School of Sustainability Civil and Environmental Engineering
ACADEMIC CAPABILITIES
University of Surrey
Overview
Diverse and highly inter-disciplinary School encompassing staff and students across engineering, physical and social science, organised in five research groups (with overlaps):
Infrastructure Systems Engineering (CISE)
Geomechanics
Clean Air Research (GCARE)
Water, Environmental & Health Engineering
Centre for Environment and Sustainability
The Centre for Infrastructure Systems Engineering (CISE) is internationally recognised for its leading research contributions in data-driven structural integrity management. This includes direct and indirect structural health monitoring, deterioration modelling, risk-based inspection planning and life prediction; simulation and design of complex structural systems under cyclic, dynamic and extreme loads, increasingly aimed at robustness and resilience quantification; innovation in construction materials, with a focus on sustainability and durability; climate change impacts on infrastructure and possible adaptation measures; and the simulation of land-use and transport networks for infrastructure demand analysis and forecasting.
UKRRIN status
UKRRIN Member
Member of the Centre of Excellence in Digital Systems (CEDS)
Fact File (2026-27)
10 Research staff
6 PhD students
25 Masters students
15 Publications
Capability matrix
CAPABILITY
CAPABILITY LEVEL
Easy to use for all
Accurate, accessible and understandable real-time information
Smart fare collection
Accessible to all
Multi-modal integrated journeys
Reliable and fast on-board connectivity
Freight friendly
Increased network access for freight
Safer freight operations and better asset management
Enable greater intermodality and access for freight customers
Greater asset utilisation and reduced freight journey times
Low carbon freight and On Track machines
Low emissions
Efficient new electrificaiton
Zero carbon self-powered vehicles
Low carbon freight and On Track machines
Intelligent energy management
Cleaner air
Quieter railway
Lowering embodied carbon of key material
Optimised train operations
Infrastructure and train capabilities to overcome capacity constraints
Simpler and safer real-time operations and decisions
Improved recovery from incidents and disruptions
Reliable and flexible train planning
More affordable solutions for lower-use lines
Efficient and reliable - infrastructure
“Right-time” actionable insights on infrastructure conditions
Efficient, effective and safe infrastructure maintenance
Improved resilience of infrastructure to climate change and extreme weather events
Speed up and de-risk introduction of infrastructure assets
Proactive management of infrastructure obsolescence
Efficient and reliable - rolling stock
“Right-time” actionable insights on rolling stock conditions
Efficient, effective and safe rolling stock maintenance
Improved resilience of rolling stock to climate change and extreme weather events
Speed up and de-risk introduction of rolling stock assets
Proactive management of rolling stock obsolescence
Efficient and reliable - interfaces
Improved vehicle/track interaction
Improved pantograph/overhead line interaction
Improved utilisation of constrained space
Improved whole system resilience
Data driven
Advanced computing
Advanced data analytics techniques
Data governance and standardisation
Data integration
Effective innovation culture
System and network models
Pro-innovation legal and regulatory frameworks
Testing, homologation, cross acceptance
Technically talented workforce
Job design and human performance
Workforce development and training
Workforce selection
Safety and health
Safety assessment and evaluation
Cyber security
Fitness for duty and health assessment
Competitiveness
Demand forecasting
Cost modelling
Social value
Research Group key contacts
Name: Dr Donya Hajializadeh, Associate Professor of Structural Engineering
Email: d.hajializadeh@surrey.ac.uk
FIND OUT ABOUT
TESTING AND TRIALING FACILITIES
Facilities