Engineering, history and ecclesiology

About this site

This web site has been developed to act as a gateway to my various areas of academic and quasi-academic research. It includes links to the books and many of the research papers I have written, the theses of students I have supervised, my more recent work on aspects of Midlands history and my ecclesiatical and theological interests.

The material is arranged in four sections. The first three of these – technical studies, historical studies, ecclesiastical studies represent well defined areas of interest. The fourth – Miscellany – is something of a random collection of thoughts and opinions across a variety of subjects and issues. They can be accessed from the menu bar above or from the links below.

My biography

I was born and brought up in Brierley Hill in the Black Country and attended the local grammar school From there I went to St Catharine’s College in Cambridge where I read Engineering, graduating with a BA in 1975, and an MA and a PhD in 1978. Following a Research Fellowship there at St Catharine’s College and the Department of Engineering, in the early 1980s I began work in the Aerodynamics Unit of British Rail Research in Derby, before moving to an academic position in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Nottingham. I remained there till 1998 where I was a lecturer, reader and professor with research interests in vehicle aerodynamics, wind engineering, environmental fluid mechanics and agricultural aerodynamics. In 1998 I moved to the University of Birmingham as Professor of Environmental Fluid Mechanics in the School of Civil Engineering.

In the early years of the present century I was Director of Teaching in the newly formed School of Engineering and Deputy Head of School. From 2003 to 2008 I was Head of Civil Engineering and in 2008 I served for a short time as Acting Head of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. I was the Director of the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education 2005-2014. I undertook a 30% secondment to the Transport Systems Catapult Centre in Milton Keynes, as Science Director from 2014 to 2016. I retired at the end of 2017 and took up an Emeritus position. In July 2020 I was awarded the Davenport Medal, the senior award of the International Association of Wind Engineering.

I was also ordained as an Anglican clergyman in 1988, and have been attached to parishes in Matlock, Nottingham and from 1998 to 2023 in Lichfield, as a non-stipendiary minister at St. Michael-on-Greenhill. From March 2024 I have held Permission to Officiate in Peterborough Diocese, mainly based at All Saints Oakham, part of the Oakham Team Ministry.

I continue to be involved in research in train aerodynamics, wind engineering and transport issues, including work for the Railway Safety and Standards Board. I have carried out historical work on the development of the Manor and Parish of Kingswinford in the Black Country and also on aspects of Lichfield and Rutland history. I am currently webmaster for the Black Country Society, and co-convenor of the Society’s Virtual Heritage Group.