Students |
Previous students at Imperial College London |
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Personal research website of Dr Valentin Heller |
· Mr Matthew Cobbold, MEng student, Far-field numerical modelling of subaerial landslide-tsunamis using FUNWAVE-TVD, 02.2014 - 07.2014 · Mr Zekai (Peter) Bi, MSc student, An experimental investigation of scale effects of vortex structures in shallow water, 03.2013 - 08.2013 (co-supervised by Dr. J. Spinneken) · Mr Mark Bruggemann, MEng student, Composite modelling of the influence of geometry on landslide generated impulse waves, 01.2012 - 06.2012 (co-supervised by Dr J. Spinneken) · Mr Thibaut Desguers, Internship student from Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) de Cachan, An experimental investigation of scale effects in vortex structures, 03.2012 - 07.2012 (co-supervised by Dr. J. Spinneken) |
Previous students at the University of Southampton |
Talented, enthusiastic and motivated students with good marks are more than welcome to apply (contact Dr Heller). |
· Mr Rorik Adams, MSc student, Modelling of landslide generated tsunamis with SPH, SCEE, 06.2010 - 09.2010 · Miss Mahtab Moalemi, MSc project, The effect of the geometry on landslide generated tsunamis, SCEE, 02. - 06.2010 · Mr Robert Kinnear, MSc student, The effect of reservoir geometry on landslide generated impulse waves, SCEE, 06. - 10.2009 |
Previous student at ETH Zurich |
· Mr Remo Steiner, MSc student, Alternative Geometrie für Skisprünge [An alternative geometry for ski jumps], VAW, 10.2006 - 01.2007 (co-supervised by Prof. Dr. W.H. Hager) |
Available projects |
Funding opportunities for exceptional home and international PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers are available on a competitive basis. These opportunities include: |
Research team |
Dr Matthew Kesseler, PhD student, Laboratory-numerical investigation of scale effects in granular slides, start October 2015 (graduated) |
Current modules |
· CIVE3063: Hydraulic Design and Experiments (Spring Semester), contributor · CIVE1005: Convenor of workshop Technical Writing F1 (Autumn/Spring Semester) · CIVE2043: Convenor of workshops Testing of Fundamental Material Properties H5 and Health & Safety, Security and CDM D5 (Spring Semester) · CIVE1004: Group Project (contributor) · CIVE4021: MEng Group Design Project (Spring Semester), contributor (Fig. 2) · CIVE4008: MEng Investigative Project (Spring Semester), contributor · CIVE3015: BEng Individual Investigative Project (Autumn Semester), contributor · CIVE4009: MSc Civil Engineering Research Project (Spring Semester, contributor) · CIVE4102: MSc Research Methods and Project Proposal (Spring Semester, contributor) · Engineering Project (ENGFF043), contributor |
· Landslide-tsunamis · Wave and tidal energy conversion · Fluid-structure interaction · Scale effects in fluids and granular flows · Machine Learning (ANN) in hydraulics |
Previous MEng, BEng and other students |
· Miss Charlotte Westbrook, MEng student, Numerical modelling of a glacial lake outburst flood, 02. - 04.2024 · Mr Hari Puvanasvaran, MEng student, A novel analysis technique for landslide-tsunamis, 02. - 04.2024 · Mr Ilya Zverev, Machine learning applied to landslide-tsunamis, 02. - 04.2024 · Mr Jack Stanton, BEng student, Scale effects in granular slides, 10. - 12.2023 · Mr Suhaash Pirapagaren, BEng student, Numerical modelling of glacial lack outburst flood, 10. - 12.2023 · Mr Kelvin Ping Han Chua, MEng student, A novel 3D analysis technique for landslide-tsunamis, 02. - 04.2023 · Mr Yu Siong Ling, MEng student, Towards the experimental validation of novel scaling laws, 01.2023 - 05.2023 · Mr William James Pettifor, MEng student, Numerical investigation of energy dissipation in wave breaking through air compression, 02. - 04.2023 · Mr Joon Zhi Wee, MEng student, Scale effects in debris flows, 01.2023 - 05.2023 · Mr Darkhan Sheldebayev, BEng student, Experimental investigation of a vertical plunging jet, 09.2022 - 01.2023 · Miss Cai Yang, BEng student, Classification of water body geometries for landslide-tsunami prediction, 09.2022 - 01.2023 · Miss Francine Amy Capon, MEng student, A novel analysis technique for landslide-tsunamis. 02. - 04.2022 · Mr Runda Zhao, BEng student, Prediction of landslide-tsunamis with a hazard assessment method, 09.2021 - 01.2022 · Mr Jingwei Tan, MSc student, Investigation of wave loading on horizontal flexible plates, 02. - 09.2022 · Mr Patrick Toone, MEng student, Numerical prediction of landslide-tsunamis in reservoirs, 02. - 04.2021 · Miss Rebecca Laurel, MEng student, Numerical and empirical prediction of sediment transport with focus on Lolo Creek, 02. - 04.2021 · Miss Emma Williams, BEng student, The effect of Coronavirus on air pollution and climate change, 09. - 12.2020 · Mr Jagdeep Singh Powar, BEng student, Classification of water body geometries for landslide-tsunami prediction, 09. - 12.2020 · Mr Zhiwen Chen, MSc student, Numerical modelling of the effect of converging reservoir geometries on landslide-tsunamis, 02. - 09.2020 · Miss Cecile Mauroux, MSc student, Numerical modelling of plastic bottles in waves, 02. - 09.2020 · Mr Wesley Beaver, BEng student, Laboratory modelling of plastic bottles in water waves, 09. - 12.2019 · Mr Sangchu Quan, BEng student, Numerical modelling of iceberg-tsunamis, 09. - 12.2019 · Mr Jamie Nicholson, MEng student, Numerical prediction of landslide-generated impulse waves in nature, 02. - 04.2020 · Miss Annabel Murley, MEng student, The effect of the sediment content on tsunami impact forces, 02. - 04.2019 · Mr Tommaso Attili, MSc exchange student from the University of Pisa, Analysis of iceberg-tsunamis from large-scale experiments, 10.2018 - 03.2019 · Mr Daniel Fox, BEng student, Analysis of iceberg-tsunamis from large-scale experiments, 10. - 12.2018 · Mr Yifeng Zheng, BEng student, The effect of the bathymetry on landslide-tsunamis, 10. - 12.2018 · Mr Zijian Zheng, BEng student, Shallow-water vortices, 10. - 12.2018 · Mr Ben Brown, MEng student, Air pollution dispersion modelling, 10.2017-05.2018 · Mr Ming Kwong Chung, MEng student, Acoustic fluidisation in granular flows, 10.2017-05.2018 · Mr Ewan Sloan, MEng student, Laboratory investigation of scale effects in broad-crested weirs, 01.2018 - 05.2018 · Miss Ziyuan Chen, BEng student, Effect of vegetation on flow structure in a laboratory flume, 10.2017-12.2017 · Mr Seerone Kandasamy, BEng student, Why is a turbine dragged behind a boat an inefficient energy source?, 10.2017-12.2017 · Miss Jiaqi Liu, BEng student, Comparison of different methods for air pollution dispersion modelling, 10.2017-12.2017 · Mr Youssef Socolovsky, BEng student, An investigation on the hydrodynamics of rising bubbles in a water column, 10.2017-12.2017 · Mr Greg Nichols, MEng student, Numerical investigation of wave forces on rigid and flexible plates calibrated and validated with existing laboratory data, 10.2016 - 05.2017 · Mr Samuel Hammond, BEng student, Experimental investigation of the 2007 rock and ice avalanche at Mount Steele, 10.2016 - 05.2017 · Mr Jiazhang Liu, BEng student, Case study of landslide-tsunamis at Es Verdà by using the SPH numerical method, 10.2016 - 05.2017 · Miss Ramandeep Kaur, N-SERP student from the University of Brighton, Modelling of tsunamis generated by ice calving with OpenFOAM, 06.2016 - 07.2016 · Mr Stefan Holenstein, MSc student from ETH Zurich, Feasibility study of a cost efficient multi-purpose wave flume, 02.2016 - 06.2016 · Mr Samuel Bell, MSci student in 4th year, Experiments in tidal flow streams, 10.2015 - 05.2016 · Mr Matthew Urquhart, MEng student in 4th year, The UK’s wind power: Exploring the future for offshore and onshore potential, 10.2015 - 05.2016 · Mr Baldev Virdee, BSc student in 3rd year, An investigation into hydropower as a reliable source of clean energy and whether implementation of a hydropower plant along Afon Anafon will be beneficial, 10.2015 - 05.2016 · Mr Sheng Yang, BEng student in 3rd year, Hazards of surface impulse waves generated by ice calving, 10.2015 - 05.2016 · Mr Ewan Sloan, BEng student in 2nd year, Landslide-tsunami modelling with DualSPHysics, 06.2015 - 08.2015 (Engineering Research Placements project) |
Dr Fan Chen, PhD student, Experimental and numerical investigation of tsunamis generated by ice calving, start October 2016 (graduated) |
Fig. 3. Ewan won the Impact runner up poster award at the ERPs celebration event, congratulations!
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· Miss Rosemary Anne Thurling, MEng student in 4th year, Measurement of bridge afflux and backwater, 01.2015 - 04.2015 · Mr Manthan Bharatlal, BEng student in 3rd year, Urban drainage system stormwater sewer, 01.2015 - 05.2015 · Mr Daniel Mawdsley, BSc student in 3rd year, Flow velocity measurement with a Valeport velocity meter in the lab and in nature, 01.2015 - 05.2015 |
Dr Gioele Ruffini, PhD student, Numerical characterisation of landslide-tsunamis in idealised and real water bodies, start December 2016 (graduated) |
Last modified: 30.09.2024 |
Please contact Dr Heller several months in advance of an upcoming deadline. Generally, I am interested in postdoctoral researchers, PhD students and exchange students in the fields of: |
· Nottingham Research Fellowship: Nottingham Research Fellowship · Research Fellowship: Marie Sklodowska-Currie Actions Fellowship · Research Fellowship: Mid-Career Fellowships of the British Academy · Research Fellowship: Newton International Fellowships · Research Fellowship: Royal Commission for the Exhibition 1851 · Research Fellowship: Schlumberger Faculty for the Future General · Postdoctoral position: The latest Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) opportunities are available here · PhD studentship: General overview of PhD funding opportunities at UoN · PhD studentship: Faculty of Engineering Research Excellence PhD Scholarship · PhD studentship: Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship for Research Excellence (EU) · PhD studentship: Chinese Scholarship Council Research Excellence Scholarship · PhD studentship: Commonwealth Fellowship for PhD study · PhD studentship: Your own country may offer further funding schema to go abroad · PhD exchange studentship: Visit the University of Nottingham and we aim to write a peer-review article together, similarly as with Mr Hai Tan (Tan et al. 2018) · MSc students: Exchange MSc students are welcome as well |
· Gioele represented the GEP research group in the final of the Engineering Research Showcase 2017 (1st year students) and 2018 (2nd year student) and won a Graduate School Travel Price to attend the 38th IAHR World Congress, congratulations! |
· Matthew won the runner up price for the best paper lead by a postdoc at the Engineering Research Showcase 2020 and the Best Poster Award at the Link17 student-lead conference in 2017, congratulations! |
· Fan won a highly competitive China Scholarship Council Research Excellence Scholarships to fund his PhD, the 2nd prize for the Best Poster at the Link18 student-lead conference in 2018 and a Graduate School Travel Price to attend the 38th IAHR World Congress, congratulations! |
Dr Hai Tan, PhD student at Wuhan University, academic visitor for 6 months, Numerical modelling of rigid landslides and the generated waves based on a coupled DEM-SPH approach, start December 2017 (graduated) |
Fig. 1. Group picture in front of the Coates Building in November 2019: From left to right: Gioele Ruffini, Valentin Heller, Matthew Kesseler, Daniele Catucci, Fan Chen, Muhammad Awais Zaman and Tommaso Atilli
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Current MSc, MEng and BEng students |
· Mr Aidan Bennett, BEng student, Landslide-tsunami characterisation based on the kinetic slide energy, 09. - 12.2024 · Mr Mohammad Hussainy, BEng student, Prediction of landslide-tsunamis with a hazard assessment method, 09. - 12.2024 |
Dr Daniele Catucci, PhD student, Analytical derivation and numerical validation of novel scaling laws for air-water flows, start October 2018 (lead supervisor Dr Riccardo Briganti) (awaiting graduation) |
· Daniele was awarded one of the prestigious Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship for Research Excellence, congratulations! |
Mr Muhammad Awais Zaman, MPhil student, Prediction of flooding caused by landslide-generated impulse waves in Pakistani lakes and reservoirs, start October 2019 |
· Muhammad was awarded one of the highly competitive Faculty of Engineering Research Excellence Scholarships, congratulations! |
Dr Tommaso Attili, PhD student, Numerical-laboratory modelling of waves interacting with dams and rigid/flexible plates, start October 2019 (final version submitted) |
· Tommaso was awarded one of the highly competitive Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship for Research Excellence, congratulations! |
Former/Graduated PhD students |
Mr David Gwillym Jenkins, PhD student, Revolutionising landslide-tsunami prediction with advanced machine learning techniques, start June 2020 (lead supervisor Dr Archontis Giannakidis, Nottingham Trent University) |
· David secured a 5 year research-teaching PhD position at Nottingham Trent University on a competitive basis, congratulations! |
1st job after the PhD study: Postdoc at Sapienza University of Rome |
1st job after the PhD study: PremTech |
1st job after the PhD study: Changjiang Institute of Survey, Planning, Design and Research |
1st job after the PhD study: Postdoc at Shanghai Jiao Tong University |
Dr Sazeda Begam, Research Fellow, ENSURE: Experimental and Numerical insight into Scale effects in granUlaR slides in the mountainous Environment, start Summer 2021 |
· Sazeda was awarded one of the highly competitive Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowships, congratulations! |
Dr Jizhixian Liu, PhD student at China University of Geosciences, academic visitor for 1 year, Numerical investigation of the effect of the mass movement type on landslide-tsunamis, start April 2021 |
· Jizhixian’s exchange year is funded by the China Scholarship Council, congratulations! |
Dr Ben Constance, Research Fellow, Paradigm shift of landslide-tsunami characterisation and prediction, start July 2021 |
· Ben is working on a Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant |
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Mr Zhiwen Chen, PhD student, Effect of converging reservoir geometry on landslide-tsunamis, start October 2021 |
· Zhiwen successfully completed an MSc in Civil Engineering at the UoN and we are very pleased that he stayed on to do a PhD study. |
1st job after the PhD study: Hydraulics position at Services for Real Estates, Milan |
Fig. 2. Year 4 student group working on the “Marine Renewables Test Centre” within CIVE4021 in front of their poster at the celebration event |
1st job after the PhD study: Engineer in the Coasts and Oceans group at HR Wallingford |
1st job after the PhD study: Lecturer at Hubei Engineering University |
Former Research Fellows |