Dr Iason Pelekis

Date in FIBE: 2014-2020

Before joining FIBE: Back in 2008, having gained an interest about the physical world around us through Maths and Physics at school, I decided to study Civil Engineering. I quickly realised that I wanted to explore how structures are built, work and connect to each other. Five years later, I spent some time studying how large buildings perform in progressive collapse as part of my undergraduate thesis. I became curious about overall performance of structures to fast, dynamic loading which brought me to Sheffield for my MSc. This is where I studied concrete fracture by conducting lab experiments for my postgraduate dissertation and decided to embark on a PhD as I enjoyed research.

PhD Thesis: Soil-Structure Interaction for low damage Seismic Rocking Systems

Why did you join FIBE? FIBE was a unique program which combined lots of helpful courses to prepare students for their research path. Most importantly, it provided the opportunity to re-visit Civil Engineering by being exposed to state-of-the-art experimental techniques, re-interpreting core theory in Structures and Geotechnics and finally becoming knowledgeable in topics such as Finance and Entrepreneurship.

How did it help you? : The FIBE course included many PhD cohort-based activities, such as organizing an internal conference and presenting frequently to industry partners. These activities, along with the wider academic ethos behind the course, improved my research skills in many ways. For instance, it helped me realise good quality research is about making an impact, but to communicate that well to other people is equally important.

What are you doing now? : I am a Design Engineer at AKTII based in London since spring 2020. This means I am involved in the delivery of construction information for large multi-purpose buildings, with responsibilities varying from design of structural elements to site inspection visits. At the same time, I work to further improve the computational modelling of rocking structures which comes naturally following the completion of my PhD in May 2020.

Contact: ip312@cam.ac.uk