In late 2013, the University of Warwick announced a generous alumni donation of £100k to support two junior academics in their engineering research. The awards of £50k each went to Dr Stana Zivanovic (pictured left) and Dr Weisi Guo (pictured below) in the School of Engineering.

Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, Dr Zivanovic, proposed research on the 'Development of ‘Eco-Friendly’ Concrete for Sustainable Infrastructure”. The project aims to open the doors of the construction industry towards wide adoption of concrete with recycled products, reducing waste and energy‐demanding extraction of raw materials in the process. Dr Zivanovic will also investigate what advantages ‘eco-friendly’ concrete may have over traditional steel reinforced concrete, such as improved corrosion resistance, durability and dynamic performance, thus leading to longer lasting constructions.

The award will fund proof-of-concept and initial experimental work which, combined with the wider School of Engineering expertise, is likely to lead on to further projects with significant societal impact. It will also bring about long-term research cooperation between Warwick, recycling industry, cement manufacturers and construction firms.

Dr Guo is an exchange Assistant Professor between the Centre for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) and Warwick School of Engineering. With increasing numbers of people living in urban environments, there is a concern that lack of exposure to natural light will lead to associated chronic health problems, detrimental to both society and the economy. Therefore the project 'Ubiquitous Monitoring of Human Sunlight Exposure in Cities', aims to develop a ubiquitous method of gauging the level of ultra-violet (UV) light a citizen is exposed to. Traditional methodologies have focused on surveys and purpose-built sensors. This research project aims to leverage the growing penetration of smartphone technologies and use advanced modelling techniques to estimate the UV exposure. Dr Guo will work closely with world leading solar physicists and vitamin D health experts in quantifying the effect of solar radiation on health on both an individual and demographic scale.