SOTON

SOTON:  University of Southampton

Institution :

University of Southampton is a leading research-led university (in the top 75 in the world) with consistently high ratings for research as well as teaching (e.g. at the top of the Guardian League Tables in the UK for Mechanical Engineering). Academics from the Computational Engineering & Design (CED) as well as Biomechanics Science Research Group (BSRG) will participate within the consortium.  Parsimonious shape description including those using statistical tools and its applications to a broad range of engineering problems is an active area of research within the two research groups. CED hosts the Southampton Regional e-Science Centre, the Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre and the Microsoft Institute of High Performance Computing and is a centre of excellence for multidisciplinary engineering simulation. The centre is well equipped with numerous workstations, video conferencing facilities and high-speed parallel and clustered processor systems (including a 1000+ node supercomputing cluster).

Role in the project:

SOTON will provide statistical ways of describing shape (morphometry) that reflects the variability in population as well as posture. A hierarchical strategy of modeling the shape that excludes details for shape description whereas retains them for stress and impact analysis will be employed. A combination of statistical shape analysis techniques such as those using landmarks, procrustes analysis, and principal component analysis will be employed. All these activities are covered in WP2.

Team:

Professor Atul Bhaskar, CED research Group specialises in computational solid mechanics, materials modelling and shape optimisation. He has published over 90 research papers, has a total grant portfolio of over £3.5M and has 4 patents. He has led the Southampton side of several large EU consortia (one current), and two EPSRC grants. Industrial grants (e.g. Rolls-Royce plc, Victor Marine Ltd) and was recently awarded a prestigious Leverhulme Senior Research Fellowship. He will be involved in Tasks 2.1.2, 2.2 and 2.3.      
                    
Dr. Mamadou Bah is a Senior Research Fellow (BSRG) specialises in computational biomechanics including CAD and Finite Elements, statistical shape analysis, mesh morphing and contact simulation. His research has been supported by EPSRC, Joint Research Instrumentation Ltd., Simpleware Ltd. and the University of Southampton. He is currently supported as PI by industry to assess the effects of variability in patients, loading and surgical errors on the primary stability of cementless implants. He will be involved in Tasks 2.2 and 2.3.

Dr. Christophe Lecomte - Christophe holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University, USA, and is an applied mathematician from the Universite Catholique of Louvain, Belgium.  He has been specialising in linear algebra as well as in statistical and Bayesian analysis. He is a member of several mathematical and engineering professional societies including SIAM, the BMS, AMS and ASA, as well as an associate member of the statistical sciences research institute (S3RI) at Southampton.  He will be involved in the statistical shape and posture activities of tasks 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3.

Professor Martin Browne is the Head of BSRG. He has published over 50 refereed journal articles, 100 conference articles, and supervised 13 PhD students. He has been lead investigator on two previous grants investigating the performance of cemented and cementless hip replacements using statistical approaches. He has gained funding of ~£3.7 million from many sources including research councils,industry, the EU, charitable organisations and the NHS. He will be involved in Tasks 2.1 and 2.2.