Biography

I am an associate professor in continuum mechanics, and by courtesy biomechanics. I specialise in constitutive modelling of soft materials, including soft biological tissues, via mathematical and computational methods. My current focus is on developing modelling tools that improve the predictive accuracy of constitutive/computational models, and unify the existing constitutive theories into more generalised and comprehensive modelling frameworks.

I obtained my PhD in Biomechanical Engineering from Queen Mary, University of London, in 2012, looking at and formulating the structure-function relationships in the aortic heart valve. I am currently the course leader for MSc Biomedical Engineering, and lead the Cardiovascular Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL). I am involved in delivering various modules on topics of Solid Mechanics, Biomechanics Modelling and Fracture Mechanics, from L4 to L7. 

Further afield, when I am not modelling, I enjoy playing (well, mostly watching) snooker and I am fascinated by (modern) classic cars – I have owned a couple!

Research interests

As my research quest, I am in search of finding/developing a universal law to capture all deformations of soft solids across the board. However, failing that, my less ambitious research interests fall within two broad areas:

1- Continuum mechanics and constitutive modelling

• Developing hyperelastic strain energy functions as unified constitutive laws for modelling the nonlinear finite deformation of soft solids.

• Modelling the inelastic mechanical behaviour of soft materials including softening/damage, rate-dependency and viscoelasticity.

2- Soft tissue biomechanics

• Multiscale characterisation and mathematical modelling of the mechanical behaviour of soft tissues.

• Developing new modelling frameworks to capture the hyperelastic/viscoelastic behaviours of soft tissues.