Research associate's success at national contest

School of Engineering research associate Ryan Marks has been named overall runner-up at the national final of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) Young Persons' Lecture Competition.

Having progressed through two local heats, Ryan faced seven of his fellow regional champions at Armours’ Hall in central London on 20th April – where each competitor was required to give a 15 minute presentation followed by a question and answer session with a panel of judges.

Ryan utilised his expertise as a current doctoral candidate within the School to give a short lecture entitled 'Using virtual techniques to locate fatigue cracks in aerospace structures’.

“I’m using acoustic techniques to continually monitor the structure of an aircraft for damage,” Ryan explained, “it’s analogous to the human nervous system where pain is detected through receptors, sending a message to the brain to enable the detection and location of injury.”

The lecture was warmly received, and Ryan received second place overall in the national competition – meaning he is the first reserve to attend the world finals later this year.