The students won one of two first prizes available. Their project, entitled ‘Structural interaction between wearing surface and cellular GFRP bridge decking’, was supervised by Dr Wendel Sebastian. The aim of the project was to demonstrate the importance, in local and global behaviour modelling, of accurately representing tyre pressure on glass-fibre reinforced polymer bridge decks.

 The duo were required to present an executive summary and an A1 poster of the project, which was judged by the Institution’s Research Panel. The project was awarded a prize of £200, and the poster will be displayed at the Institution’s 16th Young Researchers’ Conference on 5 March 2014 in London. The conference is an annual event that provides a platform for research students to present their work and exchange ideas with their peers, industry leaders and selected members of the Institution.

 Dr Sebastian said: ‘Tom and Chris worked hard and well on the project and the poster, and all in the department are delighted to see them reap this reward.’