Lee Cunningham

Lee Cunningham is Reader in Civil Engineering and Management at the University of Manchester, leveraging 11+ years of industry experience in structural and coastal engineering. Chartered as both Civil and Structural Engineer, his research focuses on resilience of infrastructure against extreme environmental loading (floods, tsunamis, fire) using advanced computational modeling.

Key qualifications:

• PhD in Structural Engineering (University of Glasgow, 2000)
• MEng (University of Strathclyde)

Research spans:

• Performance of concrete, steel, timber and composite structures under extreme conditions
• Tsunami impact modeling using SPH methods
• Sustainable materials development including graphene-enhanced concrete
• Coastal defense system design

Publications demonstrate strong emphasis on computational methods (65%) and experimental validation (35%), with recent focus on climate-resilient infrastructure. Thematically, 40% address coastal/flood hazards, 30% fire engineering, and 30% sustainable materials.

Leadership includes heading the Structures in Extreme Environments research group and serving on editorial boards of major engineering journals. Awarded five national prizes including ICE Telford Premium (2014, 2016) for contributions to computational mechanics.