Professor Peter A Davies

Professor Peter Davies studied at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, graduating with a First Class BSc Honours degree in Physics and Mathematics (1966), DipEd (1967) and PhD (1971).  He was awarded a 2-year Postdoctoral Fellowship by the Royal Society of London (tenable 1971-73 at the International Meteorological Institute, University of Stockholm, Sweden) under its European Exchange Programme, and then spent 7 years as a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Physics at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.  

In 1980, following a short period as a Visiting Scientist in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wyoming, USA, he moved to a Lectureship in Fluid Mechanics in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Dundee.  He was awarded a Personal Chair in Fluid Dynamics in 1995, the same year that he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s National Academy.  

He was elected a Foreign Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science & Letters in 2009 and in 2013 he received the Lord Kelvin Medal, an award presented each year by the Royal Society of Edinburgh “to recognise exceptional achievements in physical, engineering and informatic sciences by a senior career researcher”.  The Council of the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR) bestowed on Professor Davies its most prestigious honour of Honorary Membership in 2021.  Between 1981 and 1983 he served as Vice President (Section II: Atmospheres & Hydrospheres) of the European Geophysical Society.  In 2010 he was invited to deliver the Inaugural Lecture in the RV Jones Distinguished Lecture Series at the University of Aberdeen, the same year that he was awarded (with co-authors A J S Cuthbertson, D D Apsley, G Lipari & P K Stansby) the Karl Emil Hilgard Prize of the American Society of Civil Engineers for the best paper published in the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering in 2008.

Academic Background

• 1966: Bachelor of Science (BSc) Hons. Class 1. Physics/Mathematics, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK        
• 1967: Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Dip Ed), University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
• 1971: PhD Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Thesis title: Experiments in Taylor Columns in Rotating, Stratified Fluids (Supervisor: David J Tritton)

Appointments

• 1971 - 1973: Postdoctoral Fellowship; The International Meteorological Institute, University of Stockholm, Sweden, European Exchange Programme of The Royal Society, London
• 1973 - 1980: Senior Research Associate, Department of Physics, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
• 1980: Visiting Scientist, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wyoming, USA
• 1980 - 1994: Lecturer (1980-86), Senior Lecturer (1986-90), Reader (1990-94), Department of Civil Engineering, University of Dundee, UK
• 1994 - 2020: Professor of Fluid Dynamics, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Dundee, UK
• 2020 - present: Emeritus Professor, University of Dundee, UK

Professional Memberships

• Fellow, Royal Society of Edinburgh
• Foreign Member, The Norwegian Academy of Science & Letters
• Member, International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR)

Professional Roles

• Associate Editor: Journal of Hydraulics Research (2018 - 2020), Environmental Fluid Mechanics (2000 - 2020)
• Chair: Editorial Board, Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) journal Engineering & Computational Mechanics (2012 - 2018)
• Member, Editorial Boards:  Journal of Marine Science & Engineering (2015 - 2018), Geophysical & Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics, (1990 - 2008). 
• International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR):  Chair, Methods in Hydraulics Technical Division (2007 - 2009); Chair (2001 - 2005) and Member (1992+) Fluid Dynamics Committee; Member, Editorial Advisory Board, IAHR Media Library (2004+); Editor, IAHR Monograph Series (2010 – 2016)
• Chair:  International Advisory Board, EU HYDRALAB Programmes (2006-2020) and HYDRALAB User Selection Panels (2000 - 2020)
• Member:  Expert Advisory Board, EU HYTECH project (2013 – 2018)
• Member, External Research Review Committees:  Centre for Water Research, University of Western Australia (1999); School of Environmental Systems Engineering, University of Western Australia (2008); LEGI (Laboratoire des Ecoulements Géophysiques et Industriels), University of Grenoble (2002)
• Overseas PhD opponent: Universities of Gothenburg, Stockholm, Bergen, Oslo, Porto, Grenoble, Aalborg, Karlsruhe, Braunschweig, Hong Kong, Sydney, Western Australia, the Australian National University, University of Chile
• Member :  Governing Board, Scottish Research Partnership (SRPe), since 2014
• Director: National Telford Institute (2008 – 2018); Northern Research Partnership in Engineering (NRPe) (2010 – 2012)
• Member:  UK Panel of Theoretical & Applied Mechanics (2007-2012); EPSRC Research College (1995 – 2016); NERC Airborne Remote Sensing Committee (1990 - 94)
• Assessor:  Newton Prize, UK National Commission for UNESCO (2016, 2017); Research Incentive Awards Panel, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland (2014 - 2018)
• Board Director: National Subsea Research Institute (2010 - 2013); Offshore Renewables Institute (2014 – 2016)
• Trustee: Marine Alliance for Science and Technology – Scotland (2014 - 2017)
• Member: Scottish Government Ministerial Advisory Sub-Group on Containment in Aquaculture (2009 – 2015) charged with the formulation of the Scottish Technical Standard for Aquaculture, a standard legally adopted by the Scottish Parliament in 2015
• Member: Ministerial Group for Sustainable Aquaculture (MGSA) Science & Research Working Group (2013 - 2014) (led the Task Force Technology & Engineering (2014) in identifying key strategic research requirements required for the sustainable economic growth of the Scottish aquaculture industry)