Associate Professor in Digital Engineering

University of Birmingham, UK

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Marie Curie Postdoctoral fellow

Dr. Liravi earned his PhD in July 2022 in the field of numerical modelling for soil-structure interaction problems at the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Spain. Prior to his PhD, he completed his master’s degree in railway engineering at the Iran University of Science and Technology. From July 2022 to July 2024, he was a postdoctoral researcher at UPC. In 2024, he was awarded the prestigious Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship, hosted by the University of Birmingham, for a project titled “META-NOVIB: Digital Twin for Ground-Borne Railway-Induced Noise and Vibration Control with Metamaterials in Underground Tunnels”.

Marie Curie Postdoctoral fellow

Dr. Bui holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Technology in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and a Master's degree in Applied Mathematics from the same institution. He further advanced his studies in Germany, earning a Master's degree in Computational Engineering from Ruhr University Bochum, followed by a PhD in Computational Mechanics, awarded “with distinction” in March 2021.   Dr. Bui served as a Research Associate at the Institute of Mechanics of Materials at Ruhr University Bochum from 2012 to 2022. Currently, he is a Research Associate at the Helmholtz Center Hereon, focusing on material systems modeling. in January 2025 he will be starting his Marie Curie fellowship TwinSSI in Dr Ninic's group.

PhD student
Zehao is from Fujian, China, and obtained his Bachelor's and MSc degrees in China. Before becoming a PhD student at the University of Birmingham, he worked as a research assistant at Kyoto University for half year, continuing the work he began during his master’s on applying machine learning to the performance management of urban underground infrastructure and low-impact development. Afterward, he worked for 3.5 years at a construction company as a BIM and IT engineer, focusing on the digital management of municipal engineering projects. His current interests are underground infrastructure management, AI, and scan-to-BIM.

PhD student
Kamil Altinay began his PhD in October 2023 at the University of Birmingham, specializing in computer vision, transfer learning for damage detection, and data recycling. Prior to starting his PhD, he graduated with Distinction from Queen Mary University of London in 2022 with a Master's degree in Artificial Intelligence. His previous research includes 3D image reconstruction during his Bachelor's and Facial Emotion Recognition using transfer learning techniques during his Master's.

PhD student
Yunping  is a PhD student in Civil Engineering at the University of Birmingham, with a focus on 3D structural modelling, finite element analysis, and deep learning for point clouds. She is experienced in working with tools like Revit, ABAQUS, and Python to advance the field of structural analysis and computational modeling. Prior to this, she earned a Bachelor of Engineering from Chongqing Jiaotong University in 2022, followed by an MSc at the University of Birmingham in 2023. Her research aims to combine engineering principles with cutting-edge computational techniques to address modern challenges in civil infrastructure. 

PhD student
Yi Luo is a researcher with expertise in civil engineering and advanced structural design. He holds a Master’s degree from the University of Leeds, where his thesis on seismic vulnerability assessment of stadium structures was published in Innovations in Applied Engineering and Technology. His research interests include 3D reconstruction, intelligent construction, and structural vulnerability analysis, with a focus on the application of AI in large-scale modeling. Currently, he is developing scalable outdoor 3D modeling techniques using NeRF, aiming to enhance automation and environmental adaptability in traditional reconstruction workflows.

PhD student
Jianyu is a PhD student in Civil Engineering at the University of Birmingham, focusing on the integration of AI and digital twins. His research aims to automate the creation of digital twins for existing estates, specifically to reveal hidden mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems. Jianyu is interested in digital modelling and enjoys creating Python coding in his work. Beyond his research, he has a keen interest in game design and sketching, which helps to keep his creativity.

PhD Student – University of Belgrade Visiting Researcher

Ksenija is a PhD Candidate in Geological Engineering and serves as a Teaching Assistant in Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Belgrade, where she’s also earned her BSc and MSc degrees. Her research interest encompasses improving safety assessments in underground design and construction through cutting-edge digital tools and technologies. Ksenija’s PhD research focuses on developing a BIM-based spatially variable digital ground model, with the aim of enhancing the probabilistic FEM modelling in heterogenius ground conditions. In February 2025, she joined dr. Ninić’s team for a three-month research stay, hoping to strengthen the quality and impact of her research, by acquiring and applying advanced skills and knowledge, as well as collaborating with the team on intelligent engineering solutions.

PhD student - CSC vsiting resercher
Donglin is a 5th year Ph.D student from Hunan University and now doing research in University of Birmingham as a visiting research student. My current research focuses on studying mechanical behavior of shield tunnel structures via elaborate finite element model and developing nonlinear analytical model of segmental linings for structural performance evaluation and deformation redundancy calculation under urban multi-disturbance conditions. I have published five papers on international journals including Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology. I was awarded the China Scholarship Council (CSC) scholarships in 2024. Currently, I’m expanding my expertise in developing analytical models for structural analysis.

PhD student - University of Nottingham
Ali is a PhD student in Civil Engineering at the University of Nottingham, specialising in Finite Element Modelling (FEM), Machine Learning (ML), Building Information Modelling (BIM), and Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI). He is a recipient of the prestigious University of Nottingham Faculty of Engineering Research Excellence PhD Scholarship. He was the student rep for 2+ years and is still an active member of the CSEI research group, with teaching and mentoring experience in similar subjects. Ali has already made significant contributions to his field, having published two papers in high-impact journals (TUST and US) and presented four conference papers. 

EPSRC Research Fellow

Dr. Manuela Cabrera is a research fellow in the RESilient Infrastructure using STainless steel (RESIST) project, part of the Future Structures research group at the University of Birmingham, where she has been contributing since December 2022. She earned her PhD in 2023 from the University of Nottingham, co-supervised by Dr Ninic, specializing in concrete-filled steel structures with blind bolted connections, a project supported by the prestigious Faculty of Engineering Excellence Scholarship (2019). She also holds an MSc in Structural Engineering with distinction from the University of Nottingham (2018).

Manuela has published  eight journal paper and her innovative work on use of machine learning  for fusion of numerical and experimental data for predicting the mechanical behavior of steel connections has won three awards (UKACM2022, ICCCBE2023, IStructE2023).

Her research interests include steel structures, concrete-steel composite structures, hybrid stainless steel-carbon steel connections, aluminium structures, finite element analysis, and metamodeling. 

Stress engineer and CAE software developer

Massimo is an experienced researcher with a strong background in computational engineering and software testing. He served as a Marie-Curie Fellow and Early Stage Researcher on OptiMACS project with  Airbus Defence and Space and at the University of Nottingham , where he expanded his technical capabilities in software development for engineering applications. 

Massimo completed his PhD with Dr Ninic as  amin supervisor on "Global-local optimisation methods for aerospace structures ".  For his outstanding work he got UKACM 2021 best presentation award. 

He completed his MSc in comutaional mechanics at TU Munich, and he was visiting  scholar at Delft University of Technology and Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV).

PhD student - CSC vsiting resercher
Yuhang is a Ph.D. candidate in Civil Engineering at Wuhan University of Technology (WHUT), China, where he has been conducting research on the fragmentation mechanism and contour forming control of underwater reef limestone foundation pit blasting excavation since September 2021. In February 2024, he joined a visiting Ph.D. position at the University of Birmingham (UoB), UK, under the supervision of Dr. Jelena Ninic, where he aims to expand his research expertise and collaborate on innovative engineering solutions. His research is on the fragmentation mechanism and contour forming control of underwater reef limestone foundation pit blasting excavation.