Bruce Drinkwate

Professor of Ultrasonics, Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Innovation in Non-Destructive Evaluation

University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom

Email: b.drinkwater@bristol.ac.uk

Bruce Drinkwater is Professor of Ultrasonics at the University of Bristol. He obtained B.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees from Imperial College, London, UK, in 1991 and 1995 respectively. Bruce then joined the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK, where he has been involved in a diverse range of engineering topics including non-destructive evaluation (NDE), condition monitoring as well as metamaterials, ultrasonic levitation, and haptics. He has worked on ultrasonic arrays for 20 years and this is a common theme that links together many of his research interests. Over the last 10 years he has been part of the UK Research Centre in NDE, where he has collaborated closely with industry to progress his research ideas into reality.  As a result, the ultrasonic imaging methods, and algorithms he helped develop, known as Full Matrix Capture (FMC) and the Total Focusing Method (TFM), are now in widespread use by industry where they have improved the safety of aircraft, power stations and other complex engineering structures. He has published >150 refereed journal papers, including a monograph on ultrasonic imaging published by FESI, and he is one of the most cited authors in his field. He has received international prizes including the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award, KU Leuven Ambassador’s Chair and The Roy Sharpe Prize from the British Institute of NDT. He is Editor-in-Chief at Non-Destructive Testing and Evaluation International and on the editorial board of Proceedings of the Royal Society, A. He actively engages with schools and the public about engineering, acoustics and NDT through public talks and articles as well as developing hands-on exhibits.