McAuliffe PhD student joins University of Cambridge programme

17 Dec 2021

McAuliffe and the University of Cambridge have welcomed PhD student, Han Ding, onto the university’s Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Infrastructure and Built Environment: Resilience in a Changing World (FIBE2 CDT) programme.

As part of the McAuliffe sponsored four-year studentship, Han will carry out a literature review on current decontamination agents and associated industrial process, developing a framework for assessing life-cycle carbon footprint.

He will also research existing waste streams in the UK, investigating their potential in the development of a range of smart, cost-effective and sustainable binders for use in land remediation and regeneration.

The resulting framework will be implemented in civil infrastructure industries to help them work towards carbon neutral, as well as contributing to UN Sustainable Development Goals.

During a competitive selection process, Han impressed McAuliffe and the university with his strong academic record. In 2018, he achieved a Distinction in his BEng Civil Engineering degree from the University of Sheffield, before going on to graduate from Imperial College London with an MSc in Soil Mechanics and Environmental Geotechnical (with Merit) in 2019.

McAuliffe technical director, Dr Chris Evans, will support Han throughout his four-year studentship, in collaboration with the university’s Prof. Abir Al-Tabbaa.

Dr Evans said:

“Many of our remediation projects involve aspects of soil stabilisation and/or solidification processing with binder additions, and there’s scope for a range of waste streams to be suitable for use.  

“As well as the clear environmental benefits of Han’s research, his findings could bring significant cost savings to construction projects.” 

Follow the progress of FIBE2 CDT Cohort 3, here: https://www.fibe-cdt.eng.cam.ac.uk/