Ashley WillisView profile
Senior Lecturer
Dr. Ashley Willis is a Senior Lecturer in Fluid Dynamics at the University of Sheffield's School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences. He holds roles including Admissions Head and Programme Leader for Study Abroad. His research focuses on fluid dynamics, turbulence, astrophysical flows, and magnetohydrodynamics, with applications in clean energy and planetary systems. Willis completed his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics at Newcastle University (2002) and has held postdoctoral positions at the University of Bristol, Leeds, and a Marie Curie Fellowship at Ecole Polytechnique, Paris. He leads the Fluid Dynamics Group and is part of the cross-faculty Sheffield Fluid Mechanics Group. His research interests include transition to turbulence, nonlinear dynamics, and magnetic field generation in planetary interiors. He supervises PhD students like Shijun Chu and collaborates with industry on projects like turbulence suppression in pipe flows. Key contributions include the open-source Openpipeflow simulation code and studies on dynamo action in geophysical flows. Publications highlight work on turbulent transition mechanisms, optimal flow configurations, and dynamo theory. His teaching includes courses on mechanics, fluid dynamics, and mathematical modeling of natural systems.











