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Rebecca Gravina is Professor and TMR Chair of Structural Engineering at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. The TMR Chair position is endowed by the Queensland Government Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR). Rebecca also held the position of Professor in Civil and Infrastructure Engineering at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. She obtained her PhD in Structural Engineering from the University of Adelaide and prior to joining academia, worked as a consulting Structural Engineer with ARUP. Professor Gravina is an established researcher with over 25 years of experience in academia and consulting engineering. Her research field concerns the long-term performance and durability of reinforced concrete (RC) and prestressed concrete (PC) structures, sustainability of infrastructure, rehabilitation of existing structures with Fibre Reinforced Polymers (FRP), multi-functional self-healing cementitious composites, recycled materials in concrete, and engineering education. Professor Gravina is the co-author of the textbook 'Prestressed Concrete' by Warner, Foster and Gravina, she has published more than 100 research papers, has won numerous competitive research grants valued over $6 Million and teaching awards. Professor Gravina is the Editor in Chief of the Australian Journal of Civil Engineering, Immediate President of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Australian Section, Executive Committee Member of the International Institute for FRP in Construction (IIFC), and Member of the Concrete Institute of Australia. Her research is well recognised by industry, and she continuously collaborates with civil infrastructure companies and agencies to support innovation and technology transfer.

Biography

Dr Juan P. Hidalgo is a Senior Adjunct Fellow within the School of Civil Engineering (honorary position) and is currently a Fire Safety Engineer at Airbus Operations GmbH.

Juan joined The University of Queensland in 2016 as the first of the three academic appointments in the Centre for Future Timber Structures to lead the research and teaching on the fire safety of engineered timber structures. His background is in fire safety engineering, building systems and timber construction. His research to date has primarily focused on the performance of building materials for sustainable and durable construction exposed to fire conditions. Juan's field of expertise comprises material thermal degradation and flammability, heat transfer, and fire dynamics, highlighting his vast experience in multi-scale fire testing. Juan is actively involved in multiple research projects focused on sustainable construction, such as timber, insulation materials, or composites, and studying the fire dynamics in modern buildings. At present, Juan contributes to supervision and research collaborations on fire safety for the built environment with the Fire Safety Engineering Research Group at UQ.

Juan completed his BEng-MEng in Industrial Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain), a five-year degree equivalent to Mechanical/Civil Engineering in the UK with a final year specialisation with a particular focus on structural engineering. He also attained an MSc in Industrial Construction and Installations at the same University. During his MSc, Juan joined PBD Fire Consultants S.L., a Spanish company specialising in fire safety design for the built environment. He worked for this company for two years as a consulting fire engineer in multiple national and international projects. Following the completion of his MSc in 2011, Juan joined the University of Edinburgh (UK) to pursue his PhD in Fire Safety Engineering sponsored by Rockwool International A/S, which was completed in 2015 with the thesis entitled “Performance-Based Methodology for the Fire Safe Design of Insulation Materials in Energy Efficient Buildings”. He continued his academic career at the University of Edinburgh as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering, being involved in numerous research projects such as the FireComp project, and other projects focused on the fire performance of facades, timber construction, concrete and diverse construction systems.

Previous involvement in Teaching and Learning

During his appointment as academic staff at UQ, Dr Juan P. Hidalgo contributed to the teaching of Civil Engineering Bachelor and Masters programmes, including the BE-ME in Civil and Fire Safety Engineering (EA-accredited) and the MEngSc in Fire Safety Engineering. He was involved in the following courses:

• Introduction to Fire Safety Engineering (FIRE3700).
• Fire Engineering Design: Solutions for Implicit Safety (FIRE4610).
• Fire Dynamics (FIRE7620).
• Fire Dynamics Laboratory (FIRE7640).
• Structural Fire Engineering (FIRE7660).
• Fire Engineering Design: Explicit Quantification of Safety (FIRE7680).
• Research Thesis (FIRE7500).
• Design of Timber Structures (CIVL4334).