rocking frames with supplemental rotational inertia. Funding: CONACYT Chile. ^★Unwin Prize for the Best PhD thesis in Civil Engineering
Leena Kibriya (Graduated 2020) Seismic response of damage-free rocking frames.
Zhan Lyu (Graduated 2020) Dynamic response of long-span pre-stressed timber bridges. Second supervisor: Dr A. Ruiz-Teran. Funding: Imperial College PhD Scholarship
Adeyanju Teslim-Balogun (Graduated 2019) Performance based design of steel structures subjected to blast and post-blast fire hazards. Second supervisor: Dr P. Stafford. Funding: PTDF of Nigeria. ^★3^rd Prize Poster IStructE
Demirci Cagatay (Graduated 2019) Seismic response of tall Cross Laminated Timber buildings incorporating innovative performance modification systems. Second supervisor: Dr L. Macorini. Funding: TUBITAK
Luis Fernando Sirumbal (Graduated 2019) Seismic performance of damage-avoidance hybrid timber-steel systems for high-rise. Funding: FINCyT
Vasileios Karagiannis (Graduated 2017) Response of hybrid steel-timber structures.
Dr. Yanzhi Liu (Graduated in 2013), Behaviour of beam-to-tubular column connections under extreme loading conditions. Co-supervised with Prof. A. Elghazouli. ^★Best Departmental Poster Award

MEng Alumni

Jad Maqdah, Artificial Intelligence applied to the design of extraterrestrial structures ★ Best Structures Project ★ Basu Prize in Civil Engineering
Thomas McLean, Optimal design of long span structures in low gravity conditions ★ Best Structures Project
Reema Ismail, Advanced modelling of the mechano-sorptive behaviour of wood
Marco Lok Fung Cheng (MEng 2017), Motion control through supplemental rotational inertia

Jeremy Ilkanaev (MEng 2017), Dynamic behaviour of digitally-manufactured wooden beams with integrated resonators
Paul Zhu (MEng 2016) Structural response of robotically-fabricated jonits for CLT folded structures ★ Best Poster IStructE
Xiayang Zheng (MEng 2016) Seismic response of an 8-storey timber building
Juliet Kernohan (MEng 2015) Experimental assessment of the force re-distribution in CLT panels under earthquake loads
Clara Gomez Torres (MEng 2015) Parametric design of timber grid-shell structures: structural form-finding and optimisation ‌‌
Marcello Valerio Castelo (MEng 2015) Seismic performance of weak-base strong-column frame systems‌. Co-supervised with Prof Amit Kanvinde, UCDavis‌‌
Charalambos Spanos (MEng 2014) Seismic response of alternative steel framing systems ★Best Departmental Poster Prize

MSc Alumni

Pei Zhang (MSc 2019), Low-cost open-source dynamic testing
Sebastian Aedo Maluje (MSc 2019), Seismic response of timber structures ★ Dissertation won the Basu Prize in Civil Engineering
Junjia Lyu (MSc 2019), Structural monitoring through complex vibration modes
Qianxi Zhang (MSc 2019), Seismic response of structures with first and second kind similarities
Catalina Meza (MSc 2019), Digitally-manufactured wooden beams for optimized dynamic performance
Emily Peper (MSc 2018), Progressive collapse analysis of cross laminated timber structures ★ Dissertation won First Prize for MSc research from the IStructE
Jingren Wu (MSc 2018), Seismic response of tall and slender steel structures
Manousos Psaltakis (MSc 2017), Assessment of acceleration demands through low-order building models
Hend Tubaila (MSc 2017), Equivalent viscous damping for performance-based design of rocking CLT walls
Xiao Pan (MSc 2017), External resonators for seismic control of monumental structures
Yiwei Hu (MSc, 2017), Influence of alternative degradation modelling strategies on the seismic response of RC columns
Mohammed Abdelhadi (MSc 2016), Avanced Cross-Laminated-Timber (CLT) stability systems, in collaboration with Ramboll UK
Manon Dangelser (MSc 2016), Impact of building type on seismic losses considering environmental costs
Yara Achcouty (MSc 2016), Modelling fatigue induced collapse of RC bridge piers
Bryan Carroll (MSc 2015), Performance of Cross-Laminated-Timber (CLT) subjected to fires
Konstantinos Bougatsas (MSc 2015), Probabilistic seismic assessment of alternative building systems.
Shijia Yang (MSc 2015), Interaction between ground motion characteristics and structural model in nonlinear dynamic analysis.
Ishan Abeisekara (MSc 2014), Dynamic response of tall timber buildings. ★ First Prize for MSc research from the IStructE
Katerina Zographou (MSc 2014), Dimensional response analysis of regular and irregular RC frames

Past Post-doctoral Researchers

Umut Almac, Project: Seismic response of masonry structures timber-lacings, Assist. Prof. Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
Daia Zwicky, Wooden structures. Project: Wood-based sustainable concrete, Head of the Institute for Building and Environmental Technologies at the Fribourg University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland

Past Visiting Students

Sasan Shahzamani, Isfahan University of Technology (Iran), Research project: Control of reinforced concrete structures using a novel damper
Rajib Biswas, Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan), Research project: Seismic performance evaluation of deteriorating RC structures
Daniele Reale, Politecnico di Bari (Italy), Research project: Seismic response of steel buildings
Jasmine Stragapede, Politecnico di Torino (Italy), Research project: Structural implementation of inerters in steel structures
Carlos Menéndez Vicente, RWTH Aachen (Germany), Research project: Structural implementation of motion-control devices