Alumni PhD Students 

Norashidah Abd Rahman had completed her PhD in Civil Engineering at University of Nottingham, United Kingdom in 2012. Her research during her study was ‘Reliability and Behaviour Blind Bolt Connection to Concrete Filled Hollow section’. Upon complete her study, she resumes her duty in Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia as a lecturer at Department of Structural and Material Engineering. She had been appointed as head of the panel (Structure Division) for Department of Structure and Material Engineering from 2013 until 2014. In 2013, she was promoted to senior lecturer after being served in the university that she currently works for more than 5 years.

In 2014 until 2018 she had been appointed as an Education committee member for Malaysia Structural Steel Association (MSSA). The committee members are appointed to discuss and plan the activity or giving the opportunity to the university get connected with the industry especially in steel construction industry. 

Besides teaching and doing a consultancy work, she also involve in publication as an editor to the many conferences proceeding and all the proceeding she work with are indexed by Scopus.  As an academic, research is part of the job scope. The topics of research she involves with are on fracture energy of foam concrete, composite structure and connection. Within 5 years since she finish her study, she was awarded 2 grants by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia under the fundamental Research Grant Scheme. The grant is the most competitive grant in Malaysia. She hopes the research she involves with does not only involve Malaysia researcher. In the future, she plans to expand her research interest by collaborating with the international researcher. 

Born in Salvador, capital of Bahia, in Brazil (1986). BEng in Civil Engineering (2005-2010, Federal University of Bahia). Worked in Brazil at Sistema Consultancy and Projects as Structural Engineer (2010-2012). MSc in Structural Engineering (2012-2014, University of Sao Paulo). PhD, in Structural Engineering by the University of Nottingham (2015-2020), where studied strengthening of existing structures against progressive collapse with TRM and NSM reinforcement.

Currently, works in Brazil, as Specialist in Structures, at Rumo Logistics.

Biography: Dr Fazaul joined the University of Nottingham as PhD student in the Department of Civil Engineering in 2015. His research is focused on Composite Structures, Finite Elements, and Analytical Modeling of blind bolts connection.

Upon completion of his study, he appointed as a senior lecturer at the University of Malaya at Department of Civil Engineering. As an Erasmus Alumni, he is actively involved with research collaboration with international researchers. In 2020, he had been appointed as an Education committee member for Malaysia Structural Steel Association (MSSA).  Apart from teaching, he also involves working with industry in construction for the career development. His aim is to get entitled as Professional Engineer within 3 years. He started another study on geotechnical engineering particularly in soil nailing to broaden his research knowledge. Also, currently he is embarking proposal on renewable energy with international research body. In the future, he plans to come out with a prototype that can be useful for the community and engineering world. 

Mr Fadoul’ s main research area is the application of novel Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to the design and construction sectors. His PhD at the University of Nottingham investigates how contemporary process- and object-oriented models can be used to assess the design constructability and inform decision making at an early stage. He introduced a BIM-based model using embedded information within the design environment to carry out the assessment. The proposed framework is implemented as a prototype using Application Programming Interface (API) in BIM extension, which allows constructability to be embedded into the appraisal process of design options in BIM. The system can be used to explore what-if-scenarios in design iterations and appraise alternative design solutions using various construction methods.

He is currently working as a KTP Research Associate on a highly technical, state of the art project funded by Innovate UK. It aims to develop a BIM-enabled integrated software system for the engineering design and optimisation of syphonic rainwater drainage systems. 

In the future, Abdelaziz seeks to establish a strong career in computer applications in Engineering. He hopes to bridge the gap between the available techniques such as Building Information Technologies (BIM) and the demand to excel current benchmarks of the construction industry.

Dr Mohammed Mahmood joined the University of Nottingham as PhD student in the Department of Civil Engineering in 2012. He was working under the supervision of Dr Tizani. His thesis studied the column face bending of blind bolting connections. His work was part of a research project at the University of Nottingham, which is aiming for the development of a design guidance for blind bolting connections. In 2015, Dr Mahmood received his PhD in Civil Engineering. Now, Dr Mahmood working as a lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering /The University of Diyala/ Iraq.

Dr Mahmood main research areas are the performance of steel connections and the strengthening and rehabilitations of reinforced concrete structures. His work includes the investigation of the performance of blind bolted connections to tubular hollow sections. In strengthening and rehabilitation, his work includes the use of fibre reinforced polymers and the development of sustainable binding materials.

Dr Ninić was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow on the "SATBIM" individual fellowship. Her research was in the areas of numerical modelling, the simulation of complex engineering problems, numerical steering of processes, and computer aided design with a special focus on mechanised tunnelling and soil-structure interaction problems. Her expertise includes development of numerical models using the open-source finite element framework “KRATOS”, numerical simulations of construction processes, meta models and optimisation algorithms, steering, as well as massive-parallel computation and data and sensitivity analysis. These methods were implemented within the unified platform “SATBIM” in the framework of BIM technology to enable flexible on-demand design optimisation.

Since completing her studies at the University of Nottingham, Dr Ninić has gone on to become an assistant professor and lecturer at the University.

Dilan Majid Rostam (Roshani) is a lecturer at  Department of Architectural Engineering (DARE),  Faculty of Engineering (FENG),  Koya University, Iraqi Kurdistan. He began his career as the  Vice President for Scientific Affairs at Koya University from February 2012 to February 2016. During that period, he also conducted the relevant lectureship. 

As a young man, Dr. Rostam went into exile in Sweden in the early 1980s, residing in Gothenburg. Upon finishing high school, he entered into a MSc program in Engineering at  Lulea University followed by the  Chalmers Technical University. He graduated in 1997 with MSC in computing in Civil/Structural Engineering. 

His interest for computer applied engineering gave him the opportunity to start work for a Norwegian IT consultancy in Oslo/Norway, from 1998 to 2001. In 2001 he commenced his PhD studies on topic of "collaborative integrated design" at the University of Nottingham in Great Britain, utilizing Internet technology, receiving his doctoral degree in 2005. 

Between 2005 and 2011 he worked at a number of Civil/Structural companies in the UK applying IT solutions. He returned to Kurdistan in April 2011 and started a career as IT Adviser for the ministry for Higher Education in Kurdistan Region. Between Feb 2012-2016 Dr. Rostam became the Vice President for Scientific Affairs at Koya University. His responsibilities included the building of effective strategies and development of an all-inclusive interactive university-wide system, engendering possibilities of a brighter future for his academic community. 

In collaboration with other skilled scientists at Koya University, Dr. Rostam has managed to establish  Aro a biannual Scientific Journal in 2013 which has become the most prominent Scientific Journal in the entire region. Aro's motto is to promote a global-level standards for scientific research in Kurdistan Region, and particularly at Koya University. Rostam has served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal since its inception. Five successful issues have been published as of December 2015. 

Dr. Rostam's expertise include virtual collaboration and IT strategy in Higher Education, promoting student centered green, paperless university in an e-Smart academic community. He is a member of the high committees for regional scholarship of Human Capacity Development Program (HCDP) and National Quality Assurance. As a lecturer Dr. Rostam laid the foundation for a new novel course module "Vernacular Architecture in Kurdistan" which is unique in the region exploring native building habits in Kurdistan.