Dr Behrouz Zafari

Contact

Behrouz Zafari
About
Teaching and learning
Research

About

I am a Chartered Structural Engineer (CEng MIStructE) with over 30 years of experience in the field, both in industry and academia. I am the Course Leader for four postgraduate programmes in Structural Design and Construction Management at the Department of Civil Engineering, Surveying and Construction Management (CSCM) within the Faculty of Engineering, Computing and the Environment (ECE) at Kingston University (KU). In 2015, I completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education at the University of Warwick and currently hold the Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA).

Educated at four universities, I have held a variety of academic roles for 15 years, including Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, and Course Leader for undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Civil Engineering. I have also served on several networks and teams, including EDI (Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion), Sustainability, the BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) Network, and the REC SAT (Race Equality Charter – Self Assessment Team). These roles have provided me with a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing educational institutions. I am familiar with the university's strategic priorities, including the Town House Strategy, and I am a member of the Academic Council at Kingston University, representative of the staff of the ECE faculty.

I specialise in pultruded Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composite structures and actively engage in cutting-edge structural engineering research, developing approaches and techniques for studying innovative FRP structural systems and shapes in construction, with a particular focus on "Connections and Joints". I have published several research papers in leading journals, and my work has generated numerous test results that have supported the preparation of industry-wide standards and design guidelines for FRP structures such as the American Standard ASCE SEI 74-23, the Eurocode Technical Specification (FprCEN/TS 19101:2022), and FRP Bridges - Guidance for Designers, CIRIA, C779, 2018.

Academic responsibilities

Course Leader for Postgraduate Programmes in Structural Design and Construction Management

Qualifications

  • 2012: PhD in Civil Engineering Structures (Composites), University of Warwick
  • 2008: MSc in Civil Engineering Structures, City University London
  • 2015: Postgraduate Certificate in Academic and Professional Practice (PCAPP), University of Warwick

Teaching and learning

Behrouz has been in academia for 12 years. He has an understanding of Higher Education from an international perspective. At Kingston, he is teaching a range of modules in Civil and Structural Engineering related to Analysis, Design, Construction Management, and Sustainability at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Dr Zafari contributes to the teaching of CE4013 Structures and Engineering Materials, CE6113 Building and Environmental Engineering, CE7011 Management of Project Risk Quality and Safety, CE7012 Legal Obligations and Conditions of Contract, and CE7112 Structural Design in Concrete and Steel. In close collaboration with teaching team members, Behrouz has contributed to the planning and developing three modules which he is leading within the department. 

Qualifications and expertise

  • 2016: Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Undergraduate courses taught

Postgraduate courses taught

Research

Behrouz belongs to the structures research group of the department. He is specialised in GFRP composites structures and has a clear plan to develop his research expertise over the next few years in the areas of Facade Engineering and Sustainability. Behrouz has Visiting Fellowship status with Warwick University, and this gives him the opportunity to continue his close collaboration with the FRP composites research team at Warwick School of Engineering. He is also collaborating with Glass & Facade Technology Research Group at Cambridge. Internationally Behrouz is in contact with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology where a research team is working on monitoring and aging of advanced composite materials. His research interests include pultruded fibre-reinforced polymer structures, novel methods of connection with FRP materials, and low impact building systems. Behrouz is supervising two self-funded PhD research students at Kingston who are co-supervised by Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and the University of Warwick.

Research student supervision

Publications

Jump to: Article
Number of items: 4.

Article

Zafari, Behrouz, Mottram, J. Toby, Purnell, Phil, Grammatikos, Sotirios and Evernden, Mark (2025) Hygrothermal aging of a pultruded fiber-polymer composite with predictions for design service lives. Journal of Composites for Construction, 29(1), ISSN (print) 1090-0268

Zafari, Behrouz, Qureshi, Jawed, Mottram, J. Toby and Rusev, Rusi (2016) Static and fatigue performance of resin injected bolts for a slip and fatigue resistant connection in FRP bridge engineering. Structures, 7, pp. 71-84. ISSN (print) 2352-0124

Grammatikos, Sotirios A., Evernden, Mark, Mitchels, John, Zafari, Behrouz, Mottram, James T. and Papanicolaou, George C. (2016) On the response to hygrothermal aging of pultruded FRPs used in the civil engineering sector. Materials & Design, 96, pp. 283-295. ISSN (print) 0261-3069

Grammatikos, S.A., Zafari, B., Evernden, M.C., Mottram, J.T. and Mitchels, J.M. (2015) Moisture uptake characteristics of a pultruded fibre reinforced polymer flat sheet subjected to hot/wet aging. Polymer Degradation and Stability, 121, pp. 407-419. ISSN (print) 0141-3910

This list was generated on Tue Dec 3 04:32:54 2024 GMT.