Young researchers conference 2025

Young researchers conference 2025 showcases outstanding structural engineering research, bringing together students, academics and practitioners.

This conference returns for its 27th year. Five young researchers presented their work to a panel of judges, comprised of both academics and practising engineers from the IStructE Research Panel.

A Pecha-Kucha style session saw presentation bridging the gap between industry and research and demonstrating perspectives on future research areas.

View conference proceedings

Winning research presentations

First place:

Experimental push-out tests on stainless steel headed stud shear connectors - Rebecca Presswood, University of Southampton

Second place:

Web crippling behaviour of web-perforated cold-formed steel, stainless steel and aluminium sigma sections - Hasini Weerasinghe, University of Sri Jayewardenepura/ Northumbria University

Third place:

Performance and finite element analysis of 3D-printed concrete benches - Rui Luo, National University of Singapore

Experimental push-out tests on stainless steel headed stud shear connectors Rebecca Presswood, University of Southampton

Web crippling behaviour of web-perforated cold-formed steel, stainless steel and aluminium sigma sections Hasini Weerasinghe, University of Sri Jayewardenepura/ Northumbria University

Performance and finite element analysis of 3D-printed concrete benches Rui Luo, National University of Singapore

Winning posters

Joint first place:

Structural performance of modular construction optimized beams with web openings - Jack Lifsey, University of Northumbria
Particle-based DEM modelling of masonry under compressive loading - Kanaeshvarr Devanand, University of Birmingham

Highly commended

Experiments and design method of reinforced concrete beams rehablitated by Impressed Current Cathodic Protection and Structural Strengthening (ICCP-SS) with graphene - Xiaoming Zhu, University of Manchester

Structural performance of modular construction optimized beams with web openings Jack Lifsey, University of Northumbria

Experiments and design method of reinforced concrete beams rehabilitated by Impressed Current Cathodic Protection and Structural Strengthening (ICCP-SS) with graphene Xiaoming Zhu, University of Manchester