The Global Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Alistair's work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
About Alistair
I have more than 40 years’ experience in civil and environmental engineering. After completing my doctorate, I worked for Brown & Root (UK) Ltd, helping design the Hutton Tension Leg Platform (the World’s first vertically moored, floating oil platform for deep-water applications) which won the Queen’s Award for Technological Achievement in 1984. From 1990 to 2011, I was a Tutorial Fellow at St Edmund Hall and Lecturer, Reader, and then Professor in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford. From 2007 to 2010, I was Deputy Head of Department and organized its Centenary celebrations. From 2011-13, I was Head of Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at University College Cork, where I was Founding Director of the €29M SFI Centre for Marine and Renewable Energy Ireland. MaREI now employs more than 200 people across Ireland, and involves more than 50 companies. I am an Emeritus Professor at The University of Edinburgh, where I was Professor of Applied Hydrodynamics from 2013-2019. I hold (or have held) adjunct professorships at seven universities in China, Ireland, and the UK. I am presently a Visiting Professor at Peking University and Visiting Distinguished Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China (2018-2021).
I was awarded an honorary degree by Budapest University of Technology and Economics in 2016, the Gold Medal from the Institution of Civil Engineers in 2019 for lifetime contributions to Civil Engineering, and the YanYuan Friendship Award by Peking University in 2020.Employment History ...
Engineer, South West Water Authority, summers of 1976, 1977 and 1978.
Research Assistant and Demonstrator, Liverpool University, 1979-1982.
Engineer, Brown & Root (UK) Ltd, 1982–1983.
Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Water Resources, Salford University, 1984-1990.
Tutorial Fellow, St Edmund Hall Oxford, 1990-2011.
University Lecturer/Reader in Engineering Science, Oxford University, 1990-2002.
Professor of Engineering Science, Oxford University, 2002-2011. Deputy Head, 2007-2010.
Head, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, UCC, 2011-13.
Professor of Applied Hydrodynamics, U of Edinburgh, 2013-19, Professorial Fellow, U of Edinburgh, 2019-2021
Professor of Applied Hydrodynamics, U of Plymouth, 2021-24.
Supervised Research Degrees
I have co-supervised 61 doctoral students to completion.
I acted as external examiner/reviewer of 45 PhD and 2 MSc candidates in U.K., China, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, and Norway.
I have also acted as internal examiner to 1 DSc, 18 DPhil and 3 MSc candidates at Oxford, 1 PhD and 1 MEngSc at UCC, and 6 PhD candidates at Edinburgh.
Teaching
Edinburgh (2013-19)
MEng, MSc, and EngD lectures on Open Channel Flow, Hydraulic Engineering, and Marine Renewable Energy, and organised a Mechanical Engineering Design exercise. Lectured on tidal energy to the CDT on Wind and Marine Energy at the University of Strathclyde.
University College Cork [UCC] (2011-13)
BE lectures on Environmental Hydraulics.
University of Oxford (1990-2011)
MEng lecture courses on Mathematics, Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, Hydraulics, Engineering Hydrology, Coastal Engineering, Offshore Engineering, Water Engineering, and Plates & Shells, and MSc lectures on Engineering Hydrology in the Geography Department.
Undergraduate teaching for St Edmund Hall, Oxford (1990-2011)
Tutorials in Mathematics, Energy Systems, Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Engineering & Society, and Environmental Risk & Sustainability.
Final Year Projects
I have supervised more than 100 final year dissertations. In 2012, my student, Maggie Creed, won a European SET Award from the Lloyd’s Register Education Trust for the Best Maritime Technology Student.
Contact Alistair
alistair.borthwick@plymouth.ac.uk
