Dr. Elisabeth Bowman

Dr. Bowman is a Chartered geotechnical engineer (CEng MICE) and researcher working at the interface of geotechnical engineering, geology, granular physics and fluid mechanics. She took her Bachelors degree at the University of Cambridge, then worked for four years as a civil engineer for consultants Gifford in Southampton and London before returning to study for a PhD in geotechnical engineering at Cambridge. She was subsequently awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering Postdoctoral Fellowship to study the mechanics of rapid landslides at Cambridge, then spent eight years at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand before returning to the UK to the University of Sheffield. Her research is focused on understanding, thereby mitigating, processes that destabilise soil and enhancing processes that improve soil behaviour, thereby reducing risk for subsurface and near-surface civil infrastructure. Her work branching into granular physics has been recognised by invited keynote contributions to numerous multidisciplinary events. She has been an Associate Editor for Canadian Geotechnical Journal since 2013 and previously sat on the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Industrial Fellowship Steering Committee (2016-2020) and Research Committee (2020-2023). On the engineering practice side, she currently acts as the Geotechnical Lead on the Reservoir Safety Research Advisory Group (ResRAG) under the aegis of the British Dam Society and she is also the university liaison for the Yorkshire Geotechnical Group.