UC Civil and Environmental Engineering

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Congratulations to Rafaella Canessa for successfully defending her PhD! The title of her thesis is, "Planning Aotearoa New Zealand’s Net-Zero Energy System: High-Resolution Multi-Energy Optimisation of Transition Pathways with Future Fuels."

Rafaella’s research explores how Aotearoa New Zealand can transition towards a net-zero energy system while meeting future demand for electricity, heat, transport, and future fuels. Her work combines demand-side analysis with supply-side optimisation through REMix-NZ, a high-resolution multi-energy model developed to assess long-term transition pathways. The research shows how future demand choices can shape infrastructure needs, and identifies key trade-offs and robust investment pathways across uncertain futures.

Thank you to her supervisors: Assoc. Prof. Jannik Haas, Dr Rebecca Peer and Dr Hans Christian Gils, German Aerospace Center, DLR, Examiners: Prof. Dr. Mauro Antonio da Silva Sá Ravagnani, Universidade Estadual de Maringá (Brasil), Assoc. Prof. Simon Smart, University of Queensland (Australia) and Chair: Assoc. Prof. Mehdi Keyvan-Ekbatani.

Rafaella now works as a researcher at the Research Center for Energy Networks (Forschungsstelle Energienetze – FEN) and we wish her all the very best in all her endeavours!

⚽ With the football world in the spotlight, we’re celebrating one of our own who is proving that an engineering mindset can take you far beyond the office. Meet UC Civil Engineering alumna Lara Wall - a professional civil engineer and a footballer.

Lara Wall graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours (Civil Engineering) in 2022. Today, she works as a Structural Engineer at Holmes Aus & NZ, specialising in seismic assessment and strengthening, while also pursuing her passion for football as a player for the Wellington Phoenix Football Club in the A-League and the New Zealand Football Ferns.

What do structural engineering and professional football have in common?
Problem solving, teamwork, resilience, and the ability to adapt under pressure.

In a recent Engineering New Zealand Te Ao Rangahau feature, Lara shares, "As an engineer, I really enjoy problem solving, especially as a team. This type of critical thinking comes in handy a lot during football games, when you must work out what the problem on the field is and how you can fix it using the resources at hand."

We’re proud to see our alumni making their mark in engineering, sport and beyond.

Read more about Lara’s journey in Engineering New Zealand’s Secret Life of Engineers feature: https://bit.ly/44cE2Am

Mathieu Ricketts is a French engineer and recent graduate of the Master of Engineering Studies in Renewable Energy programme. He first discovered UC through a double degree partnership with his home institution ESTP. What began as an academic exchange quickly became a defining step in his career, giving him the opportunity to deepen his interest in renewable energy.

During his time at UC, Mathieu found a major turning point in his research on sodium ion battery cathodes derived from geothermal brines. Supervised by Associate Prof Jannik Haas and Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr Karan Titus, the project took him from laboratory work through to co-authoring a paper and presenting at the 47th Geothermal Workshop in Rotorua.

The idea behind his research is straightforward: Geothermal power plants use underground water that contains a range of dissolved minerals including sodium. Mathieu explored whether this sodium, usually treated as a by-product, could instead be used to produce materials for sodium ion batteries. His work suggests the possibility of a domestic supply chain for battery materials that makes use of existing energy infrastructure. One result that stood out was that just 1.7 percent of Wairakei’s consented brine capacity could theoretically meet New Zealand’s projected utility scale energy storage demand by 2040.

He speaks highly of his supervisor Assoc Prof Jannik Haas, "He made us understand that the energy transition isn't just an engineering challenge: it's a governmental, economic, political and even social one. His courses were of a very high quality, and as a supervisor he was involved and available for his students. A great experience overall."

Soon after graduation, Mathieu secured a role with RED Engineering Design in Sydney. For students considering Renewable Energy at UC, his advice is to embrace complexity. Renewable energy is often presented as simple, but he believes it is exactly that complexity that makes it so interesting and rewarding.

Earlier in the month, we hosted our annual Postgraduate Research Conference, bringing together students, academics, alumni and industry professionals for a full day of sharing and discussion.

With the theme Engineering the Future: Research and Practice in the Age of AI, the day opened with a keynote address from Jason Hill (Trimble Inc.), who shared valuable insights into the rapidly evolving relationship between engineering practice and artificial intelligence. This was followed by an engaging panel discussion featuring Simon Yorke, Jason Hill, Trevor Nesbit and Dr Daniel van der Walt, who explored the opportunities and challenges AI presents for the engineering profession.

Throughout the day, postgraduate students presented their research through oral presentations, flash talks and poster sessions, demonstrating the potential real-world impact of their work. We extend our sincere thanks to Reuben Bouman, Dion Marriott, Stuart Oliver, Anna Winkley, Neil Charters, Paul Botha and Tirth Patel for generously contributing their time, expertise and industry perspectives.
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Congratulations to all our award winners!
🏆 Best Poster Presentation
Hashini Dilanga Kuruppuarachchi
🥈 Poster Presentation First Runner-Up
Rodrigo Roy Zamorano Morales
🥉 Poster Presentation Second Runner-Up
Catalina Fernanda Klausen Gaete
🏆 Best Oral Presentation
Brandy Nicole Alger
🥈 Oral Presentation First Runner-Up
Claudio Schill
🥉 Oral Presentation Second Runner-Up
Max Shaun Dawson
⚡ Excellence in Flash Presentation
Joachim Konstantin Schneider
Alejandro Saenz Calad
👏 People's Choice Poster Award
Codrut Constantin David

Thank you to everyone who attended, presented, supported and contributed to making this year's conference such a success!

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Congratulations to Theo Hnat for his successful PhD defence titled, "Soil-Structure Interaction Modelling Practice in New Zealand."

Soil-structure interaction (SSI) is an important yet challenging aspect of seismic design and assessment in engineering practice. This thesis investigated the current state of SSI modelling in New Zealand, the circumstances in which SSI effects are considered in building design and assessment, and the modelling frameworks most suitable for practical application. A mixed-methods research approach was adopted, comprising an industry-wide questionnaire followed by a comparative numerical modelling study using nonlinear time-history analyses in OpenSees.

His work was supervised by (Primary) Christopher McGann, Associate Professor (UC), (Co) Liam Wotherspoon, Professor, University of Auckland and (Co) Reagan Chandramohan, Senior Lecturer, (UC). Thank you to Theo's examiners: Shideh Dashti, Professor, University of Colorado Boulder and Christian Ledezma, Associate Professor, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and exam chair: Associate Professor Hamish Mackey (UC).

Professor David Dempsey delivered his Professorial Lecture last week, marking a significant milestone following his recent promotion to Professor. The appointment recognises many years of outstanding academic achievement, impactful research, and dedicated service to the engineering community.

David leads research focused on some of the most pressing challenges of a low-emissions future, including carbon dioxide removal, hydrogen storage, volcanic hazard forecasting, and understanding human-triggered seismicity. His work continues to make significant contributions to both engineering practice and society.
As Project Leader of the Carbon Removal Group in New Zealand, his work is guided by a simple question: what if we could send carbon dioxide back into the ground instead of releasing it into the air?
“Our research programme works on ways of reversing the flows of carbon dioxide: instead of to the atmosphere, from the atmosphere and back underground.”
He explained that geothermal plants already move large amounts of fluid underground as part of normal operation. That fluid could also carry carbon dioxide. The gas dissolves easily in it, making it a possible way to store carbon safely.
“The geothermal industry already does a bit of this: capturing their own carbon dioxide coming out from underground. This would be adding extra into there.”
But he also made it clear that this is not a simple plug-and-play solution. The ground is not the same everywhere. Different locations behave differently, and that changes how carbon moves once it is injected.
His current research looks at exactly that -how carbon dioxide travels through geothermal systems, depending on where it is placed.

The lecture highlighted the potential for geothermal systems to play a role in New Zealand’s transition to a lower-emissions future, while underscoring the importance of understanding the complex processes occurring beneath our feet.

Congratulations to Professor David Dempsey on his professorial lecture and well-deserved promotion!

PhD candidate Amir Mousavi is working to overcome one of the central limitations in fatigue engineering: generating the large, reliable datasets needed to understand material failure, while keeping the testing process efficient and mechanically meaningful.

Amir completed his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at Iran University of Science and Technology before moving to New Zealand to pursue his PhD at the University of Canterbury. He is now part of the Canterbury Fracture Group, under the supervision of Professor Derek Warner, and is co-supervised by Professor Digby Symons from UC’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Conventional fatigue testing methods can be extremely time-consuming and expensive, especially when engineers need large datasets to understand how materials behave under different loading and environmental conditions. Amir’s research focuses on developing a high-throughout fatigue testing methodology that can test multiple specimens at the same time while still producing results that are reliable, mechanically meaningful, and relevant to standard fatigue testing approaches. This project is supported by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

“Fatigue failures are often invisible until it is too late,” Amir explains. “Many engineering components experience repeated loading for years before cracks begin to form and grow. Understanding this behaviour more efficiently can help engineers design safer and more reliable structures.”

One interesting part of Amir’s research so far has been understanding that high-throughput fatigue testing is not simply a matter of testing more specimens at the same time.

“What inspired me most was seeing how much time, cost, and uncertainty can exist in experimental fatigue research,” Amir says. “I wanted to work on a method that could help generate larger fatigue datasets more efficiently, while still producing results that engineers can trust.”

📢 We are pleased to welcome Dr Xiangqing Fang, a visiting academic hosted by Associate Professor Hamish Mackey. Xiangqing is a Professor at Xihang University in Xi’an, China, with a background in materials chemistry and chemical engineering and extensive research experience in functional materials and environmental engineering.

Her research focuses on synthesising, modifying, and evaluating the catalytic performance of porous materials and molecular sieves. These materials demonstrate stable catalytic activity and strong industrial applicability, enhancing processes such as olefin epoxidation and ketone oximation. Her research has since shifted toward environmental water treatment, with a focus on practical solutions for high concentration and high salinity industrial wastewater.

Xiangqing recently completed a seven-month visiting program at the University of British Columbia, focusing on teaching observation and pedagogical research, where she gained insights into the differences between Chinese and Western teaching methods educational approaches. She has integrated these insights into her teaching, enriching course content, and broadening students’ perspectives, with positive student feedback.

During her time here, Xiangqing plans to advance her research in wastewater biochemical treatment, focusing on innovative solutions for complex industrial wastewater. She also aims to engage in meaningful academic exchanges, explore future collaboration opportunities with colleagues in the department, and build strong academic and personal connections.

Outside of academia, Xiangqing is passionate about plants and ecology, and she is excited to explore New Zealand’s unique native flora and landscapes. She also practices yoga for wellbeing and stress relief and looks forward to engaging with our department’s staff and students.

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Cameron Davis, a PhD candidate supervised by Associate Prof. Mehdi Keyvan-Ekbatani was recently awarded Best Student Paper at the Transportation Group New Zealand's 2026 Conference. His award-winning paper, "On-demand Pooling in Christchurch: Benefit or Bane?", utilises a mesoscopic simulation environment to explore the traffic flow impacts of large-scale on-demand services in the city. Cameron's preliminary results are highly promising, suggesting that a large on-demand pooled-ride service can effectively smooth traffic flow, delay the onset of congestion during peak periods, and ultimately increase overall network performance.

Also at the conference, a research paper derived from an extended undergraduate final-year project titled, "Impact of Bike Traffic on the Christchurch Multimodal Transport System," supervised by Associate Prof. Mehdi Keyvan-Ekbatani, was presented and drew significant attention from the New Zealand transport community. Undergraduate students, Ashley Thomson and Billy Goble modeled the Christchurch bike network within a large-scale microscopic simulation. Their study delivers valuable insights into how cycling infrastructure affects network performance, supporting Christchurch’s long-term goal of transitioning to a sustainable and resilient multimodal transport system.

Last month, Civil participated in Xplore Engineering - an event for first-year engineering students to explore different engineering disciplines and get a feel for what each pathway involves.

Our stand in Rātā was busy throughout the morning. It was really nice to see so many first-years stopping by and taking part in the activities. Students got to build the tallest tower using simple materials and then test its strength on a shake table against Christchurch’s 2011 earthquake frequency and shaking patterns. This sparked a lot of fun competition and teamwork.

We also had the sand table set up. Students could see how water moves through different landscapes. This helped them understand how fluids behave in real environments.

Lab tours were another highlight. Students got to visit our spaces and see some of the equipment and work happening in Civil. Overall, Xplore Engineering was a great success - it was great to see such strong engagement and curiosity.