Dr Melis Sutman

Senior Lecturer

Email: 

msutman@ed.ac.uk

Location: 

John Muir Building

Social Media: 

www.linkedin.com/in/melissutman

Engineering Discipline: 

  • Civil and Environmental Engineering

Research Institute: 

  • Infrastructure and Environment

Research Theme: 

  • Granular Mechanics and Industrial Infrastructure
Dr Melis Sutman

Biography: 

Melis joined the University of Edinburgh in April 2024. Her research mainly focuses on how geostructures can contribute to the sustainability of human activities and resilience to future climate change and energy-related challenges. Her research activities span across a range of topics including in-situ and laboratory testing of soils and soil-structure interfaces in isothermal and non-isothermal conditions, as well as development of numerical tools for the analysis and design of geostructures. During her PhD at Virginia Tech (USA) and her postdoc at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland), she worked on Energy Geostructures Technology, which is an innovative way of using renewable energy resources by combining geothermal heat exchange and structural foundation support. Her PhD research received several awards by USUCGER, Geo-Institute and ADSC. For her postdoctoral contributions to EPFL, she was awarded “Recognition for Exceptional Services”. She recently received the Bright Sparkle Award 2023 from the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE).

Academic Qualifications: 

  • Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University – Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering, August 2016, Virginia, USA
  • Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University – M.Sc. in Geotechnical Engineering, January 2012, Virginia, USA
  • Bogazici University – B.Sc. in Civil Engineering, May 2010, Istanbul, Turkey

Professional Qualifications and Memberships: 

  • Member of the EPSRC Peer Review College
  • Member of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Talent Peer Review College
  • Member of the Technical Committee on Energy Geotechnics (TC308) of International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE)
  • Member of the International Energy Agency Working Group 14 (Geothermal Heating and Cooling Energy)
  • Member of the Cost Action CA21156 - european network for FOstering Large-scale ImplementAtion of energy GEostructure (FOLIAGE)
  • Advisory Board Member of the Journal of Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment

Teaching: 

Geotechnical Engineering 2

Research Interests: 

  • Resilience to Future Climate Change and Energy Related Challenges
  • Energy Geotechnology and Sustainability