Interview. Constructing the Team - Sir Michael Confident of Success

A considerable amount of work has recently been carried out to provide a scientific basis for the analysis of masonry arch bridges. However, thefidure modes of multiring brickwork arch bridges in particular will often be very diflerent to those corresponding to bridges containing a single ring of blocks; this is because the constituent rings will often separate, causing premature failure of the bridge. Most analysis techniques developed to date make the implicit assumption that shear failure between rings will not occur; it is demonstrated that these methods are inappropriate for the calculation of the strength of multiring brickwork arch bridges. Professor C. Melbourne and M. Gilbert

Dr J. F. A. Moore (M) (Department of the Environment) I am not sure whether you classify someone walking off a railway platform in front of a train as a basic risk, a voluntary risk, or an involuntary risk, but that is the explanation for my late arrival this evening, for which I apologise!

Winner of the Institution's annual Kenneth Severn Award, Rena Vogelzang, answers President Brian Uy's essay question on structural efficiency, embodied carbon and maintaining public safety.