Prashant Saxena

Dr. Prashant Saxena is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Infrastructure & Environment at the University of Glasgow (since 2018). He previously held positions as an Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (2015-2018) and postdoctoral roles at the University of Lausanne (2014-2015) and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (2012-2014). He completed his PhD in Applied Mathematics at the University of Glasgow (2012) and a Bachelor/Master of Technology in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (2009).

His research focuses on the mechanics of soft solids and structures, particularly under extreme deformation. Key areas include smart composites with multi-physics coupling (electro-mechanical and magneto-mechanical) and soft biological tissues. He employs tools like nonlinear solid mechanics, continuum mechanics, and numerical analysis to study instabilities in these materials. His work emphasizes the exploitation of instabilities as design features in engineering applications.

• Research grants include EPSRC funding (2021-2024) and multiple awards from India's Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB).
• Notable awards: EPSRC New Investigator Award (2021), Ramanujan Fellowship (2015-2018), and multiple SERB Early Career Awards.
• Teaching roles include Finite Element Analysis, Dynamics, and Structural Mechanics courses at the University of Glasgow.
• Professional activities include editorial roles in Mathematics and Mechanics of Solids and organizing international conferences.

His publications span over 40 papers in journals like Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids and Proceedings of the Royal Society A, with a focus on magnetoelastic deformation, instabilities, and computational mechanics.