Scientia Professor Brian Uy

Scientia Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Professor Brian Uy was appointed Scientia Professor of Structural Engineering in 2023. He was Professor of Structural Engineering and Head of the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney from 2016-2022. Brian is President-Elect (2025) and Vice President (Australasia and South East Asia) of The Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) and has served as a Trustee Board Member since 2022.  Brian was also elected Vice President of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE) in 2023. In 2019 Brian was awarded the Sir John Holland Civil Engineer of the Year Award by Engineers Australia in recognition of outstanding achievements in Civil Engineering  and in 2021 he was the John Connell Gold Medal winner as the Structural Engineer of the Year for 2021 awarded by Engineers Australia. Brian was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) in 2022 and as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales in 2023.

Brian was previously Professor of Structural Engineering and Director of the Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety (CIES) in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The University of New South Wales from 2013-2016 and this culminated in him being awarded a Scientia Professorship from 2017-2022.   Prior to re-joining UNSW, he was Professor of Structural Engineering and Foundation Director of the Institute for Infrastructure Engineering (IIE) at the University of Western Sydney (UWS) and was a major contributor to the establishment of the Werrington Park Corporate Centre (a UWS, Penrith City Council and Penrith Business Alliance initiative co-funded by the Australian Government's Suburban Jobs Program) from 2011-2013. Prior to establishing IIE he was Professor and Dean of the School of Engineering and the Foundation Director of the Civionics Research Centre at UWS from 2007-2011. During this period, he was a member of the Australian Council of Engineering Deans; Australian Deans of Built Environment & Design and the Global Engineering Dean's Council (GEDC).  From 2004-2007, Brian was Professor of Structural Engineering and Head of the School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wollongong. Furthermore, he has also held positions at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London (EPSRC Visiting Research Fellow); National University of Singapore (Anthony Mason Fellow); National University of Malaysia (Distinguished International Professor); Ove Arup and Partners (now ARUP) ; Wholohan Grill and Partners (now Worley); Wargon Chapman and Partners (now Arcadis); Meinhardt and GHD.

Brian has delivered over 350 conference papers in 35 countries on 6 continents, including over 100 plenary/keynote/invited lectures in 25 countries and 6 continents and has been involved in research in steel and composite structures for over 30 years. He has co-authored over 750 publications including over 300 journal articles with over 90% of these appearing in Q1 journals. Much of this research that his team has been involved with has been underpinned by competitive grant funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and from industry. Brian has been continuously funded by the ARC since 1995 and has been in receipt of 48 grants totalling more than $17 million, including 12 ARC Discovery Grants, with 10 as the lead Chief Investigator, 10 ARC Linkage Grants and 10 ARC LIEF Grants.  Brian was a member of the ARC College of Experts for Engineering and Environmental Sciences from 2007-2009 (serving as Deputy Chair in 2009) and a member of the ARC College of Experts for Engineering, Information and Computing Sciences for the period 2016-2018. He was also a member of the Selection Advisory Committee for the ARC Australian Laureate Fellowships from 2011-2013 and the ARC Engineering & Environmental Sciences Research Evaluation Committee (REC) for the Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) 2015 and 2018 ranking exercises.

Brian is Chairman of the Standards Australia Committee BD-032 on Composite Structures and BD-090-Part 6 on Bridge Structures which have developed standards on Steel and Composite Structures for buildings and bridges respectively. He also serves on BD-01 and BD-02 for Steel and Concrete Structures respectively. He has been the Chairman of the Australia Regional Group of the Institution of Structural Engineers for the decade 2012-2021 and was elected Vice President (Australasia and South East Asia) from 2022-2024 and he serves on its Board of Trustees, Council, Resources Committee, Education Committee, Membership Committee (Chairman), Research Panel and Humanitarian and International Development Panel. In 2015 he was elected Chair for the Australian Group of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE). Brian regularly provides higher level consulting advice and certification for major national manufacturing and infrastructure companies and for forensic/expert witness purposes for many of Australia’s leading legal practices. Brian serves on the editorial boards of fourteen international journals for structural engineering and is Chief Editor (Asia-Pacific) for Steel and Composite Structures (Impact Factor of 6.386, highest in structural engineering). He is also a significant contributor to international codes of practice in steel and composite construction and currently serves on the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) Task Committee 5 on Composite Construction and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Structural Engineering Institute (SEI), Technical Committee on Composite Construction.

Brian graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering (Honours Class 1) and Doctor of Philosophy from The University of New South Wales. He was installed as a Presidential Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (FICE) in 2014, a Fellow of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE), a Fellow of Engineers Australia (FIEAust), a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (FASCE) a Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers (FIStructE) in 2016, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE) in 2022 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW, (FRSN) in 2023.  Brian was elected a Fellow of the Structural Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2024.  He is a chartered member of Engineers Australia (CPEng), American Society of Civil Engineers (PE), Engineering Council in the UK, (CEng) and an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Engineer in Australia, (IntPE(Aus)). He is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.  Brian has won numerous international awards, including the Lewis Kent Award from the Institution of Structural Engineers in 2017.

Brian appeared in the 2024 Stanford study for the top 100,000 scientists in the world (i.e. top 2%), which is the standardised study using multiple citation and publication metrics and excludes self-citations.  He was ranked at 9,303 overall (i.e., top 0.2% in the world) and 34 in the world in civil engineering for 2023 (i.e., top 0.05% in the world). Brian and his team’s research has been highly cited in the area of steel-concrete composite structures, steel structures, structural engineering and civil engineering. He has received over 18,000 citations in Google Scholar with a h index of 74 (m index = 2.4) and has a personal Relative Citation Index (RCI) and Field Weighted Citation Index (FWCI) over 2.0.  He has also been ranked 1^st in Australia and 5th in the world in the area of High-strength low-alloy steel, 26th in the world in Structural engineering and a Highly Ranked Scholar by ScholarGPS in 2024 (i.e., top 0.05% in the world). Brian has successfully supervised over 150 research students to successful completion, including 30 PhD students, 20 Masters students and over 110 Honours thesis students.  He has also mentored many PhD students and postdoctoral fellows to successful careers in Australia and all over the world with many rising to Full Professor in leading Universities internationally.

Brian has led and initiated teams of research projects across all engineering domains and many of the physical sciences. His current research team’s expertise is very multidisciplinary. In the area of welded steel structures, he is using neutron diffraction techniques with senior colleagues at ANSTO and collaborating with physicists and material scientists. He led the establishment of the National Facility for Physical Blast Simulation procured through a major Australian Linkage, Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) grant with 8 universities and DSTG. He also led the establishment of the largest Universal Testing Facility in the Southern Hemisphere with the design, procurement and installation of the 20 MN MTS facility at the University of Sydney in 2022.

News

• Scientia Professor Brian Uy elected President-Elect of the Institution of Structural Engineers
• Scientia Professor Brian Uy delivers webinar for ACOLA Parliamentary Library Seminar Series
• Scientia Professor Brian Uy elected a Fellow of the Structural Engineering Institute of American Society of Civil Engineers
• Scientia Professor Brian Uy appointed Vice President of IABSE
• Professor Brian Uy named ATSE Fellow
• Professor Brian Uy awarded John Connell Gold Medal by Engineers Australia
• Sir John Holland Civil Engineer of the Year says the future of structures is bright
• Professor Brian Uy named Sir John Holland Civil Engineer of the Year by Engineers Australia
• Professor Brian Uy awarded Lewis Kent Award by Institution of Structural Engineers
• Professor Brian Uy elected a Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers
• Professor Brian Uy appointed Scientia Professor
• Professor Brian Uy elected a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers
• Professor Brian Uy delivers Keynote Lecture at Chinese Academy of Engineering Sponsored Forum
• Professor Brian Uy elected Fellow of Engineers Australia
• Professor Brian Uy appointed a Fellow of IABSE
• Professor Brian Uy delivers Keynote Paper at ASCCS2015 in Beijing
• Professor Brian Uy delivers Keynote Paper at World Congress and Exhibition on Construction and Steel Structure in Dubai
• Professor Brian Uy appointed to ARC College of Experts for 2016-2018
• Professor Brian Uy delivers Keynote Paper at 17th Association of Structural Engineers of the Philippines International Convention
• Professor Brian Uy appointed to ERA 2015 Research Evaluation Committee for Engineering & Environmental Sciences
• Professor Brian Uy elected as Chairman of the Australia Regional Group of IABSE