University of Plymouth academic named as one of UK’s engineering heroes

#WE50 – An academic from the University of Plymouth (@PlymUni) has been named as one of the UK’s female engineering heroes.

Alison Raby, Professor of Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Head of the COAST Engineering Research Group, has been named by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) as a recipient of its Top 50 Women in Engineering: Engineering Heroes awards.

Now in their sixth year, the 2021 WE50 awards celebrate women who have made a significant contribution to helping their organisation, community or indeed the world during the last year.

Professor Raby is one of the world’s leading experts on how extreme waves and coastal flooding impact coastal structures.

She led the national STORMLAMP project, which examined the resilience of lighthouses and how they might be affected in future years as a result of the rise in extreme winter storms.

She has also led international initiatives such as investigating how coastal communities in Sri Lanka can be warned about the combined threats of severe rainfall and cyclones.

And she has played a vital role in a number of collaborative initiatives with the UK Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation Team, aimed at uncovering the precise reasons for the severity of destruction.